“The Second Founding: How The Civil War And Reconstruction Remade The Constitution '' by Eric Forner is about how the American Civil War and the period of Reconstruction converted the Constitution and the country itself. In the book Eric Forner analyzes many different struggles that the United States went through during the era of Reconstruction. Despite Eric Forner analyzing different struggles, two of the struggles that are mentioned a lot in the book are the political and social struggles of the Reconstruction era. Despite there being many different points Eric Forner makes throughout the book, the main argument that Eric Forner argues is how the Reconstruction era after the Civil war was a crucial transformative moment in United States history. Impact was most noticeable in the constitution being adjusted and a lot more comprehensive which made a …show more content…
These three amendments are all very powerful and important amendments because the 14th amendment granted equal rights under the law and in Eric Forner’s words he states “While the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 granted former enslaved people the right to be recognized as citizens” Downs, Jim. Sick from Freedom (p. 8). The 13th amendment abolished all slavery and the book by Eric Forner states “the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, which formally abolished the institution of slavery.” Downs, Jim. Sick from Freedom (p. 23). Last but not least the 15th amendment which simply “enabled freedom to vote” Downs, Jim. Sick from Freedom (p. 8). There are many arguments that Eric Forner speaks about in his book despite the main one being how the Reconstruction era after the Civil war was a crucial transformative moment in United States history. Eric Forner also argues how the reconstruction amendments which were the 13th, 14th, 15th, were a response to the failures of the original Constitution that was
In Paul Finkelman’s article “How the Civil War Changed the Constitution” shows how the Civil War affected the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. One of the main reasons for the Civil War was slavery. The constitution however, did not use the word slavery in their constitution. I found that to be very interesting because its almost like Americans were ashamed of their behavior. Why were the Northern’s more against using the word slavery than southerners?
During this time period, slavery was abolished, civil rights for former slaves were established, and the right to vote. However, the 14th amendment created
The 13th amendment made it illegal to have slaves which meant that the slaves were free and wouldn’t have to be abused or work for free. The 14th amendment made all slaves U.S citizens as long as they were born in the U.S. having the slaves be citizens would bring the United States closer together as a whole country. The 15th amendment was that all male U.S citizens could vote no matter your race. This made the U.S come together by voting for people for political roles and not letting only whites vote. Lastly I will talk about the Civil Rights Act of
At the beginning of the semester, we were given to book to read The first book being The Great Depression: A Diary by Benjamin Roth and A Short History of Reconstruction by Eric Foner. While reading them we wanted to compare the views of America's economy by comparing the arguments of the two authors mentioned, Roth and Foner. Benjamin Roth's lived through the Great Depression and his book The Great Depression: A Diary was all based on what him and his family experienced and went through during that hard time. Roth was a lawyer but stated in 1931 that “Even professional men were hit hard by the Depression,” he also said “Lawyers are almost as badly off and most are not taking in enough to pay.” Roth mentioned that in
After the end of the American Civil War in 1865 our growing country was in desperate need of adjustments. The Union had beaten the Confederacy which left them in charge of how we were going to fix all of the problems in our country at the time. At this time Abraham Lincoln had been killed and new president Andrew Johnson had been chosen. The three major problems that Johnson decided to address and fix was slavery, the rights of the people, and the rights on voting. These problems would be resolved in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, also known as the “reconstruction amendments”, of the United States Constitution and they brought profound changes to our nation.
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were a series of laws that aimed to abolish slavery, grant citizenship to
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution abolished slavery, granted citizenship to African Americans, and gave them the right to vote. These amendments were a significant step towards equality and helped ensure that African Americans were no longer treated as second-class citizens. The rights granted to African Americans during Reconstruction paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and
The thirteenth amendment banned slavery for black Americans. Although this amendment made slavery illegal, there were still many obstacles that freedmen needed to overcome in order to be free in select states. The fourteenth amendment granted citizenship to all born in the United States and guaranteed equal protection, including formerly enslaved people. This repealed the black codes. The fifteenth amendment gave the right for black men to vote.
While we would like to believe that Reconstruction was the 2nd American Revolution, the facts, however do not completely just do not support this idea entirely. The “Reconstruction” era which was very important, was the time in which the United States sought to rebuild itself after the civil war. The government was hoping for a total over-hall of the social, political and economic structures of the Southern region but this change needed to extend beyond just the south into the entire country and the Federal Government. What happened however, was a series of “reconstruction” efforts, none of which fully addressed the real issues facing the newly freed blacks and poor whites. It seemed everyone had an idea on how we should reconstruct the
The 13th amendment enforces the ban on slavery. The 14th amendment gave Congress authority to enforce the amendment’s prohibition on a state’s denial of equal protection of the laws. Also established the citizenship birthright meaning anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. There is also no denying the person in the United States life, liberty, or property without due process. The 15th amendment gave Congress authority to enforce the amendment’s ban on discrimination by race,
In the aftermath, the US began an era of “reconstruction” in which the conflicts from the Civil War were resolved. Former confederate states were admitted into the Union and services were provided to newly freed African Americans. Although these events came after the establishment of the US, the American Civil War and early Reconstruction period, between 1861-1870, was akin to a second American Revolution because of the ideological and political changes caused by the inception and aftermath of the war. These changes included the
Reconstruction was a monumental era for African-Americans, and for the U.S. as a whole. The Reconstruction era was initially created to gradually abolish slavery and eliminate the racist ways of the South. Even though this was the case, towards the end of Reconstruction, the South showed that Reconstruction didn’t help them develop from their cruel ways by returning to mistreat African Americans At the beginning of the Reconstruction era, African Americans started to have hope that they would finally have a say in the development of their nation. This was due to the fact that immediately when Reconstruction started, Congress sought to protect recently freed slaves by enforcing a civil rights bill and extending the establishment of the Freedmen’s
The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).
Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.