To former abolitionists and to the Radical Republicans in Congress who fashioned Reconstruction after the Civil War, the '''Fifteenth Amendment''', enacted in 1870, appeared to signify the fulfillment of all promises to African Americans. Set free by the [[Thirteenth Amendment]], with citizenship guaranteed by the [[Fourteenth Amendment]], black males were given the vote by the Fifteenth Amendment. From that point on, the freedmen were generally expected to fend for themselves. In retrospect, it can be seen that the Fifteenth Amendment was in reality only the beginning of a struggle for equality that would continue for more than a century before African Americans could begin to participate fully in American public and civic life. | To former abolitionists and to the Radical Republicans in Congress who fashioned Reconstruction after the Civil War, the '''Fifteenth Amendment''', enacted in 1870, appeared to signify the fulfillment of all promises to African Americans. Set free by the [[Thirteenth Amendment]], with citizenship guaranteed by the [[Fourteenth Amendment]], black males were given the vote by the Fifteenth Amendment. From that point on, the freedmen were generally expected to fend for themselves. In retrospect, it can be seen that the Fifteenth Amendment was in reality only the beginning of a struggle for equality that would continue for more than a century before African Americans could begin to participate fully in American public and civic life. |