Fifteenth Amendment Research Paper

On a date that will be remembered forever as a step forward for our nation, July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment gave a new sense of hope and inspiration to a once oppressed people. It was conceived to be the foundation for restoring America to its great status and prosperity. The Amendment allowed “equal protection under the law”, no matter what race, religion, sex, sexual preference or social status. It was designed to protect the newly freed slaves. However, it only helped the white race.

An act that was made to help create more fairness in the voting system was the 15th Amendment. “The 15th Amendment was the last of the “Reconstruction Amendments" to be adopted. It was designed to prohibit discrimination against voters on the basis of race or previous condition of servitude. Previously, the states had had full responsibility for determining voter qualifications. Reasons for supporting the amendment are not immediately evident, but they went far beyond an idealistic desire to spread the fruits of democracy to former slaves.” (15th Amendment). The Article, Background of the 15th Amendment where the author is unknown states, “The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring

Despite the fact that all races were permitted to vote, women did not completely have that benefit until the nineteenth amendment was set up in 1920. The current development for women to vote traces back to the start of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, when supporters of a Constitutional Amendment, wanted to permit women to vote, gathered. While their development was moderated amid the Civil War years, the two noteworthy suffragist associations united after the war and pushed forward with the development that was completed, after numerous troublesome years in the nineteenth amendment. The nineteenth amendment expresses that the privileges of citizens of the United States should not be denied or compressed to vote due to gender differences.

“All men are equal” Thomas Jefferson wrote in the declaration of independance. The 24th amendment later fulfilled that all men are equal by prohibiting the federal and state governments from imposing poll taxes before a citizen can participate in a federal election. This meant that some states charged a tax to vote. This was thought to keep poor and black people from voting. This amendment made it illegal to charge a tax, or any other kind of charge to vote.It was proposed by the Congress on August 27, 1962. Then later it was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.

The American constitution recognizes the right to keep arms for defense of person and property as a privilege or immunity that cannot be abridged by the states. The Glucksberg test recognizes the right to keep arms for defense of person and property as a privilege or immunity that cannot be abridged by the states. The 2nd Amendment is unnecessary for applying this right to the states through the Privileges or Immunities Clause. 1: The Right to keep and Bear Arms in Defense of Person and Property Is Deeply Rooted in our Nation’s History and Tradition. Glucksberg Step 2: Describing the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Defense of Person and Property. Knowing we have the right to own guns is important to those who stand with the 2nd Amendment. If owing a gun makes you feel

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring 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."(The library of congress).The 15th amendment touched upon topics such as race and color but it had not touched on gender equality. It denied women certain rights, such as the right to vote. The constitution did not secure women’s rights to vote! How truly unfair this was! The constitution clarified that males had more power over women. Men were allowed to vote, and had many advantages over women. This made many women outraged. The accentuation on voting during the 1860s drove ladies' rights activists to concentrate on lady suffrage. The two sides built up two opponent national associations that intended to win ladies the vote.

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 world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it cannot forget what the soldiers did here” are the words esteemed President Lincoln spoke years ago on the field of the deadliest battle in our country’s history. Today, students across the country pull out copies of his monumental words and travel long distances to view the Gettysburg memorial, in order to fully remember the soldiers who fought on that day. But it was more than the soldier’s courage that makes them recalled by generations of people. It was the vision they strived for. Now, the 13th Amendment stands in place of these fallen soldiers, a concrete representation of the ideals many fought for. The 13th Amendment honored the courageous soldiers, who gave “their

In my opinion, the United States Constitution when it was first written was not just, however, after ratifying the Constitution throughout the years it has become a just document. When the Constitution was first written, it did have good points but, it still allowed slavery and did not allow women the right to vote. The 13th amendment which abolished slavery in the United States was not ratified until 74 years after the Bill of Rights was ratified. African American slaves were also not considered a whole person because of the ⅗ Compromise. Women were not granted the right to vote until the 19th amendment which gave all United States citizens the right to vote was ratified in 1920 which was 129 years after the original Constitution was ratified.

The Civil War and the aftermath which followed it was a rough time for the United States. The south was hungry for more money, with the rich land owners and thousands of slaves to do the work for them. The north, however, didn't like this. The north was industriliazed, and wanted to rid slavery from the U.S. After the north had won the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau was established to help freed black slaves and poor whites in the south.

One man is considered the father 14th Amendment, Ohio politician John Bingham. Although he isn’t recognized as much as other people during that time, he did bring up one major point in Congress, “limitations of the Constitution upon the States in favor of the personal liberty of all of the citizens of Republic black & white [are] soon to become a great question before the people.”On July 9, 1868, Congress passed the 14th Amendment, this gave citizenship to the newly freed slaves. Citizenship was only defined as being a citizen of a state before the 14th Amendment was passed; this did not include the slaves at that time.

Economic desperation had no small part in advocacy for repeal of the 18th Amendment. Conservatives who pushed for prohibition in the start of the prohibition movement. This included American farmers who pushed for prohibition and now pushed for repeal because of the negative economic effects on agriculture. Before the 1920’s amendment of the Volstead Act, 14% of federal, state, and local tax revenues were derived from profits of the alcohol industry.

I feel that the changes made in the 15th Amendment, which gave all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color, and the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote improved our government, because after those amendments citizens who previously would not have had a chance to vote, now could. The opinions of those citizens could now be expressed through their votes thereby expanding the demographic of the United States democracy.

The United States Constitution is the highest law of the land. Looking at the constitution, with twenty-seven amendment, the first ten are known as the Bill of Right. One to eight amendments ensured the right of the people. Although the thirteen amendment abolished slavery, it paved the way for the 14th the most important amendment to be drafted and adopted in 1868.

The ninth amendment states that “The enumeration in the Constitution , of certain rights, shall not be constructed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” I believe that one right of the people should be legalized drugs, supported by this amendment. Many places around the world do not let their citizens possess drugs. Many people are caught with them , and get pressed with charges for it. To solve this , legalizing some drugs would cause this to stop.