Reconstruction Amendments AMENDMENT XIII (13) Passed by Congress January 31, Ratified December 6, Section 1. Neither slavery nor 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 to their jurisdiction. AMENDMENT XIV (14) Passed by Congress June 13, Ratified July 9, Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge (deny) the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive (take away) any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law… Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians… Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, under the United States, [who] shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Section 4. …neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave… AMENDMENT XV (15) Passed by Congress February 26, Ratified February 3, Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged (taken away) by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Source: Archives.gov

Hiram Revels In 1867, the first Reconstruction Act was passed dividing the South into five military districts and granting voting rights to all male citizens, regardless of race. By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks in large part to the votes of African Americans. On January 20, 1870, Hiram R. Revels was elected by Mississippi to fill the Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy. On February 25, two days after Mississippi was granted representation in Congress for the first time since it seceded in 1861, Revels was sworn in. Hiram Revels and some 15 other African American men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and hundreds of African Americans held local offices. Source: History.com

Source: Records of the U.S. Senate, RG 46

Education Teacher's Monthly Report, Little Rock, Arkansas, March 24, 1865 "Number enrolled: 65 males, 96 females, 161 total... Number who pay full tuition fees, 17 males, 36 females, 53 total." Source: Arkansas, Little Rock Superintendent of Freedmen, Narrative School Reports from Teachers M1901, roll 16

Relief (Rations) Rations Issued at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in June and July 1867 "Names of person, no. of adults and children, Dates of issue, no. of days, no. of lbs. of bacon and corn, and Remarks [race]." Source: Arkansas, Fort Smith (Sebastian County), Register of Persons Drawing Rations M1901, roll 8

For 1864 and 1865, the Freedman’s Bureau cost the Tax-payers of the Nation, at least 25 million dolars. For 1866, the share of the Tax-payers of Pennsylvania will be about 1 million dollars.

"Colored rule in a reconstructed state," caption for a cartoon showing members of the South Carolina Legislature in argument in the House, with Columbia rebuking them. Woodcut illustration in Source: Harper's Weekly, 1874 March 14, page 229.

KKK In 1866 a group of white southerners created a secret society opposed to African Americans obtaining civil rights, particularly the right to vote. They called themselves the Ku Klux Klan. Klan members wore white robes and hoods to hide their identities and harass newly freed slaves. Goals: Drive out carpetbaggers Regain control of the South for the Democratic Party Tactics: Harassed Freedmen’s Bureau workers Burned homes, churches, schools of freed blacks Kept Republicans (specially blacks) from voting through intimidation.

Civil Rights Act of 1866 “all persons born in the United States …excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and …shall have the same right, …to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens… Civil Rights Act of 1875 “all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal and enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement… regardless of any previous condition of servitude. Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the foregoing section by denying to any citizen …the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges …shall, for every offence, pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person …and shall also, for every such offense, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor…

1.“Be it enacted,...That no freedman (free negro) … shall keep or carry fire-arms of any kind.” 2.“all white persons so assembling themselves (getting together) with freedmen, free negroes… on terms of equality… with a freed woman, free negro shall be deemed vagrants (homeless- a shame), and on conviction thereof shall be fined.” 3.“it shall not be lawful for any freedman… to intermarry with any white person… and any person who shall so intermarry, shall be deemed guilty of a felony” 4.“In the management of [a freed negro who gets a job with a white employer], said master or mistress shall have the power to inflict such moderate corporal punishment as a father or guardian is allowed to inflict on his or her child.” Black Codes of Mississippi, 1865

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Disenfranchisement The Poll tax forced former slaves to pay a tax to be able to vote. The Literacy test said a former slave could only vote if they were able to read The Grandfather Clause said a person could only vote if their grandfather had voted. The following are voting laws that many southern states passed during the Reconstruction Era