AMENDMENTS- Over time, some things have been added to the Constitution. Called "amendments," these add-ons list some of the rights of the people. By listing these rights, they are made special, and it is illegal for the government to violate those rights. As of 2006, there are 27 amendments to the Constitution. Not all of them involve rights, but many do. The first ten amendments, in particular, have the special name of the Bill of Rights. 

[http://www.usconstitution.net/constkids.html ]

 

Amendment 13th

The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

When was the 13th Amendment proposed?

Amendment 13 was proposed  January 31st 1865 and passed on Dec 6th, 1865. 

Who was the President at the time?

 Andrew Johnson. 

What does the 13th Amendment do?

 The 13th Amendment declares that slavery is illegal in the United States. It also makes it clear that involuntary servitude is not allowed either. However, that if a person has committed a crime then it can be a properly punishment under jurisdiction. 

(Abolished slavery in the entire United States)

Section 2 gives Congress the power to provision (a clause in a legal instrument,a law, etc., providing for a particular matter) of Section 1 of this amendment.

Involuntary Servitude-  

 Slavery or bondage of any kind, a condition in which one lacks liberty especially to determine one's course of action or way of life. Without ones will.  

 Amendment 14th

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

This amendment was propesed by Congress June 13th, 1866; ratified July 9, 1868. 

Section1 defines citizenship. Citizenship at birth is determined, if you are born here on American soil, then you are a citizen.  Naturalization is the legal process by which one acquires a new citizenship after ones birth, where they learn to adapt. This section also talks about the due process; which forbids a state and local governments to act in any unfair way. It also talks about the Equal Protection Laws, which also forbids a States and it's local government to discriminates against, or make distinctions between persons. 

 Section 2 All  persons in the United States are counted in each decennial census, the basis for the distribution of House seats. However, this section has never really been enforced. 

Section3

 This section basically limited the President's power to (pardon) To release (a person) from punishment; exempt from penalty.. those who had led the Conderacy during the Civil War. Congress however by two thirds of each House, removed this disability (disadvantage) in 1898.

Section 4

Deals also with the Civil War. It prevents payment of , any debt that was between two or more parties, in this case the Confederate States and also forbids any compensation of former slave owner.

Amendment 15th

 

1. 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.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century. Through the use of 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. 
This amendment is clear that it does not guarantee the right to vote to African American or to any one else. What it's really doing is, forbidding States from discriminating against any person by their "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," OR slavery in others words, in the setting of suffrage qualifications. One can see that if we go in detail and understand this amendment, it does not mention anything about literacy test or gender. So women were not allowed to vote.


Sources
( America Past and Present;  Volume 2: Since 1865)
Internet

[http://www.usconstitution.net/constkids.html ]

US Constitution onlinehttp://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am14.html

 

Book: American Government by William A. Mc Clenaghan pp.774-775