Document A: The Reconstruction Amendments (Modified)
The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution are sometimes called the “Reconstruction Amendments.” They were passed in order to abolish slavery and to establish the rights of former slaves.
13th Amendment: 1865
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 (legal control).
What does it mean?
14th Amendment: 1868
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized (made citizens) 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 (limit) the privileges or immunities (rights) of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
What does it mean?
15th Amendment: 1870
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
What does it mean?
Document B: Black Codes (Modified)
In the years following the Civil War, many Southern states and cities passed Black Codes. These laws laid out what freed blacks were and were not allowed to do. The document below, passed July 3, 1865, is a Black Code from Opelousas, Louisiana.
SECTION 1. No negro shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission from his employers.
SECTION 3. No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances.
SECTION 4. No negro shall reside (live in) within the limits of the town of Opelousas who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner.
SECTION 5. No public meetings of negroes shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Opelousas under any circumstances without the permission of the mayor or president of the board of police. This, however, does not prevent the freedmen from attending the usual church services.
SECTION 7. No freedman who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons, within the limits of the town of Opelousas without the special permission of his employer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the board of police.
SECTION 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freedwomen.
Guiding Questions
- What were the Black Codes? What did they say?
- What do they suggest about the South after the Civil War?
Document C:
A Sharecropping Contract: 1882 (Modified)
Without their own land, freed African Americans could not grow crops to sell or to use to feed their families. Therefore, economic necessity forced many former slaves to become sharecroppers. A sharecropper did not own his own farm; nor did he own a house, mule, or tools. Instead, he rented these from his landlord. In the system of sharecropping, landowners divided their land and assigned each head of household a few acres, along with seed and tools. Sharecroppers kept a small share of their crops and gave the rest to the landowners.
To everyone renting land, the following conditions must be agreed to:
For every 30 acres of land (rented by sharecroppers), I will provide a mule team, plow, and farming tools. The sharecroppers can have half of the cotton, corn, peas, pumpkins, and potatoes they grow if the following conditions are followed, but–if not–they are to have only two-fifths.
For every mule or horse furnished by me there must be 1000 good sized rails (logs) hauled, and the fence repaired if I so direct. All sharecroppers must haul rails (logs) and work on the fence whenever I may order. The wood must be split and the fence repaired before corn is planted. No cotton must be planted by sharecroppers on their home patches of land. No sharecropper is to work off the plantation when there is any work for them to do for me.
Every sharecropper must be responsible for all farming gear placed in his hands, and if not returned must be paid for unless it is worn out by use.
Nothing can be sold from their (sharecroppers’) crops until my rent is all paid, and all amounts they owe me are paid in full.
The sale of every sharecropper’s part of the cotton to be made by me when and where I choose to sell, and after taking all they owe me.
Guiding Questions:
- Why were former slaves forced to become sharecroppers?
- What did the sharecropper have to do in order to use the plantation owner’s land, farming tools, and mules?
- Does this seem like a fair contract to you? Why or why not?
- According to Document A, do you think Reconstruction was a success or a failure? Provide evidence from the text.
- According to Document B, do you think Reconstruction was a success or a failure? Provide evidence from the text.
- According to Document C, do you think Reconstruction was a success or a failure? Provide evidence from the text.
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