Chapter 16 of 25
Rebuilding the Union
After the war came Reconstruction, when Congress tried to secure rights for the formerly enslaved. In 1868 the nation ratified the 14th Amendment. It says that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are U.S. citizensQ97, and promises everyone equal protection of the laws.
The war had left families grieving across the country. In 1868, people began decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers each spring. That "Decoration Day" became Memorial DayQ127, held on the last Monday in May as a holiday to honor soldiers who died in military service.
In 1869, Congress set the size of the Supreme Court, which the Constitution leaves to Congress, at nine. There have been nine seats on the Supreme CourtQ53 ever since. Cases are decided by majority vote, so usually five justices are needed to decide a caseQ54.
In 1870, the 15th Amendment said no man could be denied the vote because of his race. All men got the right to voteQ98 in 1870. In practice, many Southern states blocked Black voters for nearly a century with poll taxes, unfair tests and violence, until the civil rights movement forced change.
That same year, Congress named the first federal holidays. Three of those national U.S. holidaysQ126, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, are still celebrated today. Thanksgiving recalls a 1621 harvest feast shared by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people; Lincoln had proclaimed a national Thanksgiving during the war, in 1863.