Why are the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments referred to as the Reconstruction Amendments?

In 1865, the Union soldiers were victorious, ending the four-year American Civil War. Reconstruction then became the former slave’s best friend, promising to enforce the civil rights of African Americans. However, reconstruction was short-lived, officially eliminated when political compromises were made, and Rutherford B. Hayes given the oval in exchange for the un-enforcement of federal troops in the South. One of the reoccurring themes of the Gilded Age was discrimination and the later emergence of the “New South.” Although slavery was now abolished and the 13th,14th, and 15th Amendments were ratified, a new wave of racial incarceration developed. 

The 13th Amendment states "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This post-Civil war amendment holds great significance to the Plessy v. Ferguson court case because it abolished slavery in the United States and became the first official assertion of civil rights for slaves in the U.S. Constitution (1).

The passing of the 13th Amendment did not yield an immediate welcoming for slaves into white American society during the nineteenth century. To challenge the new amendment, former Confederate states established Black Codes to preserve the privileges of slavery in terms of free labor from newly freed Blacks, and to prevent free Black men and women from asserting their newly granted civil rights supported by the Constitution.

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” In addition to abolishing slavery, the 14th Amendment legally combatted Black Codes, deeming all peoples born in the United States citizens, and denied any States from revoking these rights through the equal protection clause, that was intended to weight all United States citizens equally under the judgment of the law (2).

The 14th Amendment is significant to African Americans and the Plessy v. Ferguson case because it was ratified to prevent newly freed slaves from being discriminated against by state and local laws.

Lastly, the third amendment in the post-Civil War civil rights legislation trio is the 15th Amendment. “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 15th Amendment granted African Americans the right to vote, a huge Reconstruction victory for American Americans as it was the last piece of the legislation trio to integrate newly freed slaves into society as American citizens (3).

Much like the 13th and 14th Amendments, the former Confederate Southern states, as well as some in the North, did not abide by these new policies, and African Americans were subjected to local terror and discriminatory state guidelines that revoked voting and citizenship privileges such as property and business ownership and civic participation.  

An example of the rejection of the 15th Amendment and the Reconstruction initiative of the post-Civil War South is the Colfax Massacre of 1873. The Colfax Massacre is worth referencing because it also took place in Louisiana, the setting of the railroad car Homer Plessy was arrested in for violating the Louisiana Separate Car Act that will later be discussed. In summary, the Colfax Massacre was the result of an angry white terrorist group’s reaction to the newly elected governor of Louisiana Republican William Kellogg who was elected in part by a large amount of Black Republican voters who voted during the election. Conscious of the radical white supremacy groups that may retaliate in protest of the election of the Louisiana governor, militant freed Black politicians occupied the Grant Parish government building in Colfax. Prior to the Massacre, the Grant Parish regional government was evenly mixed between black and white townspeople (4).

The day of the massacre, 150 black men were murdered by a white militia group of white former Confederates and white supremacists, radicalizing against the election.  

The Colfax Massacre is notably the climax of the terror against African Americans since the ratification of the 13th,14th and 15th Amendments, eradicating the Black Republican party of the South and ending Reconstruction Era.

Despite the abolishment of slavery, official citizenship and civil rights, and the right to vote that were all allotted to Black slaves under the Constitution after the Civil War, Reconstruction came to an end in 1876, just eleven years after the passing of the 13th Amendment, with the political exchange of favors between the Democrat and Republican Parties in the presidential election of 1876.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are significant to the Plessy v. Ferguson court decision because they personify that despite the legal validity of African American citizenship, African Americans were awarded full US citizenship after the Civil War, and the separate but equal ruling set a precedent that defines modern discrimination for the next half-century.    

Why are the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments known as the Civil War Amendments?

What Amendments are known as the Reconstruction Amendments?

Why were the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments added to the U.S. Constitution quizlet?