Question

Explain why the Texas legislature

refused to ratify the Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the Constitution and describe
laws the legislature did enact.

Answer 1

When the newly elected 11th Texas Legislature met in August 1866, the members refused to ratify either the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, or the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to African Americans. The legislature wanted to return Texas as much as possible to the way it was before the civil war and restrict the rights of African Americans.