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The convention at Philadelphia drew up one of the most influential documents in history, the constitution of the United States. Among some of the controversial issues regarding the delegates was that of slavery. Slaves made up about one fifth of the population in the American Colonies. Majority of them lived Southern Colonies where 40 percent was consisted of the population.
Delegates from states with large populations of slaves argues that slaves should be considered person in determining delegates from states where slavery had disappeared or almost disappeared argued that slaves should be included in taxation, but not in determining representation. Slavery in the US was abolished by the thirteen amendments. The Supreme Court’s decision in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) suggested that section 2 gave Congress the authority to outlaw “badges and incidents” of slavery as well as the institution itself.
Thus it is not surprising that for much of the twentieth century civil rights litigation focused almost entirely on section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted in 1868. In response to those issues Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, this amendment declared slavery illegal, was ratified by the necessary number of states, although not by any Southern states. Life for African Americans was very hard; African Americans were still slaves that had no rights. One political issue they faced was they were not allowed to mingle with any other races.
The majority of America’s history African Americans has lived in the South. No other portion in the United States has experienced such a mixture of African and European, master and slave. However prior to 1863 all the south wanted was the prevention of intermingling between the different races, cultures and classes. Following the war, the most considerable issue for a handful of Northern leaders was the status of freed slaves. Many Americans would think that slavery ended back in 1865 with the end of the American Civil War. While most people think of slavery, it is often connected with “old slavery. Old slavery, before 1863, was a costly system because of transportation costs and the relatively small number of people who were slaves. Because of those two reasons that slaves during this time were treated to some extent better than the slaves of today. During the beginning of the civil war, both northern Whites and free Blacks came forward to join the Union Army. At the commencing of the war, both African American slaves and freeman saw this chance to serve in the military as a method for relinquishing their shackles and proving their inclusive merit to this nation.
A number of African American slaves, for some unidentified reasons, remained with their owners and assisted them on the side of the Confederacy during the entire period of the Civil War. There was prevalent resistance by whites on both the Union blue and Confederate gray sides in accommodating Blacks as part of the military. Lincoln discarded the partaking of Blacks at first in the Union Army. Lincoln did not want to alienate those border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri who still owned slaves but were loyal to the Union.
West Virginia became a state in 1863 and stayed in the Union. There were also many anti-abolitionist groups in the North who felt this war should not involve Blacks. President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. The war to maintain the Union now becomes a rebellious struggle for the abolition of slavery. The release of all slaves in areas still in rebellion” that ex-slaves were given the formal right to be received in the U.
S. Union Armed Forces. The fatalities on both sides of the war were climbing, therefore more soldiers were needed. Lincoln desired a win, for that reason the Emancipation was aimed at getting more recruits. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed those slaves in the states under the jurisdiction of the Confederacy. The Setting freed all slaves opened the door full fledged for African Americans to participate in the Civil war. On May 1, 1863 the War Department created the Bureau of colored troops to handle recruitment and organize an all black regiment.
By the end of the Civil War over 186, 000 African American men served in the US Armed Forces and over 38,000 died in effort to be part of American history and freedom. Even though Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation it did not end slavery in the nation. Lincoln recognized that the Proclamation would have to be followed by a constitutional amendment in order to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. So the 13th Amendment was passed at the end of the Civil War before the Southern states had been restored to the Union and should have easily passed the congress.
The 13th amendment and the 14th and 15th are the trio of Civil War amendments that greatly expanded the civil rights of Americans. After the war the south had to be rebuilt, African Americans were slowly coming part of the nation. The 14th amendment confirmed the citizenship for African Americans and the 15th amendment made it illegal to deny the right to vote. In the wake of the Thirteenth Amendment, many down south states began passing “Black Codes” which took belongings and the franchise away from African Americans.
The states of Mississippi and South Carolina approved the first and toughest actions late in 1865, and other southern states soon followed. Congress next enacted and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. The initial section of that Amendment was evidently directed at clearing up the status of African-Americans as citizens. After the citizens from the south claimed that blacks weren’t citizens, Congress and the states adopted, in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment that dictated that no state shall deny any citizen the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Conformist white Southern democrats in the 1870’s, called Redeemers or Bourbons, began to take run of state governments. Mississippi’s new state constitution in 1890 banned blacks from voting and office holding in order to filter Mississippi politics. Numerous Southerners and Northerners alike had made challenges against possessions and literacy tests, claiming that states were using them as a way to put a stop to blacks and a few poor whites from voting.
The general public of Louisiana responded in 1898 to these challenges by legislating the Grandfather Clause, which declared that voting tests would not apply to voters whose fathers or grandfathers were registered voters on January 1, 1867, when no African man in the state was registered to vote. These lead to the Jim Crow laws system of laws ensuring common segregation in transportation, accommodations, schools, courts, that came about in all Southern state. Following the Civil War a key undertaking was the reconstruction of Southern railroads, ports, roads, and communication systems.
Centralized funding supported this reconstruction. Among 1865 and the early 1870s, over 8,000 miles of new railroad track were laid. As a result of the end of the 1880s, the South had one of the best railroad systems not just in the United States, but in the world. Nevertheless, in upgrading their own financial system and infrastructure, Southerners had become needy on aid from the federal administration. Once the new road and rail network was definitely in place, Southerners began arguing for the need to industrialize.
When the war was over, numerous southerners could no longer depend exclusively on cotton crops, especially while the rest of the country was investing in commerce. Three major industries emerged in the South after the Civil War which was cotton, iron, and tobacco. Initial attempts to encourage construction of Southern mills with Southern finance capital gave way to a mill industry largely controlled by outside Northeastern United States and foreign capitalists. Racially prejudiced hiring practices conquered employment in the new industry.
A large amount factory jobs went to whites with blacks doing only unskilled jobs if they were employed at all. Mill proprietors warranted this discrimination by saying that whites had suffered in rivalry with blacks for agricultural jobs before the Civil War. The mill proprietors also used racial tensions to quell white labor organizing by threatening to hire black workers if white workers did not cooperate. Southerners tapped rich coal and iron ore reserves so effectively that by 1900, the South led the world in coal production.
Southern had also fostered 1880-1900 incredible growth in iron and steel mills. Preliminary financing of the steel and iron industries came from Southern sources, but foreign investors and Northerners such as Andrew Carnegie largely owned these industries. Customarily tobacco was grown but not often processed in the South. The late 1870s and early 1880s, Southern capitalists recognized flourishing tobacco factories. In 1900, tobacco processing was a major industry. As was the case with cotton and iron/steel, outside capitalists controlled the industry.
In sum, Northerners had indeed reconstructed the Southern economy, one they now controlled, but they did little to change the South itself. In conclusion for most of America’s history the majority of African Americans have lived in the South. No other section in the United States has experienced such an intermingling of African and European, master and slave. However, a major theme of southern history prior to 1863 was the prevention of intermingling between the different races, cultures and classes. After the war, the most significant issue for a handful of Northern leaders was the status of freed slaves.
In response to questions about the legality of the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment, which declared slavery illegal, was ratified by the necessary number of states, although not by any Southern states. Then the 14th and 15th amendment was passed which gave African Americans more rights. Reference Joe Kelly. Labour. Spring 2009. p. 302 (3 pages). Campbell, Randolph B. The Journal of Southern History. Athens: Feb 1992. Vol. 58, Iss. 1; p. 99 Thomas A Stapleford. Labor History. New York: Feb 2008.
Vol. 49, Iss. 1; p. 1 Edwin J Perkins. Reviews in American History. Baltimore: Sep 2009. Vol. 37, Iss. 3; p. 457 (6 pages) Michael Vorenberg. Civil War History. Kent: Dec 2005. Vol. 51, Iss. 4; p. 416 (12 pages) Stevenson, Brenda E.. Afro – Americans in New York Life and History (1977-1989). New York: Jul 31, 1981. Vol. 5, Iss. 2; p. 59 Raoul Lowery Contreras. La Prensa San Diego. San Diego, Calif. : Apr 17, 2009. Vol. 33, Iss. 16; p. 7 (1 page) Caldwell, Melvin. Chicago Defender. Chicago, Ill. : Oct 8-Oct 10, 2004. Vol. XCIX, Iss. 110; p. 2 www. UShistorywisc. edu