Download ISS January 2017 Timeline of the rights of people of African descent

ISS January 2017
Timeline of the rights of
people of African descent
in the United States
1791
US Constitution and
Bill of Rights ratified
But due to compromises, slavery continues.
3 compromises made about slavery?
3 compromises made about slavery
1. 3/5ths compromise: when counting population in states -for purposes of representation in HsRep, number of electoral
votes, and for taxation of states by federal government -slaves will be counted as 3/5ths of a person
Example: 5000 slaves → +3000 to count of state pop.
10,000 whites → 13,000 total
population of state
for
representation/electoral votes/taxation
3 compromises made about slavery
1.3/5ths compromise
1.Congress will not outlaw international slave trade for at least
20 years.
→ So states whose economy depends on slave
labor can
have time to “adjust” to likelihood that the slave
trade
will eventually come to an end.
3 compromises made about slavery
1.3/5ths compromise
2.Congress will not outlaw international slave trade for at least
20 years.
1.Fugitive slave clause: If a slave escapes to a state where
slavery is not legal, an owner who tracks down the slave can
still claim him/her as his property.
Compromises over slavery
in the US Constitution
• Made sense at the time → Why?
• Turned out to be problematic in the long run → Why?
1793
The Invention of the Cotton Gin
The cotton gin made cleaning cotton
easier and growing it more profitable.
It increased the demand for slaves,
because the farmers earned greater
profits from cotton, and grew bigger
crops which required more people to
tend to.
1820
Missouri Compromise
Aimed to end disputes
between slave and free states.
Unfortunately, it didn’t
succeed as time went on.
1830
Organization of the Abolitionist
Movement in the U.S.
Abolitionist come together to
organize an official movement. While
they didn’t abolish slavery
immediately, they helped raise
awareness of the evils of slavery and
eventually helped bring about the
13th-15th Amendments.
1830-1840s
The Creation of the Black Codes
By mid-century, many states created Black
Codes -- laws governing slaves and free blacks
-- to stop slave revolts, keep their slaves from
the efforts of the abolitionists, help justify the
act of slavery, and keep free blacks in a
subordinate position.
1850 Compromise of 1850
Benefited Abolitionists:
California was admitted as a free
state, and slave trade in D.C. was
banned.
Many free African Americans
were enslaved and lost their
rights.
Benefited Pro-Slavery:
Free African Americans could be
accused of being a fugitive and
captured.
Benefited Both:
The New Mexico and Utah
Territories could decide if they
wanted slavery by popular vote.
1857 Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott tried to buy his
freedom, but his owner
(Sanford) refused. Scott’s lawyer
filed a lawsuit and it eventually
went to the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Taney ruled against
Scott. Justice Taney’s ruling said
that blacks were not citizens and
therefore had no rights. How
could this be changed?
How can a Supreme Court ruling be nullified?
How can a Supreme Court ruling be nullified?
•
•
•
•
The President can … ?
Congress can …?
The Supreme Court can …?
The U.S. Constitution can be …?
How can a Supreme Court ruling be nullified?
• Congress can pass a law that contradicts or corrects it, and the
Supreme Court does NOT challenge it as unconstitutional.
• The Supreme Court can agree to hear another case that raises the
same issues, and can make a very different ruling on it, creating a
new precedent (and overturning the previous one).
• The U.S. Constitution can be formally amended. How is this done?
The process to amend the U.S. Constitution:
1) PROPOSAL:
⅔ of both houses of Congress must vote in favor of a proposed
change to the constitution that has been written and presented to
them (often presented by a congressional “sponsor” in each
house)
2) RATIFICATION:
¾ of the states must vote in favor of the proposed amendment
within 7 years. States may decide (yes/no) either through their
state legislature or by a popular referendum (all voters).
So why are the rulings of the Supreme Court
so consequential?
So why are the rulings of the Supreme Court
so consequential?
• They issue legal principles, which apply to many future situations,
not just solutions to specific conflicts.
• They apply to the entire nation, and cannot be appealed.
• They are very hard to “undo,” and therefore they last for a long
time.
November 1860 – February 1861
After Lincoln’s election, South Carolina
seceded from the Union. Along with 6
other states, they formed the
confederacy.
The Union and
the Confederate
states go to war
with each other.
1861-62 Start of the Civil War
Clear it would be a long war
South: Slavery and States’
Rights
North: Preserve the Union
The North lost the early
battles, like Bull Run.
Helped Lincoln’s decision to
abolish slavery.
1863 -- Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation?
• An executive order
• Issued by Lincoln as
commander in chief of Union
army
• What did it say?
January 1st, 1863
Emancipation Proclamation
- All slaves in the rebel states
were “freed” (symbolically).
- It did NOT apply to slaves in
the “border” states.
- It changed the stated purpose
of the civil war and eventually
made abolition a next step.
Emancipation Proclamation ≠ Abolition of slavery
What made them different?
1865 - 1877
Reconstruction= the period
during which people tried to put the
U.S. back together as one country.
It started with the end of the Civil
War and the deployment of federal
troops and authorities in the south,
to help create and enforce a new
social order. But it ended in 1877
when federal authorities left the south.
Reconstruction era
• A period of dramatic change → rights and opportunities for
African Americans
•
•
•
•
•
•
In the US Constitution
In federal laws
In state laws
In state constitutions
In the people who governed, esp. In the south
In many aspects of people’s daily lives
• A period of intense reaction to these changes → disregard,
violations of the rights of African Americans, limits to opportunities
December Thirteenth Amendment
is ratified
1865
This addition to the U.S.
Constitution abolished slavery
and “involuntary servitude”
throughout the nation
(except as punishment for a crime).
Reconstruction
ACTION intended to expand the rights of African Americans
⇵
REACTION or refusal to allow this change to happen easily
(out of fear of losing racial privilege)
1865 ff
Black Codes Renewed
Black Codes:
laws made to get
around the 13th
Amendment, by
putting new legal
limits on blacks.
1865-1871
The Klan was founded and
terrorized innocent people
Founded by Civil War veterans, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) attacked
former slaves as well as white people who supported civil rights
Blacks are free but are they citizens?
Some people argued:
“Ok, blacks are no
longer slaves, but that
doesn’t mean they are
citizens! Remember
Scott v. Sandford!”
How can you “undo” a Supreme Court
ruling?
July 28, 1868
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
is ratified
It affirmed that all people
born or naturalized in the
U.S. are citizens of the U.S.
and of the state where they
live. It also stated principles
of citizens’ rights that have
continued to be important
for many people, not only
racial minorities.
1866-1877
African Americans
In Office
During Reconstruction, as elections
were conducted under the control of
federal authorities and black men
were allowed to vote, a number of
African-American men were elected
(or appointed) to local, state and/or
national level public offices. Some
served in Congress as a U.S. Senator
or U.S. Representative.
But some people created obstacles to African
American men voting...
• Intimidation at the polls
• Telling African Americans who
or what to vote for
• Threatening violence to people,
jobs, property if they opposed
or disregarded whites
1870 - The Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment says US citizens
cannot be denied the right to vote based on
color, race, or previous condition of
servitude.
The Fifteenth Amendment was officially
ratified by the states in February of 1870.
The First Vote by A. R. Waud
This image depicts a line of African
Americans exercising their new right
and going to the polls to vote.
1871-1875
Enforcement Acts
and The Civil Rights
Act of 1875
Congress passed three new laws, in order to
protect African Americans from the Ku Klux Klan
and from racial discrimination. Unfortunately,
the Supreme Court soon undermined these
laws, by declaring them unconstitutional.
1877
End of Reconstruction
President Hayes pulls all
troops out southern states.
The KKK and other white
supremacist groups
continue to intimidate
blacks into not exercising
their rights.
1873 - 1883 The Supreme Court
narrowly interprets the 14th Amendment
The Supreme Court, in a series of
cases from 1873 through 1883,
interpreted the Equal Protection
Clause of the 14th Amendment to
mean that while states could not
discriminate against citizens,
private individuals and companies
could. This opened the door to
more racial discrimination.
1890
Mississippi revises its constitution to
prevent African Americans from voting. Many
other Southern states soon follow this example.
The participation of
African American
voters dramatically fell
in the South.
1896
Plessy v. Ferguson
Rise of Jim Crow Laws
The Supreme Court ruled that racial
segregation was legal as long as equal
facilities were provided. However, as
Jim Crow laws expanded, the
facilities were not equal and neither
was the treatment.