What are the Reconstruction Amendments?

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are commonly referred to as the Reconstruction Amendments, adopted between 1865 and 1870. After the Civil War, these amendments were intended to cement the legal status (ensure civil rights and protections for) of African Americans and to reintegrate the Confederate states into the Union.

Vocabulary:

Abolition: the act of ending a system, practice, or institution.

Abridge: to shorten, reduce, or deprive of.

Amendment: a change in a document; an article added to the U.S. Constitution.

Confederacy: an alliance; the Confederate States of America, a group of states that separated from the United States during the Civil War.

Consummate: to complete or fulfill; to make perfect.

Immunity: exemption from service, duties, or liabilities.

Insurrection: an act of revolt, rebellion, or resistance against a government.

Jim Crow: a system of legal and extralegal measures designed to segregate African Americans and maintain white supremacy in the United States from the late 1800s until the 1960s.

Propaganda: a form of communication, usually biased or misleading, that is designed to promote a particular political point of view or agenda.

Provision: a clause in a legal document; a policy or a rule.

Ratification: a process of approval or expressing consent.  In the United States, amendments to the Constitution must be passed by Congress by a two-thirds majority and then sent to the states for ratification, which requires three-fourths of the state legislatures (or state ratifying conventions) to approve the change.

Segregation: the act of setting apart; the enforced separation of racial groups.

Vitalize: to give life to.

13th Amendment:

• Passed on January 1, 1865

• Ratified on December 6, 1865 (by Tennessee)

• First amendment to be ratified after the end of the Civil War

• Purpose was to abolish slavery and revive restoration

• Grants African Americans the right to be citizens and have the same rights as white citizens (did not guarantee citizenship for newly freed African Americans via Dred Scott v. Sanford)

• Abolished slavery throughout the United States and granted freedom and rights to former slaves

• Allowed the former Confederate states to be restored to the Union

14th Amendment:

• Ratified on July 28, 1868 (by Tennessee)

• Purpose was to grant full United States citizenship to African Americans

• Grants full citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including African Americans

• Provides equal protection under the law and due process, which helped to dismantle the legal basis for segregation and discrimination

• Forced Confederate states to give African Americans citizenship and equal protection, which they were previously denied.

Its provisions (5 sections):

• Everyone who is born in the United States is a citizen (section 1)

• No state can take away the privileges and immunities of a U.S citizen (section 1)

• No state can take away a person’s life, freedom, or property without the due process of the law or deny any person equal protection of the laws (section 1)

• If a state takes away the right to vote from any of its male citizens, its number of representatives in Congress will be reduced (section 2)

• No leader of the Confederacy can hold state or federal office unless Congress decides to allow it by a two-thirds vote (section 3)

• The United States government is committed to paying its debts, but will not repay any Confederate debts or financial losses including the loss of slaves due to Emancipation (section 4)

15th Amendment:

• Ratified on February 3, 1870 (by Tennessee)

• A state cannot deny or abridge a United States citizen’s rights because of their race, color, or previous situation.

• It granted African American men the right to vote, which was a step toward political equality and civil rights.

• African American men's right to vote challenged Confederate power.