African American Mckinley Campaign

The 15th amendment gave African American men the right to vote by saying that 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." Sadly, African American men wouldn’t be able to exercise this right for almost a whole century. Using literacy tests, poll taxes, and other methods Southern states could prevent African Americans from voting. It took the passing of Voting Rights Act of 1965 before most African Americans in the South could vote. Woman went

The United States first began to deal with the issue of voter suppression during the Reconstruction. During Reconstruction freed slaves earned their right to vote and hold office through the fifteenth amendment in 1870. In 1877, Democrats, known as Dixiecrats, began to impose laws that were designed to suppress the African American vote or better known as Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow voting laws required the freedmen to pass literacy tests that they were unable to pass because of no formal education because of their status of slaves. Many states created poll taxes, which many poor Americans, white and black, were unable to pay. Many precincts made their voting precincts “white only” so that blacks would have nowhere to cast their votes. The Jim Crow voter suppression tactics were so successful that only three percent of African Americans in the south were registered to vote in 1940. Although African American males were given the right to vote in

The Fifteenth Amendment gave black males over the age of 21 the right to vote. However, southern states set up poll taxes and literacy test in order to keep most blacks from voting. In order to keep the white votes they set up the grandfather clause, which allowed the seventy-five percent of the poor illiterate white people to still vote if they were the son or grandson of someone who was eligible to vote before 1867.

He was rarely seen, while serving as congressman and governor, without his trademark carnation. McKinley served 7 terms in Congress from 1877-1891, except for a 9-months in 1884-1885. The House ruled that his opponent, lawyer Jonathan Wallace, had received the most votes in the 1882 election, so Wallace took McKinley’s seat for the rest of the term. McKinley easily got back to the office in the 1884 election. McKinley consistently won re-election even though the districts he represented were heavily Democratic. As a congressman, he focused his energies on the tariff problem and became known as a protectionist and as a persuasive speaker. He was usually associated with being on the side of big business, but he also worked hard for labor and later, as governor of Ohio, he encouraged employees to join labor unions and to criticize employers who refused workers the right to organized. Also as congressman he supported gold over silver as the backbone of America’s money system. In 1889, Thomas Reed of Maine defeated him in the position of Speaker of the House. McKinley lost his next bid for Congress and returned to Canton in 1891. As governor, a position he held for two terms from 1891-1895, he proposed laws to protect railroad workers and address the issue of child labor, and a state board of arbitration was established to deal with labor and business problems. During this time as governor he became friends with millionaire industrialist Mark Hanna

In the early years of the United States, voting laws were very strict and only a select few people were able to vote. In 1776, only people who owned land were permitted to vote. Most people in this category were white males over the age of 21. This continued for many decades: in 1790 the Naturalization Law passed. It explicitly stated that only “free white” immigrants can become naturalized citizens. This gave only free white people the right to vote- very little progress was being made.

The fifteenth amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870, and it's contents stated, “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.” The amendment was one of the first major steps in ensuring racial equality throughout the United States. If a male former slave was someone who was just a slave ten years prior, was now able to vote to represent himself and his best interests. The 15th amendment was actually passed by different portions of the government on different dates. For instance, on February 25, 1869, the House of Representatives voted one hundred forty four in favor against forty four who opposed it. Meanwhile, in February 26, 1869, the Senate voted thirty-nine in favor against thirteen who opposed. And it’s

The Republican party strongly supported the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, in turn elevating themselves to becoming the popular party in African American culture in the 1870’s. Their votes gained Grant the presidency, which many argue he would have likely otherwise lost. A few of the unfortunate consequences of the 15th amendment were civil unrest, literacy laws, and the placement of a poll tax on those in the Southern states (which skirted the amendment) to continue to oppress African Americans’ right to vote. These conditions combined with deeply-rooted beliefs of those on both sides of the issue caused our country to be divided for

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

The History Alive textbook describes how this happened by explaining that the Fourteenth Amendment made it so that all citizens were equal under the wall. Meaning that officials could not legally arrests a black men for something that they would not arrest a white man for. (History Alive, 314) Akin to the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment was not able to be reversed by former Confederates once they regained the right to vote because of its status as an amendment. Alike to the Thirteenth Amendment as well, the Fourteenth Amendment exists today and seems as if it will exist for the foreseeable future. Because the Fourteenth Amendment declared all citizens to be equal under the law, it gave a way for people to fight for their rights through the legal systems. In the picture in an old Harper's Weekly magazine dating back to around the same time as the Fourteenth Amendment, there was an image of black men voting. They looked happy and proud as they casted their ballots. There were black farmers, soldiers, and businessmen. (Slides, 10) The right to vote, was and is seen by many, the pride of America, and by many egalitarians at the time, as a final frontier of the fight for full equality. This symbol of the ultimate Americanism of the act is witnessed by the expression and body language of the freedmen in the picture. Because of reconstruction, the pride of voting

In the year 1870 the 15th amendment was passed. The fithteenth amendemt reads “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” (Mcneese, Tim). But even though this was passed blacks still saw a problem voting. America started the Jim

African-Americans may sometimes wonder at the contradictory facts about their history presented in many standard history texts. These texts state that blacks were given the right to vote in 1870, yet the same texts will acknowledge that this right did not really exist for African-Americans until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

To the common man, Jackson could have easily been a brother or an uncle, a friend at the bar, or the frontiersman. When Jackson, the common man, gained political power the common man felt that he gained a voice. Once the common man believed that he had an ally in government, the prevailing culture of elitism began to come under attack. These attacks on elitism by “Old Hickory,” although supported by the common, were not caused by an allegiance to these people but rather an absolute hatred of the elitist rule. His contempt of the British and the aristocratic tendencies they left behind fueled not only the legislation he passed, but also the legacy he left for the Presidency. American politicians could no longer openly express contempt at the majority, a la John Quincy Adams, because the common man began to believe that he deserved a voice and respect. Not only were the values of individualism and political participation strengthened by Jacksonian legislation, but also by Jackson

The only way any men were to be exempted from this clause was if his father or grandfather were to have voted previous to 1867. Being that African Americans’ ancestors were slaves, they were not able to be exempted thus they had to pass the tests, pay the tax, and pass any other requirements thrown at them. It was not until June 21, 1915 that the court declared it unlawful, leaving way for African Americans to vote.

Traditionally, presidential candidates did not campaign for themselves, instead party loyalists campaigned in their stead. This was until prior the year 1896 when James Blaine spent approximately 6 weeks campaigning. Following Blaine’s footsteps, William Jennings Bryan would do the same spending the whole period of campaign season on the campaign trail. The results of the election would show that McKinley won 276 votes versus Bryan’s 176 votes. I do think Bryan’s nontraditional campaign method did in fact have something to do with losing the election. Going back a couple years, the Democratic response to the economic depression of 1893 paved way to mindset of the nation when electing the president of 1896. Silver was not permitted in use of

The Passing of the 15th amendment in 1868 did give black men the right to vote. They were able to vote but were not permitted because they were blocked at the poles with threats of violence and death. The violence and intimidation of the Ku Klux Klan had a lot to do with the blocking of the blacks at the voting polls.