The Reconstruction Amendments are the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. They were passed after the end of the Civil War. The period between 1865 and 1877 in US history is called Reconstruction. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment did several things, including giving all people born in the US the automatic right to citizenship. The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment remains controversial to this day. The 15th Amendment gave Black Americans the right to vote; however, Southern states continued to use discriminatory laws such as poll taxes to deprive African Americans of their right to vote. It was not until 1965 that the federal government fully enforced the 15th Amendment.