Results of the Reconstruction Era and Its Amendments
Photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965
One of the lasting parts of the Reconstruction Era and the Reconstruction Amendments was black codes. They began in 1865, and were created to place limitations that had been taken away by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. It gave more power to white Americans. These laws limited and confined the freedoms of African Americans, and also certified the possibility of using African Americans as a primary labor force. Black codes allowed for cheap labor, Africans to be seen as inferior, states to restrict the property of Africans, and businesses to exclude Africans. It also did not permit blacks to carry firearms, testify in court, or undergo interracial marriage. Punishment for breaking the codes were: whipping, branding, imprisonment, and sometimes death. White patrols were hired to keep blacks under supervision, but they would abuse their power and hurt blacks without just cause.
Nevertheless, not all the effects of the Reconstruction Amendments were negative. Workers’ rights became a big topic, as well. Some fighting for worker's rights used the Thirteenth Amendment to say that the freedoms they wanted were protected by the Constitution. “Congress responded to the advocacy of the labor movement by enacting the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, in 1935. The Act established federal rights to unionize, bargain collectively, and strike. Although the Wagner Act was not based in Congress’s power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment, many supporters of the Act embraced the broad vision of that Amendment advocated by the labor movement” (Zietlow).
Another important event that these amendments lead to was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. This act ended major obstacles to voting for racial and ethnic minorities. It halted racial discrimination during voting. “Section 2 of the Act, which closely followed the language of the Fifteenth amendment, applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on the literacy tests on a nationwide basis”, which is seen in article “The Voting Rights Act of 1965” published by the U.S. Department of Justice.