1. The Thirteenth Amendment effectively brought an end to slavery in the United States. Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation over 3 years earlier. Why, then, was the Thirteenth Amendment issued? Was it necessary? How come?
2. The Fourteenth Amendment settled the question of who is a citizen of the United States. (anyone naturalized or born here). Why are Indians excluded?
3. Persons who are citizens may not be denied the right to vote according to the Fifteenth Amendment. The Civil Rights crises of the 1960s, and the work of Martin Luther King (and many others) sought, among other things, to assure that the right to vote was available to all. Why? The Fifteenth Amendment had been passed almost a hundred years earlier. How could persons be denied the ballot?
4. How could Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor, veto the Civil Rights Bill in 1866 when the 13th Amendment had already been passed in 1865? What issues did he cite to justify his veto? (Hint: look at the Johnson primary source)
5. The 14th Amendment. How does Foner explain the relationship between the Federal and the State as a result of the 14th Amendment?