Free at last Pt.3 Flashcards
What was the 14th Amendment and when was it proposed and ratified?
- Proposed June 1866
- Passed July 1868
-Excluded former Confederate leaders from politics
- Gave all US citizens full and equal protection under the law
- Defined what constituted a US citizen
Who was considered a citizen after the 14th Amendment?
- Anyone born or naturalised in the USA, making all ex-slaves citizens
What was the Dredd Scott case and when did it occur?
- An 1857 case that deemed slaves/Black Americans could not be classified as citizens of the US
What was the 15th Amendment and when was it passed?
- February 1869
- Prohibited any federal or state government from depriving any US Citizen of the right to vote on racial grounds
Why was there controversy surrounding the 15th Amendment?
- Made no reference of the right for ex-slaves to hold political office
- Henry Wilson criticised it as it did not forbid any testing of entitlement, meaning many could be discriminated against on these grounds instead
- Women’s suffrage was not included
What were the benefits of the 15th Amendment?
- Everywhere in the USA people of any ethnic background could not be denied the right to vote based on that
- Now entitled ex-slaves to full rights of citizenship
What was the Civil Rights Act and when was it passed?
- March 1875
- Affirmed the “equality of all men before the law” and prohibited racial discrimination in public places and facilities such as restaurants and public transportation
- Failed to mention public schools
What and when was the Slaughterhouse decision?
- US supreme court in 1873 declared that the 14th Amendment/Civil rights act applied only to cases concerning national (federal) citizenship such as interstate travel and not to those concerning state citizenship and thus any cases concerning that
- Meant that the federal government was unable to protect black Americans’ rights in state jurisdiction
How did the Supreme court undermine much of what had been achieved during reconstruction?
- Slaughterhouse decision
- Many breakthroughs made during reconstruction were invalidated due to the ruling on the United States vs Reese Case in 1876
Of what importance was the Reese vs United States case and when did it happen?
- 1876
- US Supreme court ruled that the 15th Amendment did not give anyone the right to vote after a Kentucky official denied Black men their right to vote
- Made the 15th Amendment difficult to enforce and later in 1883 the civil rights act
How and when did reconstruction come to an end?
- Ended in 1877 after Rutherford B Hayes was elected president
- Much of the Radical Republicans’ work had been overturned or overruled by those with heavy prejudices, and none could oppose them as democrats now had equal and greater numbers
- Deaths of the Radical republican leaders Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner
Did ex-slaves have any presence in politics?
- Hundreds attended conventions and joined union leagues to aid the republican party
- By 1867 there was presence and influence of black delegates in politics
- In state government around 600 ex-slaves served as legislators
- Only 2 black senators in the period, with around 14 congressmen
- Many accused of being under the influence of carpetbaggers and scalawags
Was Black presence in politics seen as a positive thing?
- Many not racist people saw it as a great show of freedoms and reform
- New reconstructed state governments required radical reform that cost a lot of money - so the government was accused of financial incompetence. Much of this was blamed on black representatives
- Southerners saw the presence of black people in politics as a reason for failure during reconstruction
What were some of the reasons members of the confederacy might’ve been angry with the government, union and Black Americans?
- Loss of 25% of the white adult male population and many states had been devastated by the war
- Economy was bad and the Southerners faced losses of around 2 billion due to the abolition of slavery
- Black Americans now given “equal” rights
- Confederacy put under military occupation with many of their perceived freedoms violated from 1867 onwards
- Fear of black domination and exploitation by carpetbaggers/scalawags
When was the KKK started, what were its goals and what did it evolve into?
- 24th December 1865
- Former confederate soldiers formed the Ku Klux Klan (KKK, derived from the Greek for circle and coined to mean “white racial brotherhood”)
- Apparently stood for maintaining chivalry, humanity, mercy and patriotism
- Began as a group causing light intimidation of black people however changed quickly into a terrorist organisation with demonstrations and executions
- Elaborate costumes, rituals and titles soon were added
