Obama: the first black President in American history. How did he become the President of the United States? One thing is for sure, he could not have become President without the 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment is a key document that has had a great influence in America throughout the years, and still affects people today. The 15th Amendment disallowed discrimination in voting based on race and came about after the Civil War during the period of Reconstruction and Civil Rights movements, with its immediate impact being major backlash from Southerners and women, but as time went on it lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Obama being elected to the office of President; it has roots in Christianity with passages such as Galatians 3:28 …show more content…
In the same way, blacks rallied behind Obama and were the reason he was elected President. Black voters came out like never before and had a 60.8 percent turnout rate in 2008 (Flippen). Not only that, but 95 percent of the voters who came out to vote voted for Obama and they made up 13 percent of the total votes in the election (NY Times). To contrast this, in 2004 black voters only made up 11 percent of votes and only 88 percent of those voted for the democratic party candidate: John Kerry. In 2016, black voters only made up 12 percent of voters and dropped back down to 88 percent voting for Hillary Clinton (NYTimes). While one or two percent may seem small, it becomes significant when considering the 200 million people registered to vote. The extra percents meant millions of more votes for Obama that gave him the win. If there were no black people voting for Obama, it would be very unlikely that he would be able to win. Without the 15th Amendment, Obama would not have the votes to win the office of President and he would not even be able to hold office at all in the first
He is the first African American to in history to run on a major ticket. In the beginning of his campaign a lot of people questioned his authority and wanted to know could he handle the responsibilities of a president for such a big country. “ I want to know how deep is your love for the people, what kind of courage have you manifested in the stances that you have and what are you willing to sacrifice for. This is the fundamental question. I don’t care what color you are. You see, you can’t take black people for granted just cause your black”. (C.West) These questions just made Obama a much stronger person and he continued to fight.
Barack Obama has impacted America in many ways since he was elected the 44th president on November 4th, 2008. The first African American president of the United States has taken the world by storm and done many great things for this country. Barack Obama has accomplished many things in his personal life, and also as the president of the United States. Obama has affected the world financially, economically, and rebuilt our image as a nation.
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
Leadership is action,not a position”(Donald H. McGannon 1).On November 4, 2008, senator Barack Obama was elected as the first African-American of the United States of America. It was then on that he would lead the country for two terms and finally leave his legacy in 2017.Barack obama impacted most of the american peoples lives in a positive way like when he created more jobs. During the“ course of Obama’s two terms of presidency, he has shown multiple times through his actions on why he is such a great president.,Such as providing health care for the poor and helping the economy.For instance, obama averted an economic collapse.
This amendment was created to remove all doubt about the Civil Rights Acts in 1866, and it also included African Americans. The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870 to give African American males the right to vote, which no one could bribe or make someone not vote because of their race. These amendments had brought attention to African Americans, and their rights as citizens of the United States. These rights sparked a feeling of importance within their community as if things were starting to change for the better, even though they had face more obstacles due to white supremacy groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, horrified at the thought of being equal to African Americans.8 However, as more and more freed slaves start to register to vote, more black individuals became involved in politics. Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels were African Americans that served in the U.S Senate and Frederick Douglas was a major figure in the abolitionist movement.9 The first black institutions were also built in the South creating a solid foundation for the future for African-Americans in
Many people did not choose to follow the 15th Amendment and they would set certain restrictions on African Americans to keep them from exercising their basic right to vote. Things like the grandfather clause, poll tax, and literacy test were created to help prevent them from voting. The grandfather clause stated only those whose grandfathers voted in 1867 election were able to vote. African Americans weren’t allowed the right to vote until 1870, which meant none of them could vote. The poll tax was a tax that said you had to pay a fee to be able to vote and since most African Americans were poor so they were unable to pay.
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.” Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century.
In 1870, the fifteenth amendment was added to the constitution, granting African-American men the right to vote. While this was an enormous step forward
African-Americans had been enslaved and treated unfairly without justice for over a long period of time, and it was time to take action. The cruel discrimination led to the Civil War, where the nation had broken apart and fought over civil rights for slaves. When the North side of the nation won the war and the slaves were freed from their owners, Congress added three amendments to the Constitution of the United States. These were called the Reconstruction Amendments, and one of which was the 15th Amendment. ( ) The Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the right to vote. The amendment was ratified on February 3rd 1870 and was adapted into the US Constitution on March 30th 1780. The amendment states “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”. (American Vision 144) Not only did the amendment grant African Americans the right to vote but also granted them as equal citizens. African Americans had to face a lot of obstacles that were put in their way to keep them from voting for about a century!
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
Many people in society felt that a change was already fast approaching without the help of the 15th Amendment. It was expected that a social change would happen, society just never expected it to be the end of slavery. Everyone began to see the change when those in power, such as Abraham Lincoln and President Lyndon B. Johnson, showed support of African American advancement. Both Presidents worked for the cause of equality of races because they had a vision of a new America where everyone was to be treated equally. Even though it was obvious that a change was coming, it is clear that without the passing of the 15th Amendment, African Americans would never have had the right to vote because society would have never seen them as equal. Indeed, slavery was over but that did not mean that the white community had to accept them as equal.
Even though black citizens were discouraged from voting in various ways in the 1960s, about a century before they had no voting rights. If it were not for the 15th Amendment, which was a result of the Antietam victory, African Americans would not even have the opportunity to be able to vote. This is not the only reason that Antietam was more influential than the movement that followed. Even though the Ku Klux Klan was weakened by the actions taken against it after its members were charged with the murder of three young activists, this group continued to exist and there is still violence inflicted upon black citizens
The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This solidified the black’s right to citizenship on a political scale, yet they still did not have the right to vote. The Amendment did not reduce segregation or stop most southern states from continuing to persecute the black population but it did give passageway for the Reconstruction Acts to take place. These acts forced the southern states to be split into military districts until they complied with Congress.
In my opinion, with Barrack Obama being elected was a way of introducing equality and showing society that we too as African Americans can do great things. We came along ways from slavery days and things are different. We are the same and equal in this free state., the great United States of America.
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. He went to Harvard Law School. After his graduation, continued his legal work as a civil rights lawyer and a professor teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. He served there for three terms (1996-2004). Later on, he started his campaign in 2007 for the presidential election in 2008. He won the presidential election against John McCain, his Republican opponent and started serving in the office in January 20, 2009. He became the 44th President of The United States of America. He is more well-known for being the first African-American who ever served in The White House.