today we're looking at the reconstruction amendments
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questions down in the description as the american civil war came to an end in april of 1865 it was
clear that radical changes needed to be made to the u.s constitution the primary changes that
needed to be made concerned the issue of slavery and trying to guarantee civil rights and liberties
to former enslaved african americans in 1862 during the civil war president abraham lincoln
had issued the emancipation proclamation which was an executive order freeing all enslaved people in
in southern states as a military measure to weaken the confederate cause however as the
war was drawing to an end lincoln recognized that an amendment to the constitution would be
really the only method of ensuring that slavery would be abolished in the united states forever
this was a daunting task as if you recall back to article 5 of the us constitution that outlines how
to amend or change the constitution it requires a two-thirds majority vote in congress or in other
words in the senate and house representatives and then three quarters of the states to approve the
amendment or to ratify it for the amendment than to be added to the constitution in april of 1864 a
full year before the civil war would be over the senate passed the amendment to abolish slavery
but then the amendment got held up in the house representatives as democrats refused to vote
in favor of it in late 1864 lincoln and the republican leaders in congress such
as thaddeus stevens pushed hard to get the amendment uh the required votes in the house
on january 31st 1865 the amendment barely received the required votes but did pass in the house
now the amendment had to go to the state legislatures where 27 of the 36 states would
need to approve it in the meantime the civil war came to an end and of course president lincoln was
assassinated in april of 1865 but on december 6th of 1865 the 13th amendment was officially ratified
abolishing slavery as former confederate states were added back into the union it became very
clear that many of these states were passing what were called black codes or laws that
heavily discriminated against african americans and and many of these laws sought to basically
keep former enslaved people in a state of slavery in order to permanently correct these practices
thaddeus stevens and the leaders of the radical republicans in congress introduced an amendment
that would seek to protect the civil liberties of all americans by june of 1866 the 14th amendment
passed both houses of congress with the required majority votes and then went to the states for
approval congress then added the stipulation that former confederate states had to ratify or approve
the 13th and 14th amendments as conditions of rejoining the union president andrew johnson and
southern states voiced their disapproval of the amendment but nonetheless on july 9 1868 louisiana
and south carolina became the last two states needed to ratify the 14th amendment the 14th
amendment declared that anyone born in the united states regardless of their racial background
was automatically a citizen of the united states and the state that they resided in however
the amendment did exclude native americans and those of asian descent this amendment completely
overthrew the supreme court's controversial ruling in the dred scott case the amendment
also said that no state could deny the rights of a citizen so states could not deny any citizen
the right to vote the amendment went further by stating the federal government had the authority
to take away a state's representation in congress if it was found that they were denying citizens
especially former enslaved african-americans their rights now lastly the 15th amendment which
guaranteed the right to vote for all male citizens regardless of their race or background at the
time there was still some northern states where african americans were denied the right to vote
the amendment was passed in congress in february of 1869 and then went to be ratified by the
required number of states and by february of 1870 the 15th amendment was ratified by the states
the amendment was celebrated as it opened the door for african-american involvement
in government later in 1870 hiram rhodes rebels of mississippi became the first african-american
member of congress when he was elected to the u.s senate although the amendment was celebrated
there were several loopholes or problems with the 15th amendment many southern states began to place
other requirements on voting such as passing a literacy test or paying a fee or what they called
a poll tax in order to vote among many other strategies and these again were efforts to deny
african americans their rights unfortunately these practices would last almost 100 years as
it wouldn't be until the passage of the civil rights act in 1965 that the u.s government
took action against these discriminatory laws furthermore the 15th amendment completely ignored
the rights of women to vote rights were only guaranteed to men and it wouldn't be until 1920
with the passage of the 19th amendment that women would finally receive the right to vote
although not perfect the 13th 14th and 15th amendments all took great strides
in correcting evils that have been allowed to exist in our nation and although there
are still problems to this day these amendments were very important steps towards giving equal
rights to all americans so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching