Essay/Term paper: Did the congress made amendment 14 to punish the south?

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

Did The Congress Made Amendment 14 to Punish the South?


Amendment #14 punished the south for the entire rebellion, and the Civil
War. The way that Congress made the law made it seem that it was helping the
Freedmen, however, most of the sections are directed to the south, or made so
that the only people who would violate these sections would be the southern
states.
Paragraph 1 states that Ex-slaves made citizens if they have been born
in the United States. This part doesn't hurt the south, in fact, it gives them
and advantage on the number of reps in the House. It also helps the freedmen
since it is giving them full rights as U.S. citizens and equality in the U.S.
Paragraph 2 states that when a state denies citizens (freedmen) the
right to vote, its representation shall be reduced. This is obviously hurting
the southern states since the southerners didn't want the freedmen voting, they
would be losing their representation in the House. However, for this to be
effective, the person must meet the current voting requirements.
Paragraph 3 states that People who have been in rebellion are ineligible
for federal and state office. In other words, if you were a military or
political leader for the Confederate States of America, than you can't hold any
United States, or individual state office. This is punishment to those leaders
of the Confederacy who have committed an act of treason. This is a suitable
punishment for these people who are not suited to hold any office.
Paragraph 4 states that debts incurred in aid of rebellion are void.
This drastically hurts the people who supported the south. If someone had sold
products to the south, expecting that after the war they would get paid a great
sum of money, than they would get nothing from the United States government and
nothing from those states. This was a sort of "payback" for those people who
aided the south.
These first four paragraphs, which three of them have to do with hurting
the south and only one to help the ex-slaves, have shown that this amendment was
what the south got for having this Civil War. Without this amendment, the
southern states could have gone unpunished, and possibly start another rebellion.
This amendment obviously goes against the south, due to all of the paragraphs
which have something directly to do with what the south did. Taking all this
into account, the south, having started this war by attacking a U.S. fort,
deserved it.