"We have turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets. The enemies of the Government... will re-establish a system of peonage or virtual slavery... If we do not make the constitution a shield for their protection by conferring upon them the rights of citizenship and the ballot, we shall have failed in our duty to humanity."
— Representative Thaddeus Stevens, Speech to the House of Representatives, December 18, 1865
Which of the following political developments during Reconstruction was a direct result of the arguments expressed in the excerpt?
- The passage of congressional legislation and constitutional amendments establishing birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law.Cevap
- BThe ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to outlaw sharecropping and labor contract systems in the South.
- CThe transition from Radical Reconstruction to a more lenient presidential plan led by Andrew Johnson.
- DThe immediate granting of voting rights to all American citizens regardless of race or sex.
Cevap
The passage of congressional legislation and constitutional amendments establishing birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law.
The correct answer is correct because Thaddeus Stevens and other Radical Republicans advocated for federal intervention to protect the rights of newly freed African Americans. This advocacy led directly to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, which established birthright citizenship and guaranteed equal protection under the law to prevent Southern states from reducing freedmen to a status of virtual servitude.
Adım Adım Çözüm
Anahtar Kavram
The political conflict over Reconstruction and the passage of the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) to define citizenship and protect civil rights.