Question

Describe Southern resistance to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Give examples of what the South did to "get around" each of these amendments.

Answer 1

The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were established after the civil war, during the period of reconstruction and intensely displeased the southern white population, because it revoked their supremacy over blacks and placed them on an equal footing with them.

These amendments prohibited the involuntary servitude of blacks, placed them as citizens and allowed them to be given the right to vote. The southern white population, in addition to seeing these amendments as an affront to their superiority, saw this as a way of using blacks to achieve northern goals to the detriment of the former Confederates.

To circumvent each of these demands, the southern white population initiated a series of racist and segregationist guidelines, which reaffirmed white supremacy and sought to strengthen the inferiority of blacks.