Differences Between The 13th And 15th Amendments

After the North’s victory in the Civil War, and peace was made between the two sides, the nation faced the question of what to do next. They needed to figure out how to redistribute the land in the South, and how to rebuild it. The nation had to find a solution for what to do with former Confederate offices, the representation of the South in Congress and most importantly: what to do with the freed slaves and how to reorganize the government. It was during this time of reconstruction that many of these questions were answered, and while some progress was made, many major areas that needed to be improved and addressed were not. There were amendments made to the constitution, and acts were passed to give black people the rights they deserve, but they were not always followed through. Although slaves were legally freed by the 13th Amendment, black people throughout the country were not treated as such, and, even though some progress was made, many measures were taken to ensure that they would not be. The 14th and 15th Amendments were two big steps taken towards racial equality in America. Both amendments passed during …show more content…
Even though blacks were granted the right to vote by the 15th Amendment, the Force Acts impeded black people from fulfilling this right. The Jim Crow laws kept blacks and whites ‘separate but equal’ up until the 1960s. W.E.B DuBois noted that “the slave went free; stood for a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” Reconstruction ultimately failed to recognize blacks as citizens even though, after the 14th Amendment, they legally were. Black people in America were given rights, but then had them taken away by federal and state laws that were