Eleanor Finch
The original U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1788, did not grant Black people citizenship. The infamous three-fifths clause counted enslaved Black people as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of representation in Congress. The 13th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, prohibited slavery and granted freedom to enslaved people. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to Black people and revoked the Black Codes, which were laws that denied citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted Black men the right to vote. Despite these amendments, Black people continued to face violent opposition, voter suppression, and segregation. It was not until the Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Black people in the Southern states fully recovered their ability to exercise their voting rights and live with full civil rights.
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What You'll Learn
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
At the time of the US Constitution, Black Americans were subject to slavery and involuntary servitude, which was tacitly enshrined in the original document. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, also known as the Reconstruction Amendments, were adopted between 1865 and 1870 to address this and other injustices.
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was proposed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by all but three Union states. The Fourteenth Amendment, proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law for all persons. It grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States," thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people. The Fifteenth Amendment, proposed in 1869 and ratified in 1870, prohibits discrimination in voting rights based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
The Reconstruction Amendments were essential to reuniting the country during Reconstruction, and they provided the constitutional basis for enforcing and implementing Reconstruction policies. These amendments guaranteed the freedom of the formerly enslaved and granted them certain civil rights, such as full citizenship, civil rights, and voting rights. They also addressed growing violence and intimidation against freed African Americans in the South. The Fourteenth Amendment, in particular, extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people. It was bitterly contested, especially by Southern states, which were forced to ratify it to return their delegations to Congress.
The Reconstruction Amendments also granted Congress the power to enforce the amendments' provisions through federal legislation. The Fourteenth Amendment, for example, eliminated the three-fifths rule and punished states that did not permit male citizens over 21 years old to vote. It also barred those who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" or "gave aid or comfort to the enemies" of the United States from holding public office. While these amendments were a significant step forward, their promise was eroded by state laws and federal court decisions in the late 19th century. It was not until the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and subsequent civil rights legislation in the 1960s that their full realization was achieved.
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The Black Codes and birthright citizenship
The status of Black Americans at the time of the Constitution was one of slavery and second-class citizenship. The Constitution itself did not explicitly mention the term "slavery", but it did include provisions that protected and perpetuated the institution of slavery. The Three-Fifths Compromise, for instance, allowed each slave to be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of representation in Congress and taxation.
In the decades following the Constitution's ratification, Black Americans continued to face oppression and discrimination. Despite the abolition of slavery in 1865, southern states passed laws known as Black Codes, which restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans and forced them to work for their former enslavers. These codes were a direct response to the growing number of freed slaves and were designed to maintain white supremacy and control over the Black population.
The Black Codes were a significant setback for African Americans, as they severely restricted their freedoms and prevented them from fully exercising their rights as citizens. The codes included vagrancy laws, which allowed local governments to arrest freed slaves for minor infractions and force them to work off their sentences as unpaid labourers for their former owners. Other restrictions included limits on the right to own property, bear arms, and enter into contracts.
To address the injustices of the Black Codes and establish birthright citizenship, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens with equal civil rights. This Act affirmed a rule of citizenship by birth that did not depend on race. However, it excluded Native Americans and "Indians not taxed".
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, further solidified the principle of birthright citizenship and guaranteed equal protection under the law. Section 1 of the Amendment states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." This amendment overrode the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of 1857, which held that African Americans could not be American citizens, whether enslaved or free.
The 14th Amendment became a foundational text for future civil rights advancements and provided legal grounds for challenging discrimination and segregation. However, it faced immediate backlash and legal challenges, and its promises of equality and protection were not always upheld. Despite these challenges, the amendment's birthright citizenship provision remains pivotal in debates on immigration and the rights of those born in the United States.
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Enfranchisement and political representation
The original U.S. Constitution did not grant citizenship to Black people, nor did it grant them any political representation. In fact, the Constitution initially only counted men for purposes of representation, and voters were spoken of directly as men. The infamous
The 13th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, prohibited slavery anywhere in the United States. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, revoked the Black Codes and declared that states could not pass laws that denied citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms. It also amended the three-fifths clause, stating that population counts would be based on the "whole number of persons" in a state, meaning that all people would be counted equally. The 14th Amendment also included provisions relating to voting and representation in Congress, protecting the right to vote for all male citizens aged 21 or older.
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African American men the right to vote. However, despite these Reconstruction Amendments, Black Americans continued to face violent opposition to their civil rights. White supremacists used violence, terror, and voter suppression to retake control of southern state governments. From 1890 to 1908, state legislatures in the South passed new constitutions, amendments, or other laws that essentially disenfranchised most Black people.
It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the result of years of effort by African Americans and allies in the Civil Rights Movement, that Black people within the Southern states recovered their ability to exercise their right to vote and live with full civil rights. In 1969, Shirley Chisholm was sworn in as the nation's first African-American congresswoman.
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Civil rights and segregation
The status of Black Americans at the time of the Constitution was one of slavery. The Constitution, in its original form, did not mention the words "black" or "white", but the ugly fact of Black slavery was given constitutional status. The three-fifths clause, or Article I, section 2, clause 3 of the Constitution, started with a quota for Black people. The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces for control of Congress was a major cause of the Civil War.
The 13th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, prohibited slavery anywhere in the United States. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, revoked the Black Codes and declared that states could not pass laws that denied citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms. It also included provisions relating to voting and representation in Congress, stating that population counts would be based on the "whole number of persons" in a state, thus doing away with the three-fifths clause. The 14th Amendment also established birthright citizenship, guaranteeing to Black Americans and all people born or naturalized in the United States, the constitutional protection against removal.
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African American men the right to vote. However, this did not end the struggle for equality, which would continue for more than a century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Southern state legislatures passed Jim Crow laws to establish racial segregation and restrict the civil rights of Black people, including their right to vote. This period of Redemption by white Southerners saw the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the disfranchisement of most Black people, as well as many poor white people, from voting.
The Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century led to the passing of laws by Congress to end segregation and enforce constitutional civil rights and voting rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally enabled Black people within the Southern states to exercise their right to vote and live with full civil rights.
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The Compromise of 1877 and Jim Crow laws
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal agreement between Southern Democrats and allies of the Republican Rutherford Hayes to settle the result of the 1876 presidential election. The Compromise effectively ended the Reconstruction era, a series of laws put in place after the Civil War to protect the rights of African Americans, especially in the South. The Compromise of 1877 marked the end of federal interference in southern affairs, which led to widespread disenfranchisement of Black voters.
The Compromise of 1877 was unique in that it took place after the Civil War and was an attempt to prevent a second outbreak of violence. It was also unusual in that it was not reached after open debate in Congress but was primarily worked out behind the scenes with virtually no written record. The agreement was between Democrats controlling the House of Representatives and Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate in the 1876 election. Democrats agreed to not block Hayes' victory on the condition that Republicans withdraw all federal troops from the South, thus consolidating Democratic control over the region.
The Compromise of 1877 set the stage for the Jim Crow era, a period of widespread segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South. Beginning in the late 1870s, southern legislatures passed a series of laws requiring the separation of whites from "persons of colour" in public transportation, schools, parks, restaurants, theatres, and other locations. These laws, known as the Jim Crow laws, governed life in the South until the successes of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The Jim Crow laws were a direct result of the Compromise of 1877, as the end of federal interference in the South allowed southern states to enact and enforce these segregationist policies without opposition from the federal government.
The Compromise of 1877 was a significant event in American history, as it marked the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of a period of widespread segregation and disenfranchisement for African Americans in the South. The Compromise was also notable for its secretive nature, with much of the agreement being reached behind closed doors and with little written evidence. The precise details of the Compromise remain a matter of historical debate, but most historians agree that it played a crucial role in shaping the political and social landscape of the South for decades to come.
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Frequently asked questions
Before the 13th Amendment, Black people in the US were enslaved, and their status was that of property, as defined by the Dred Scott v. Sanford case.
The 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, abolished slavery and prohibited it anywhere in the United States.
After the 13th Amendment, Black people were freed from slavery, but they faced ongoing discrimination and violence. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted them citizenship and revoked the Black Codes, declaring that states could not deny citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms.
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted Black men the right to vote. However, it did not provide protection for voters, and many states found ways to restrict Black voter access. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Black people in the Southern states fully recovered their ability to exercise their voting rights.
