gress in 1863 (Document B). Ina slightly less revolutionary viewpoint, the black codes were enacted, whichtried to return freedmen to their indentured state and also attempted toimpede the path of black suffrage by establishing a mandatory literacy testwhich had to be passed in order to vote. The Fourteenth Amendment, whichgranted citizenship to freedmen followed, and soon afterwards, The CivilRights Acts of 1866 were established, which invalidated the black codes andhelped to revolutionize the post war era by eliminating the anti-freedmenlaws. Finally, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1869, and prohibitedthe denial of suffrage due to skin color.In many ways, the reconstruction wasn’t revolutionary. Blacks werestill greatly discriminated against, and weren’t given equal monetaryopportunities. The crop lien systems and crop sharing systems of farmingfurther deterred their interests by returning a sense of servitude to the landowner, and set back their funds even more. This benefited the white men,as they were the majority of the land owners, and changed the socialstanding of blacks very little. Unlike the social changes, the constitutionalchanges were very revolutionary. Because of the radical laws that wereratified in order to protect blacks, they were free to the same opportunitiesas whites. Many freedmen held public office in once slave states, ownedland, and voted.Although the social aspect of the post-Civil War era changed little, theConstitutional aspect greatly altered the future of our country, and helped tochange how we relate to each other in modern society. Without the lawsratified in this period, our country might not have become what it is today,and that is revolutionary in itself....
