When the 13th Amendment was ratified, some 4 million enslaved black men, women, and children had been granted their freedom. However, after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, his successor, Andrew Johnson, required the Confederate states to ratify the 13th Amendment and pledge loyalty to the Union, but otherwise gave the states free rein to reestablish their post-war governments. This, unfortunately, led to the creation of black codes. Black codes were rules and laws that strictly governed the behavior of African American citizens and also denied them suffrage and other rights. Republicans, outraged that the black codes were limiting the rights of African Americans as if they were still enslaved, passed the Civil Rights Bill in Congress. Even when Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill, Congress overrode the veto, marking the first time in American history that major legislation became law over a presidential veto.
This wouldn't be the only presidential veto either. Later on, Andrew Jackson vetoed the Reconstruction Act, which Congress also overrode. The Reconstruction Act led to the two remaining so-called "Reconstruction Amendments", being the 14th and 15th Amendments. However, the states were left to determine the specific qualifications needed to vote, which they abused against a majority of black voters during the decades following the Reconstruction. The 1950s and 1960s mainly focused on the civil rights movement until finally, in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. That eliminated any and all abuses of preventing African American citizens from voting.
What I learned from looking through this history is that I'm astonished about the many loopholes that the state governments constantly found to deliberately prevent black citizens from having the same equal rights as white men. I find it absolutely disgusting.
Related Article:
When Did African Americans Actually Get the Right to Vote?
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