The reconstruction era of the United States took place during 1865- 1877after the Civil War. The reconstruction era was to help rebuild the South after the war. As I read articles on the topic I realized that the polices that were put in place were all connected to the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. I’m going to talk about the amendments, when they were ratified, and my opinon.
The 13th amendment was ratified, approved, in 1865 under the president Abraham Lincoln. Section one of the amendment says, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Meaning that this amendment was put into place to abolish slavery and show we’re all equal no matter what race. Of course just because you make it an amendment doesn’t mean that everybody’s going to agree that everybody’s equal.The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868 under the congressional reconstruction plan. The amendment summarized says that anybody born in the United States will be a citizen and have civil rights, except for the Native Americans. I think that this amendment was a big break through. Giving any person civil rights is incredible. The majority of people then thought that blacks had no use but to be slaves. Now people started to realize that they were more. The Republican Party saw that blacks could be good in the voting process and so they wanted this amendment to pass but it still opened eyes.The 15th amendment was passed in early February of 1870 under the congressional reconstruction plan. Section one of this amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The way I look at it this was a huge turning point for everything that happened and everything that later came to be. Giving other races the right to vote was a huge step to who we are today.
These amendments helped form what we have today in our country. The Civil War was a terrible time where our country divided and fought against each other. Still, out of that bad time came possitive things. I look forward to learning more about the history of our country.-Breann Lehr
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