reconstruction - political
On December 6, 1865 the 13th amendment was passed. This amendment abolished slavery and involuntary labor of any kind besides court approved punishment for a crime. There had been passed laws about slavery such as the three-fifths compromise and the emancipation proclamation but this was the first time something had gone through the senate, the house of reps, and adopted into the constitution. While there were still ways that people, Mainly in the south, would find loopholes the 13th amendment finally made slavery completely illegal to any states that wanted to be a part of the Union. Knowing what would happen if they tried to separate as the Confederates had, they all accepted this amendment. Finally the step had been taken against slavery, but this did not at all stop the hatred towards blacks or the inequality in the eyes of whites.