Someone reword this essay: The Emancipation Proclamation was a dangerously weak pillar to support the freedom of America’s four million slaves. It was an executive order, taken as a military measure during a civil war, that critics said was contrary to the Constitutional protection of property. It also applied only to those slaves in areas in rebellion against the United States. Nearly a million slaves in loyal states were left out. Even if the Proclamation was legally valid, it gave the freed slaves no specified rights. Were they citizens of the United States? Could they vote? The Constitution, at least as it had been interpreted by the Supreme Court, said that blacks had no rights whites were obliged to respect.
What the Fourteenth Amendment did not do was guarantee equal rights. Southern states used the "separate but equal" argument, which allowed them to keep blacks and whites separate if they did not deprive them of basic legal rights. Eventually, this arrangement led to a series of discouraging developments that relegated blacks in the South to inferior status. The 14th Amendment caused the Plessy v. Ferguson.
The 15th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century. Using poll taxes, literacy tests and other means, Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans. It would take the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of African Americans in the South were registered to vote.

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more (Kio, Kio)

I got the horses in the back

Horse tack is attached

Hat is matte black

Got the boots that's black to match

Ridin' on a horse, ha

You can whip your Porsche

I been in the valley

You ain't been up off that porch, now

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Ridin' on a tractor

Lean all in my blad der

Cheated on my baby

You can go and ask her

My life is a movie

Bull ridin' and b obies

Cowboy hat from Gucci

Wrangler on my bo oty

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

I got theYeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more (Kio, Kio)

I got the horses in the back

Horse tack is attached

Hat is matte black

Got the boots that's black to match

Ridin' on a horse, ha

You can whip your Porsche

I been in the valley

You ain't been up off that porch, now

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Ridin' on a tractor

Lean all in my bladder

Cheated on my baby

You can go and ask her

My life is a movie

Bull ridin' and bo bies

Cowboy hat from Gucci

Wrangler on my bo oty

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

You can't tell me nothin'

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road

I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

I got the

c holding free elections