Politics + Constitution
After Reconstruction: How the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments Lost Their Meaning
The Roberts Court Finished the Job
The three Amendments ratified between 1865–1870 were supposed to represent the best of America—proof of America’s conscious decision to turn the clock on her original sin of enslavement. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment promised essential liberties and established birthright citizenship. The 15th Amendment gave Black men the right to vote.
When the 13th Amendment was passed, it was imagined it would immediately undo slavery. Agreeing to the terms was a condition for the states that once seceded from the Union to be able to return. They all did so grudgingly, passing Black Codes designed to replicate enslavement because the fields still needed tending. Cotton production increased after the end of the Civil War.
The gaping exception excluding prisoners led to mass incarceration. The prisoners were leased out to plantations, sometimes the very places they were once enslaved. Any violation like vagrancy, failure to have a work contract, or gathering in small groups led to arrests and a return to slavery-lite.
At the same time, the Klan was rising in prominence and growing from six…
