The Fourteenth Amendment gave all freed blacks US citizenship and equal protection under the law. This helped blacks as it established the principle and made them citizens. The timing of this amendment was very important as it came when the military was present to ensure blacks had rights. However, many law enforcers were racist towards blacks.
The Fifteenth Amendment forbade the denial of the vote to any man on the basis of his colour, race or ‘previous condition of servitude’. At minimum it helped establish the principle. 700,000 black men were able to enrol for voting as a result. Blacks were able to vote for other blacks who would do more to help them gain more rights, such as Blanche K. Bruce who became senator. However, it only helped in the short term. Factors such as the Black Codes and the Grandfather Clause prevented blacks from being able to vote. To be able to vote you had to be able to read and write; many blacks were unable to do so as they didn’t have any schools and weren’t allowed at white peoples schools. Also, many blacks who were going to vote were often intimated by whites, including the KKK, and scared into not voting to prevent backlash. With the Grandfather Clause, a black man could only vote if his grandfather had voted but they had been slaves so hadn’t been able to vote. Furthermore, the vote was only granted to black men, not black women. This amendment was more de jure than de facto.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a repeat of the Fourteenth Amendment, asserting that all other races, excluding Native Americans, were full citizens of the United States. However, many southern states didn’t see it as a state right.
The Freedman’s Bureau was set up by the federal government in March 1865 to support freed slaves in the short term and to provide a basis for their long term security, especially with its good leader General Oliver Howard. It was run for five years only and basically helped blacks find jobs and get an education. It trained black lawyers, scientists and teachers. However, the organisation only lasted for five years, as it wasn’t renewed; the radical Republicans had gone by then and the moderate Republicans weren’t interested in Blacks as much due to them not voting. The North had lost interest in the Blacks. Furthermore, many of the schools set up were burnt down or closed due to lack of funds. In 1890, 65% of black children still couldn’t read or write, compared to just 15% of white children not being able to do so.
The Slaughterhouse Case, 1873 the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment protected a person’s individual rights but not state rights; these were granted by the state government. This hindered the granting of civil rights to African Americans as it gave more power to the states.
In US v Cruikshank (1876) the Supreme Court ruled that federal officers could only take action against states not individuals, when the officers arrested over a hundred white men after a riot in Louisiana which left seventy African Americans dead. This again showed the states had more power than the federal government. Therefore, they could ultimately take away the rights of blacks, especially in the South.
Most black rights looked secure in theory (de jure), however many blacks didn’t actually acquire those rights (de facto). The reality was different to the principle. Most civil rights for blacks remained theoretical. Many blacks were too intimated to exercise their rights. The hypothesis of black rights being materialised and deteriorating seems to be mostly true, due to the most rights being just de jure than de facto. Organisations such as the KKK seemed to make sure of this and the Republicans and the North were both beginning to lose interest in Blacks.
