One key change immediately following the Civil War aimed at achieving the “racial justice” that David Blight and other historians describe was the adoption of the Reconstruction Amendments—especially the 14th and 15th Amendments, which granted Black Americans citizenship and (for men) the right to vote.

Direct answer

In most textbooks and quizzes, the question “one key change immediately following the Civil War aimed at achieving racial justice was the…” is usually answered with something like:

“…adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (the Reconstruction Amendments), which ended slavery, granted citizenship, and extended voting rights to Black men.”

In short, the key change is the Reconstruction Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

What those amendments did

Right after the Civil War, Congress pushed through three major constitutional changes specifically to address slavery and racial status.

  • 13th Amendment (1865): Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude (except as punishment for crime).
  • 14th Amendment (1868): Defined national citizenship and promised equal protection of the laws to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
  • 15th Amendment (1870): Prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, effectively enfranchising Black men.

Historians often treat these three as a package aimed at creating a new, more equal racial order in law, even though reality on the ground lagged far behind.

Why Blight connects them to “racial justice”

David Blight’s work on the memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction emphasizes that there was a real, if fragile, attempt to build a multiracial democracy after 1865.

  • The Reconstruction Amendments tried to redefine freedom from just “no slavery” to legal equality, citizenship, and political rights for formerly enslaved people.
  • In this vision, racial justice meant not only emancipation but also citizenship and voting power , so Black Americans could protect their rights and participate fully in public life.

Blight often contrasts this “emancipationist” vision with later efforts to downplay or erase it, which is why these amendments are seen as the central “key change” toward racial justice right after the war.

How it often appears in quizzes / homework

On school quizzes similar to the one you’re likely working from, the correct option is usually something like:

  • “Passing the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to protect the rights of formerly enslaved African Americans”
  • Or, more briefly, “guaranteeing citizenship and voting rights to African Americans through constitutional amendments”

If you must pick just one phrase, the safest concise answer is:

“the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (the Reconstruction Amendments).”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.