Warm-up:• What is discrimination?

• What do you think can be done to stop it?

Reconstruction Legislation

& State Opposition

Acts (laws)• A series of Federal Acts were passed to address civil rights

of African Americans• Civil Rights Act of 1866 : Af. Am. were allowed to own

property, bring lawsuits, and marry legally• Southern Homestead Act 1866:◦ offered low cost land to Southerners, black or white, who

would farm the land.• Reconstruction Act of 1867: put South under military rule;

required states to ratify the 14th Amendment• Civil Rights Act 1875: Af. Am. guaranteed equal treatment

in public—later ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court– Also known as Enforcement Act—Congress’s reaction to

the KKK

Amendments• When the Acts did not seem to be enough, the

Federal government attempted to provide rights to African Americans by adding Amendments to the Constitution

• 13th Amendment: freed slaves• 14th Amendment: made African Americans

citizens and deserved rights accordingly• 15th Amendment: gave African Americans the

right to vote

State Opposition• Black Codes: laws passed by Southern State governments

• Ku Klux Klan: group that wanted to keep the African Americans from voting; often used violence to achieve their goals

• Jim Crow Laws: laws like the black codes that allowed separation of whites and African Americans to keep African Americans inferior

• Purpose of all of these was to restrict the rights of African Americans and keep the submissive to white superiority

Supreme Court• Played role in ending Reconstruction– 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases– 1876 U.S. vs. Reese– 1876 U.S. vs. Cruikshank

• Placed control of individual’s basic civil rights in the hand of the states

• Limited the federal government’s ability too protect the civil and voting rights of African Americans

Activity:• Reading of Acts • Reading of Black Codes