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Argument In Failure Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965

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Throughout America’s history the franchise has been withheld from different groups. This has been possible due to weakly written laws that do not provide adequate protections. In 1965 PL 89-110 was passed, this law, commonly known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, finally provided real protections for minorities living in southern states. In recent years the language of the law was modified within the Supreme Court to take away the law’s primary power. In the following mock Congressional testimony we will go back to 1848, 13 years before the American Civil War, and provide evidence of why a law like PL 89-110 is necessary and commendable.

Honorable Senators and Representatives, today I would like to provide you with a compelling argument in favor of expansive voting rights for all in our Country. To begin I would like for us to turn toward our past. In the Declaration of Independence the framers of our great republic wanted to break free from …show more content…

That is why today we must make a change. In fact, instead of moving beyond subjugation, fierce battles and compromise led to three-fifths compromise which codified viewing Black’s as subhuman. Next, it failed to give our Black friends, even those that have been freed from slavery, the right of equal suffrage. To achieve this right and put an end to our hypocrisy, we must act now. The idea of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution does not go far enough toward achieving this universal suffrage (Buescher). This is because the current Constitution gives states the full ability to hold their own elections and therefore impose their own rules. Specifically, Section IV, Clause I of the Constitution explicitly gives states this power. So in the states with clear racially motivated power structures and oppression due to slavery, even if equal rights are granted it is likely the state will ignore the Constitutional Amendment because of their power to control

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