15th Amendment Dbq Essay

Soon after passage of the Voting Rights Act, federal examiners were conducting voter registration, and black voter registration began a sharp increase. The cumulative effect of the Supreme Court’s decisions, Congress’ enactment of voting rights legislation, and the ongoing efforts of concerned private citizens and the Department of Justice, has been to restore the right to vote guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by

Before the Civil War, there were no federal laws to protect voting rights. Only white males had the right to vote. In 1870, the 15th Amendment was established which stated “Specifically that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on the basis of race, or previous condition of servitude” (Introduction to Federal Voting Rights Laws). This amendment gives all Americans the right to be a voice of change for the people by electing officials who will make a difference in their communities. Unfortunately, one mistake can cause you to lose this right forever. As stated by Eric H. Holder, JD, US Attorney General, in his Feb. 11, 2014, speech;

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits voting discrimination. With the condition to receive preclearance stated in section 5 of the Act from the Department of Justice before making any changes affecting the voting process, also came four other prohibitions. The prohibition of literacy test or other similar test or devices as a prerequisite to voter registration is one prevention. The requirement of jurisdictions with significant language minority populations to provide non-English ballots and oral voting instructions is another. Third is the prohibition of vote dilution, which is the remapping of districts to suppress the minority vote. The final provision was one of the most controversial of the Act. It established the federal oversight

The Fifteenth Amendment granted black men to vote. Put emphasis on men because at this time women still couldn't vote.This amendment would not be fully followed until almost a century. What the government did was that they made a literacy test so difficult that no slave could pass because they had no education. So no blacks could vote really for a long time. So to loop their loophole that made a rule called the Grandfather Clause. This made if your grandfather could vote you did not have to take the literacy test. So every white person's grandfather could vote since they lived in england. So this rule did not apply to blacks since their grandfathers were black and could not vote. One of the main reasons that they made this rule is because

Voting is a right that is given to all citizens by the 15th Amendment of the Constitution. Although the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870. It was not until The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed that African Americans got to exercise their right to vote under the 15th amendment at the state and local level; which overcame the legal barriers that existed at those levels that was in place to prevent African Americans from voting.

In the 1869, congress passes the 15th amendment giving African American men the right to vote. Then in 1964 poll taxes where banned when it was adopted into the 24th amendment. Through all of this there were still many minorities left out of the loop, even though these laws and amendments where passed they truly weren’t put into place in individual states for a while. In 1965 many people marched and fought for the civil rights of many people. One of those famous marches was the march of Selma that included the famous MLK Jr. Later that year, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the ‘Voting Rights Act’ into law. The Voting Rights Act consisted of permanently removing all barriers that detained many minorities from participating in elections and casting their votes by prohibiting racial/ethnic discrimination at all

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed saying that every man would have the right to vote regardless of their race. It was meant to give the right to vote to the African American citizens. Even after this was passed however, states in the South were still able to find ways to keep African Americans from voting. It was easy to still deny their right to vote because the amendment only says that laws cannot be made making race a requirement for voting. The most effective barriers created by the South to prevent African Americans from voting were grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and white-only primaries because they were legal and therefore did not directly keep a certain race from voting.

Since its birth, The United States has always had a troubling past on giving its citizens the “right to Vote.” Initially the “ right to vote “ was an exclusive right given to white freemen and before the 15th amendment wasn’t even a true right, more of a privilege. For this reason, it is my belief that the 15th amendment was the most important. The 15th amendment is also the first of four amendments extending the Right to Vote to all in the United States. In 1869, the United States congress passes this amendment which allowed for all citizens no matter what race, color or previous condition of servitude to vote. This meant that “on paper”, this right, naturally pass on to African American. However, as demonstrated by Louisiana passing a the

The fifteenth amendment was designed to ban discrimination against the people. One of the main motivations behind the fifteenth amendment was that republicans wanted to gain even more power in both south and north. Therefore, African American votes would help accomplish that. In 1867 congress passed a law requiring states to include black male suffrage in their new state constitutions. African American men in the south started voting, however men in the north could not because the northern states denied it. In the north the republicans voter majority over the democratic party was declining, that made them fear that they might lose control of congress. Their solution was to include all black mens votes in every northern state. For example, Ulysses S. Grant was a candidate for president, and he won thanks to the black men’s votes. Republican leaders knew that if they were to remain

What is something that everyone does not like? It is a simple yet problematic word: tax. Tax has caused minor and major struggles throughout the years all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Unlike most of today’s modern taxes such as sales tax and property tax, the poll tax was more than just about money; it was about separation of classes, races, and voting rights (“The 24th Amendment”). The twenty-fourth amendment is a lesser known amendment, but it still has a large importance in eliminating this pesky poll tax and giving all United States’ citizens true suffrage.

The Voting Rights Act was meant to rectify “a clear and simple wrong.” At the time of the act’s inception, President Johnson declared the VRA’s meaning, “Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote.” The Voting Rights Act emancipated more than 700,000 black Southerners. Although African Americans made up only 13 percent of the United States population, they made up 36 percent of the South and a much greater percentage in some states, such as Mississippi and South Carolina. No longer could states generate shrewd new techniques to suppress the vote. The act helped remove literacy tests and other Jim Crow tactics that were in place prior. President Johnson called the act,

The Voting Rights Act 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 et seq., decision is important regarding the laws governing voting rights and their relationship to minority voters. Its implication and effects however does not end within the legal realms and dimensions but continues through to society, culture, and human rights. The Voting Rights Act initially established in 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration protected “racial minorities” from biased voting practices. It was a huge stride in the civil rights movement and a victory over harmful, archaic, and biased voting practices and traditions.

The United States Congress, in trying to rectify the historical inequity of not having Blacks vote, amended the United States Constitution with the 15th Amendment. Although this was a step in the right direction to empower Blacks, there were many issues that were not specifically addressed which left room for the southern states to circumvent the law and continue the suppression of the Black vote. With no national organization to fight the local laws that included many discriminatory restrictions against Blacks, and impeded by a lack of resources to be able to get legal assistance, the southern states had free reign to enact laws that suppressed the vote. The use of poll taxes, educational requirements, literacy tests, which whites were exempted

The introduction of the voting right act into the American constitution represented justice for all American citizens, created equality irrespective of race, gender or social status and eliminated unnecessary impediments that prevented individuals from voting. The right to vote evolved from a privilege to an

Lets describe what Voting Rights Act of 1965 is; in the “The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition”, it says that by word for word that its a law passed at the time of the civil rights movement. It eliminated various devices, such as literacy tests, that had traditionally been used to restrict voting by black people. It authorized the enrollment of voters by federal registrars in states where fewer than fifty percent of the eligible voters were registered or voted. All such states were in the South. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/voting-rights-act-of-1965/American Psychological Association (APA):voting rights act of 1965.