Essay On 13th Amendment

Words: 478
Pages: 2

The United States Constitution, established in 1787, was intended to give checks and balances within all three branches of the government. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments of the constitution. They established basic liberties for the citizens of the United States. As the country became more established, leaders brought their ideas to the government. These ideas resulted in the addition of amendments to give more protection for each liberty. Lincoln’s plan toward reconstruction included abolishing slavery and giving equal rights to African-Americans. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments played an important role in the reconstruction. The 13th amendment officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery to this day. …show more content…
This amendment stated that any American cannot be denied the right to vote, based on race, color or being a former slave. Despite the amendment, many unfair practices were used to prevent African-American men from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. These practices were done by Redeemers, a white supremacist group who wanted to see the government go back to traditional white rule. Some of the unfair practices they would use were to create literacy tests, or poll taxes to try to keep African-American men from …show more content…
We now have 27 amendments in the Constitution. Without the addition of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, lives of African-American’s would not have been changed as drastically as they were. For example, there is no way to know if African-American people would be free or slaves without the 13th amendment. And if the 13th amendment was not ratified, would the rights for African-American’s to be citizens or African-American men to vote even exist. The addition of these amendments contributed to the reconstruction the United