The Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment states that anyone born in the United States of America is a citizen of the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment also states that everyone in the United States has equal rights to the law and prohibits deprivation of life, liberty, and property without a lawful purpose. The amendment states that every citizen has political and lawful rights. The Fourteenth Amendment gave African Americans rights, whereas before, African Americans did not have rights to equal laws, property, and life. The purpose of the Freedom’s Bureau was to enforce freedom for African Americans. As the text states, Freedom’s Bureau was a transition from slavery to freedom. African Americans had a right to wages and if employed by a plantation whose owner was white, a contract was required. The contracts would show the African American was receiving wages and fair working conditions. Plantations who held African American employees after working hours or who did not sign contracts were arrested as a part of the law. The Freedom’s Bureau positively affected African Americans by giving the chance at fair working conditions and fair wages. Ultimately, Freedom’s Bureau gave African Americans the chance for fair employment and fair treatment. Plantation owners who broke a contract with their African American employees and were caught by the Bureau may have used this as a way to continue discrimination against African Americans. African Americans were still not given proper respect and rights in state courts. The Freedom’s Bureau was being used for the opposite reasons it was created. It was being used to ensure labor and not to create compensation and wages for African Americans.