African American Civil Rights Notes
American Constitution
Each state was mainly independent, and the federal government would only do things that
were between states, like roads or the postal service. i.e. the federal government could only
set it for jobs that were between states, so they didn’t have a lot of power
US government has 3 equal parts: Legislative (congress, senate, house of representatives)
Executive (President, Vice President, Cabinet) Judicial (Supreme Court, other federal courts)
They wanted a leader, but they also wanted to prevent a dictator as they felt happened with
the British empire. Therefore, the president is the commander in chief of the army, but
Congress has to agree to go to war with other countries. The president can’t make laws, only
congress can make laws. A president has to sign off on every law Congress makes, and he
can veto it, but if congress gets a 2/3 majority, they override the veto. In agreeing a treaty
(for trade etc) the senate has to ratify it as well, i.e. the US not joining the League of Nations
because the senate blocks it.
Congress can get rid of presidents (impeachment) for acting unconstitutionally.
Secretary of state = foreign secretary
The president chooses his advisors (In the UK they have to be from parliament already) and
the judges in the supreme court.
The government is based on ancient democracies as well as the British government
Bicameral legislature- e.g. House of lords and house of commons (congress)
Senate is more important than the House of representatives.
A senator is in the senate, a congressman is a representative.
Each state has 2 senators (50 states and 100 senators).
Senators have six-year terms, congressmen have 2 years, presidents have 4 years
For most laws, you only need a majority of 1 in congress, but to amend the constitution you
need a 2/3 majority and ¾ of state legislators.
The supreme court is the highest in the US. If you want to change a law you go to your local
court, then if you appeal you go to a federal court of your state, if you keep appealing you
end up at the supreme court whose decision can’t be appealed. If the supreme court decides
on changing a law, it overrides congress, the president etc. and passes that law in the whole
of the US.
First 10 amendments = bill of rights (freedom of speech, religion, press etc.)
The southern states (except 4) succeeded and left the US so when they join back, they have
no senators or congressmen so the North can pass whatever they want without the south’s
say
The 13th amendment ends slavery
,Reconstruction
There is a point in reconstruction where black people are allowed to vote and even
get into politics in smaller, local areas.
Southern whites don’t like this, and there aren’t enough soldiers in the south to
control how black people are being treated.
Sharecropping: The world relied on the south US’s cotton, but during the civil war
they started to expand and grow it in places like Egypt or India, so the south lost a lot
of its profit through that.
Black former slaves had no homes or forms of income, and white people had no one
to farm the land. So, white owners ‘allow’ a black family to have a piece of land, and
then split the profits in some agreement. However, the loans they had would be paid
with interest, so if you had a bad harvest you could get into a long cycle of losing
money. Some black people preferred it because they could grow their own food and
wouldn’t starve and had more freedom on what to grow etc but not perfect either.
The church is a very central piece of black culture at the time, where people would
come together and build on ideas and talk.
The federal government had the enforcement acts to send troops to try and contain
the KKK and those types of organizations.
When the southern states re-join the union, they promise to give equal rights etc.
and they set up governments, but soon after they make it very difficult for black
people to give and have equal opportunities. The federal government then can’t do
anything to protect African Americans, as they pull the military out.
Federal Government: They end slavery, set up Freedmen’s Bureau- they look after the
freedmen as they have no jobs, homes, etc. People go down to the southern states where
many slaves were freed and set up shops, tents, give slaves jobs but most importantly set up
schools for children and adults.
When slavery ended in 1865, 95% of slaves were illiterate. In 1870 81% were illiterate. In
1890 64% were illiterate. So great progress.
Black Codes 1866: After slavery was abolished “black codes” were introduced into southern
states, but it was still very much racist. Interracial marriage and sex were not allowed,
especially a black man and white woman. It forbade black men to own things like alcohol
and firearms. Black people had curfews. They couldn’t meet in large groups (except
churches). They weren’t allowed to serve on a jury. Black people were allowed to be
arrested for anything and be forced to work for free on a farm (slavery)
The president at the time is Johnson, and he is a Southerner and hardcore racist. Congress
(full of northerners) decides to pass a lot of laws giving African Americans more civil rights
which annoyed southerners and the president. They didn’t really care about the actual
African Americans themselves. In this law, they passed it said that “all African Americans
born in the US were American citizens and had inviolable rights to full and equal benefit of
all laws”. However it didn’t apply to native Americans, and the us military starts clearing out
land that was from native Americans to give to white people.
, Johnson argues that the federal government shouldn’t be able to pass laws for the whole US
and that states should have more rights to have their own laws. He also says it is
undemocratic not to have southern representation in congress. This leads to major conflict
between the president and conflict (legislative and executive). In order to make sure the
civil rights act was never changed in the future, they decide to make it part of the US
constitution, but they need 2/3 of state representatives to agree to it. Southern states are
still not in the union, so the act passes into the constitution.
13th amendment = ends slavery
14th amendment = right to the same laws for black people
15th amendment = right to vote
The law is upheld by the president, and Johnson is not going to want to enforce it. Even if he
wanted to stop it, the only thing he could do was send troops in, but that would’ve been
very drastic. The 14th amendment isn’t fully enforced for at least another 100 years.
‘Slaughterhouse Cases’ of 1873:
They declared that the 14th Amendment only covered national (not state) citizenship.
Federal government could not safeguard civil rights against violation by individual states or
individuals (only the federal government was bound by it)
US v Cruikshank, 1875 declared the 14th Amendment did not protect blacks against
discrimination by individuals, only by state governments.
US v Reese 1876 refused to put on trial officials in Kentucky who prevents blacks from
voting.
These actions showed that northern politicians and the Court had abandoned southern
blacks before 1877.
The Post-Reconstruction Period (1877-1914)
The North advances forward economically and socially, but the south remains a big problem with
slavery, inequality etc. The North decides to leave the south to control itself. African Americans
begin to move away from the South and the racial problems begin to spread.
15th Amendment- “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.”
States have the right to deny someone a vote, so they always find ways of making it so difficult for
African Americans to vote. i.e. literacy tests, poll taxes-you had to pay a tax to have the right to vote.
Grandfather clause- you can only vote if your grandfather could vote (all slaves couldn’t vote)
Some of these things prevented poor whites from voting as well.
Physical segregation- in restaurants, toilets, cinema’s, drinking fountains etc.
Much of the civil right movement changing the Jim Crow laws and the voting laws. Which contradicts
the idea of the 14th amendment, that everyone should be treated equally. (Legalized segregation)
In the North there was segregation, but not by law, more like racism, abuse etc.
1896 Plessy v Ferguson case:
Plessy was an African American who complained about the segregation in train carriages.
