To what extent were African-Americans freed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments? What forces shaped freed slaves’ lives during Reconstruction and the latter 19th century?

As we know the 13th amendment states: “ Neither slavery not involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject in their jurisdiction. Therefore, the congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation (12/18/1865).” As we can see the 13th amendment did free African/African Americans from slavery, yet they were limited since radicals such as Andrew Johnson( Lincoln’s successor after assassination) (both from the Republican Party) created the “Black Codes” as a reconstruction policy for the new southern governments that attempted to regulate the lives of former slaves. Under this law, former slaves were able to legalize their marriage, ownership of property and limited access to courts. I say limited since they were denied the right to testify against whites, to serve in militia, serve on juries and more importantly, to vote. Therefore, the death of slavery did not automatically translated to the birth of freedom since “The Black Codes” impede free slaves from having equal rights as their white counterparts. However, not everyone was a radical in the Republican Party, some of the moderates believed that Johnson’s plan was flawed. In June, 1866 another amendment was passed known as the 14th amendment “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction therefore, are citizens of the United States and of the states wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of like, liberty, or property, without the due process law; nor deny to any person within jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This means, that if a state abridge the privilege and immunity of citizens or denying them from equal protection of the law. The amendment did not grant blacks the right to vote, but it did provide that if the state denied Blacks from voting, state representation in the congress will be reduced. Therefore, states should not deny any men (keyword here) from voting. This amendment created a commotion in congress since democrats opposed to this and did not vote in favor (interesting how Democratic Party is the complete opposite of what it represented back then.) Although, the 14th amendment passed, only males over 21 were allowed to vote. In 1870 15th amendment was passed. With this, the racial portion was removed from the language, affirming that all men could vote. Yet, voters were asked to pay poll taxes, pass a literacy test, and own property in order to vote. This was known as “the grandfather clause” which it was recognized as unconstitutional in 1915. In addition, “equal vote” was not acquired until August 18, 1920 when the 19th amendment was ratified and allowed women to vote.

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