After the end of Civil War the Constitution was amended to give former slaves freedom and the rights of citizens. This passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to Constitution were supposed to give the African-Americans equal protection under the law. They were also intended to give the new citizens the right to vote.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed by Congress was supposed to offer African-Americans the same rights as "enjoyed by white citizens to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property." In reality this law was rarely enforced and had little effect. Most sections of the law were either repealed by later Congresses or ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It was not until the Jones v. Mayer in 1968 that the Supreme Court upheld the 1866 Civil Rights Act. About 102 yea

Previously segregation and "Jim Crow" laws prevented African-Americans from having equal opportunities or protection under the law. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 established that providing separate, but equal facilities was constitutional. It was not until the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 that the Supreme Court declared separate facilities "inherently unequal."

rs after the legislation was passed an African-American man was able to buy a house that an owner had refused to sell on the basis that Jones was black.

The truth of this is that by having Congress pass legislation to reiterate what the 14th Amendment states weakened the Constitution. The 14th Amendment clearly states that "no state or shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The 15th Amendment stated that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Congress by passing legislation only reiterating what was stated in the amendments set the precedent that even though the Constitution stated that the right to vote could not be d

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Approximate Word count = 845
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