Lyndon B. Johnson's Explaination of our Fundamental Rights in “American Promise: Message to Congress”

On March 15, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson delivered “We Shall Overcome” in Washington, D.C. (Kreitner, Richard.). According to the words in the speech, in certain parts of the country African Americans did not have an equal right to vote. They would be informed that it was the incorrect day or ridiculed with impossible questions, solely because they were black. Johnson spoke this speech with integrity trying to conquer these racial discriminations and get the Voting Rights Act passed. He stressed that accomplishing equal citizenship takes more than just legal right. He wanted to ensure everyone that they were given an opportunity to escape poverty.

The emancipation proclamation was what seemed like the beginning of freedom for African Americans. African Americans fought hard and valiantly in the American Civil war and with the Unions win freedom and peace for blacks seemed to be assured. As most people would quote," Freedom isn 't free." It almost always has a cost. Africans Americans since the origin of this country have literally laid down their lives for the cost of freedom and opportunity in the US. One of the most coveted freedom 's both past and present is the right to suffrage. My paper discusses the many factors leading to and the trials and tribulations involving black 's right to vote. In this paper, I will discuss the constitutional amendments as well as the landmark supreme court cases that affected both the lives and voting rights of African Americans during the time period of 1865 through 1900.

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.

During the era of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, the nation seemed to be split down the middle in terms of its citizens. Obviously this is not meant to be taken literally, as the citizens of the United States were divided in terms of political views, morals, and other very important topics. One of these topics happened to be the act of expanding suffrage to people other than rich landowners. Both arguments in this debate were represented with a number of different types of evidence as to why each side was the correct way to go about shaping the way people voted in the United States and why the opposing opinion was not to be trusted. There were both pros and cons of expanding suffrage in the United States, but some were more valid than others.

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.

“I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Alabama for the right to vote. I’m not going to stand by and let the Supreme Court take the right to vote away from us [African Americans]” –John Lewis. Within 100 years, African Americans overcame many obstacles such as paying poll taxes, passing multiple tests, and violence to be able to vote. They had to pay taxes, such as poll taxes. They also had to pass multiple tests, such as the Property and Literacy tests. Violence was also an obstacle African Americans had to face in order to vote.

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.” In the 1880’s poll taxes and literacy requirements that afterward advocated African Americans to vote. Meanwhile Klan violence frightens from police and employers, blacks were still “protesting”about voting rights. As a result, there were over two dozen blacks serving in state congress across some

Voting in the early 1800’s was limited to white landowning males who paid taxes; neither women, African American slaves, nor the non- landowning/ non-taxpaying white males had the right to contribute to the

In a democracy each and every citizen of the state is supposed to have an equal say in the government. Today everyone has the opportunity to vote and has equal rights with no restrictions to American citizens. On the other hand back in the Jacksonian Era this was different. Before his time this wasn’t necessarily the case though and during Jackson’s era many improvements were made while many improvements that should’ve been made weren’t. During the Jacksonian Era the democratization of politics, which was seen as the equality and justice toward white males,

Throughout the semester we have touched upon many instances for which the legal history of America effects the life of a black America, especially in “We Shall Overcome” Alexander Tsesis takes on the task of looking at civil rights through the “lens of legal history’. “The Ballot or The Bullet” displays the political message that the ‘ballot’ is freedom, and thus power through the freedom to vote. Malcom X hounds in on the political idea that the white man preys on the black man for votes, but then allows filibustering to happen in the Senate so nothing gets passed to promote equality for black Americans. Alexander writes frequently through the book how skewed politics become for blacks once their vote is legalized. That although, they can

During this time period, America's vision of politics was transformed. "Democracy appeared to suffuse every aspect of culture and politics" (Keene, 228). Considering the voting restrictions most states had in 1800, close to three decades later many states disregarded these restrictions. Several new states "adopted constitutions with no property requirements," and some older states even adjusted their constitutions (Keene, 228). America's ideas about voting were transformed to include nearly all white men with the growth of democracy. Although many states were broadening suffrage for white men, some were placing new restrictions on black men. These limitations made it were only a few black men had the right to vote. Overall, democracy transformed America's ideas on suffrage for the white and black man.

In section two of the chapter the author describes the political status of black people living in the south. As he mentions how black people were being kept away from casting ballots and different laws were set up to keep black people away from voting. Such as difficult registrars were made in which difficult questions were asked from blacks. Moreover, laws like grandfather clause, requirements of property ownership, literacy tests were made as requirement while registering for vote. As most blacks were illiterate and poor so this allowed whites to stop black people from voting.

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 American Promise” Civil rights are the basic rights that belong to citizens to have political and social freedom. One of the main doctrines that describe civil rights is the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The VRA says that race, religion and sex can’t prevent someone from voting. This lead to Johnson’s writing of “The American Promise.” Lyndon B. Johnson purpose of this speech was to overcome legal barriers that prevented all individuals the right to vote and is protected by the constitution.

When Abraham Lincoln gave the Emancipation Proclamation, it granted the slaves freedom. Later on black people tried to vote but the still very biased people would try to prevent the “different” people from voting, by applying the “Grandfather clause.” Obvious prejudices are shown in a case such as this. These prejudices of the African people are still apparent in today’s culture as well.