Download Civil War Amendments

1/17/2017
networks ­ Print Lesson
Print
Voting is the way the people in a democracy make their wishes known.
Civil War Amendments
SS.7.C.3.6, SS.7.C.3.7, LA.7.1.6.1, LA.7.1.6.2, LA.7.1.7.3
How were civil rights extended following the Civil War?
The 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights are not the only changes that have been made to the Constitution. Seventeen
other amendments have been added over the years. Three from the mid–1800s aimed mainly to give more rights to African
Americans.
Before 1865, many African Americans were enslaved. Enslaved people had almost no rights. Slavery divided the Northern states,
which did not have it, and the Southern states, which did. It grew to be a serious national problem.
Then, in 1860 and 1861, 11 Southern states tried to leave the Union and form a new country. From 1861 to 1865, the North and
South fought a war—called the Civil War—over whether the states could do this. When it ended, the South had lost and slavery had
been eliminated, or taken away.
Three amendments were passed after the Civil War. All of them tried in some way to help African Americans. However, unfair
treatment of this group did not end. States kept African Americans separated from whites. New laws denied them basic rights. Not
until the 1900s were African Americans able to enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Civil War amendments.
The Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of the Civil War amendments. Approved after the war in 1865, it outlawed slavery. In effect, it
freed hundreds of thousands of enslaved African Americans.
The Thirteenth Amendment also banned forced labor, which means forcing someone to work. The only legal forced labor was as a
punishment for committing a crime. Because of this exception, prisoners can be made to work in prison workshops. This wording also
makes it possible for judges to order some people who break the law to do community service.
The Fourteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery. However, it did not guarantee full rights for African Americans. Many Southern states soon
passed laws known as black codes. These laws kept African Americans from holding certain jobs, gave them few property rights,
and limited their rights in other ways.
The Fourteenth Amendment was approved in 1868 to try to protect African Americans from these laws. First, it defined an American
citizen as anyone “born or naturalized in the United States.” This definition included most African Americans.
Second, the amendment said that every state must give all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” The purpose was to force states to
end unfair laws that hurt African Americans. That goal was not achieved until the late 1900s. In those years, this clause was also
used to help other unequally treated groups. Those groups included women and people with disabilities.
Third, the amendment forbade state governments from unreasonable action or interference with U.S. citizens. Finally, the amendment
said that states cannot take a person’s “life, liberty, or property” unless they follow due process. As you learned earlier, due process
means fair procedures set by law. The “due process” clause proved very important.
Over time, the courts have used the “due process” wording to redefine the reach of the Bill of Rights. When it was first approved, the
Bill of Rights was thought to apply only to the federal government. That changed in 1925, when the Supreme Court decided the case
Gitlow v. New York. The Court ruled that the due process clause protected free speech and a free press from state law. The Court said
that the due process clause requires states to respect these First Amendment rights.
Since the Gitlow case, the Supreme Court has used the Fourteenth Amendment to apply other rights in the Bill of Rights to the states.
This legal interpretation means that citizens in every part of the country have the same basic rights.
The Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, was the last of the Civil War amendments. It says that no state may deny a person the right
to vote because of race. The amendment was meant to guarantee suffrage—the right to vote—for African Americans. Still, many
states found other ways to keep African Americans from voting.
The Fifteenth Amendment was aimed only at African American men. The various states had the power to decide whether women
could vote. Most did not give women that right for many decades. Explaining What was the purpose of the Civil War amendments?
https://connected.mcgraw­hill.com/ssh/book.printNarrative.do?bookId=NB4BRZZPV92X3JQT173BJVERP4&bookEdition=STUDENT&narrativeContainerId=B…
1/3
1/17/2017
networks ­ Print Lesson
Florida CONNECTION
Florida in the Civil War
Florida was the third state that seceded from the Union to found the Confederacy. One of its major roles in the Civil War was supplying
Confederate troops. In May 1865, the Union took control of Florida and freed its slaves. It rejoined the Union in July 1868.
Electoral Process and Voting Rights
SS.7.C.3.7 ,LA.7.1.6.1 , LA.7.1.7.1
In what ways have twentieth­century amendments affected voting rights and changed elections?
During the 1900s, new amendments made important changes in voting and elections. Some made clear who had the right to vote in
every state. Others changed the way elections were conducted, or carried out. Together, these new amendments put more power in
the hands of the people.
The Seventeenth Amendment
Article I of the Constitution says that members of the House of Representatives shall be elected by the people. However, it calls for
members of the Senate to be chosen by the state legislatures. The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, changed that. It
allowed voters to elect their senators directly. This change gave Americans a greater voice in their government.
The Nineteenth Amendment
The Constitution did not guarantee women the right to vote. However, it did not clearly deny the vote to them. Using the powers set
aside for them under the Tenth Amendment, states could make their own laws on woman suffrage. As early as the 1840s, leaders
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned for woman suffrage. Many Americans did not think women should have
the same rights as men, however.
That began to change in the late 1800s. The territory of Wyoming gave women the vote in 1869. Several other territories and states
also did so in the years that followed. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was approved. That finally protected the right of women to
vote in all national and state elections.
The Twenty­third Amendment
Another group that was denied full voting rights was citizens living in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. For many years, they
could not vote for president or vice president. “D.C.” stands for the District of Columbia, an area between Maryland and Virginia.
Since the District is not a state, people there could not vote in national elections. The Twenty­third Amendment changed that situation
in 1961. It said that people in the District may vote for president and vice president. It gave the District the same number of electoral
votes as the smallest state. District residents still do not have a voting representative in Congress, however.
The Twenty­fourth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the right to vote. However, Southern states found ways to block African
Americans from voting. Many Southern states required a poll tax. This was a fee people had to pay to vote. Because the fee had to
be paid not only for the current year but for previous unpaid years as well, it was a great financial burden. Many African Americans
could not afford to pay the tax. Therefore, they could not vote. Poor whites, too, could not afford the tax and could not vote.
The Twenty­fourth Amendment, passed in 1964, made poll taxes illegal in national elections. Two years later, the Supreme Court
banned poll taxes in state elections too. As a result, many African Americans were able to vote for the first time.
The Twenty­sixth Amendment
Throughout our nation’s history, many teens have bravely fought for our country. By law, however, they were not old enough to vote
for the leaders who sent them into battle. Most states set the minimum age for voting at 21.
That changed in 1971, at a time when many young Americans were fighting in the Vietnam War. The Twenty­sixth Amendment
guaranteed the right to vote to citizens 18 years of age and older. As a result, you can register, or sign up, to vote once you turn 18.
Analyzing How did eliminating the poll tax affect voting rights?
LESSON 3 REVIEW
Review Vocabulary
https://connected.mcgraw­hill.com/ssh/book.printNarrative.do?bookId=NB4BRZZPV92X3JQT173BJVERP4&bookEdition=STUDENT&narrativeContainerId=B…
2/3
1/17/2017
networks ­ Print Lesson
1. What were black codes?
LA.7.1.6.1
2. What amendment extended suffrage to nearly half of all American citizens? Why did it affect so many?
SS.7.C.3.7, LA.7.1.6.1
Answer the Guiding Questions
3. Explaining How did the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments extend African Americans' rights?
SS.7.C.3.7
4. Identifying What election laws were affected by the Seventeenth, Nineteenth, Twenty­third, Twenty­fourth, and Twenty­sixth
Amendments?
SS.7.C.3.7
5. EXPOSITORY WRITING What led the Supreme Court to rule that the Bill of Rights applied to the states?
LA.7.1.7.3
https://connected.mcgraw­hill.com/ssh/book.printNarrative.do?bookId=NB4BRZZPV92X3JQT173BJVERP4&bookEdition=STUDENT&narrativeContainerId=B…
3/3