The Enforcement Acts were passed by the United States Congress between 1870 and 1871. They were criminal codes which protected blacks’ right to vote, to hold office, to serve on juries, and receive equal protection of laws. The laws also said that if the states failed to act and enforce these laws, the federal government had the right to intervene. These acts were passed following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which gave full citizenship to anyone born in the United States or freed slaves. At the time, the lives of all newly freed slaves, and their political and economic rights were being threatened. This threat led to the creation of the Enforcement Acts.
Read more about Enforcement Acts: Goal, Regulations of Act, Historical Events Leading To The Act, Response and Effect
Famous quotes containing the word acts:
“If the dignity as well as the prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who, in foreign ports, display the flag or wear the colors of this Government against insult, brutality, and death, inflicted in resentment of the acts of their Government, and not for any fault of their own.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)