Following the American Civil War, the bloodiest armed conflict on US soil, slavery had been outlawed from the US. It had taken the US until January 31, 1865, less than two-hundred years ago, for slavery to be abolished. Yet, it was still abolished, albeit, later than many other nations throughout the world. It had taken yet over another year for the fourteenth amendment to be passed in June 13, 1866, making all former slaves into citizens. But, perhaps the greatest and most important right of all, the right essential to any democracy or republic, the right to vote, was given to former slaves through the fifteenth amendment. 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 13th Amendment, created out of the ashes of the American Civil War, declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It was an end to the harsh cruelty that was brought upon African Americans for generations; however, a loophole exists within a simple phrase: “except as a punishment for crime…”. Even though all Americans are considered free under the 13th Amendment on paper, in reality this cannot be further from the truth as people were still considered a slave to the state if they committed a crime. Over time though, this “hands-off” doctrine approach gradually started to shift throughout the 1960s and 70s because the Civil Rights Movement stretched far beyond just African Americans. For prisoners, it was a justifiable call to action for basic human rights.
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.
In 1971, the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting eighteen-year-olds the right to vote. Before this landmark decision, citizens of the United States “had to be at least 21 years old” in order to cast their vote in an election (National Constitution Center, n.d.). It was the escalation of the Vietnam War that led to this expansion of voting rights. During the Vietnam War, thousands of eighteen-, nineteen-, and twenty-year-old men were drafted into military service.
More than than 270,000 troops are being denied their gun rights,mainly from the thoughts of those who are against the 2nd Amement. It really is common in the United States. And they also are very powerful and one shot can change your life for the worst, if used incorrectly. And that shot can or even could killed somebody. And that what makes them deadly. Guns are essiential to the United States of America because guns give us protection, and they are used for hunting and other recreational activities, and they really aren’t the biggest problem to the country.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is perhaps the most sweeping and has likely impacted the general jurisprudence of the Supreme Court the most of any other amendment. This is because, where all other right-protecting amendments protect something specific, the fourteenth amendment was designed to ensure that states guaranteed due process rights, applied the law equally, and protected the “privileges [and] immunities of citizens of the United States.”
The promise of freedom to all “slaves” came with the end of the Civil War. The 13th amendment, ratified on December 6, 1885 officially freed any remaining slaves. Then, the 14th amendment was ratified in the summer of 1968; it stated that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” would be given citizenship. The 15th amendment followed and gave all men, but not women, the right to vote regardless of race. It appeared as if all freed men and women would soon be as fortunate as any white person. Unfortunately, this was an illusion. While Congress could ratify amendments, the states retained a massive amount of power and utilized this to reissue the Slave Codes as Black Codes. While all of the southern states passed Black Codes,
Back then, many African Americans suffered from unfair treatment in the society due to their race, but this Amendment prohibited this from happening again. In the Amendment it stated that, “the amendment prohibited states from disenfranchising voters “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”(US Constitution). After this rule was established, the Americans began to decrease their racism towards the African American race. Moreover,as time passes by, there has been less and less outbreaks that happened in communities due to the racial discrimination. This shows that the Fifteenth Amendment did have a positive impact on the society in terms of improving the way people were treated.
Safety over rights or rights over safety is the question that the proposed 28th amendment makes U.S. citizens question. Michael Moore’s proposal is a contemporary approach on gun control in current day 2017 where fears of terrorism and mass shootings are relevant. Despite Moore’s new proposals Arizona citizens will better benefit by voting no on the proposed 28th amendment. This amendment will heavily affect Arizona as a limited constitutional carry state because it will not provide necessary help for times of need and will limit and infringe upon the rights assured by the second amendment.
Chapter 23: The "Bloody Shirt" Elects Grant Post-Civil War Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson was impeached and the Democrats/Republicans both nominated new candidates (Democrats - Horatio Seymour and Republicans - Ulysses S. Grant) Election of 1868: Grant was nominated by Republicans despite his lack of political experience (a war general) Due to his popularity in the North he had around 300,000 more popular votes than his opponent (turning point was the 500,000 votes of Blacks given to Grant: Republicans protected the voting rights of the freedmen) 15th amendment: Republicans passed this amendment to secure black voting rights...stated that states cannot prohibit a citizen’s right to vote despite race and color Republicans believed for continued
The First Amendment one that is watered down, serves as example of the freedom we as Americans have. It is best known as the amendment that lets us say what we want when we want. There is more to it that gets overlooked. It blocks government from establishing a theocracy, grants the people the right to peacefully assemble and protest the government for a redress of grievances. Our press is independent and is given freedom to publish at will. Our freedoms embolden us to speak out and organize for progress and against society's wrongs. Sometimes groups will organize to speak out but will sink to extreme measures as a means of expression. The first amendment has seen challenges in recent months. “Donald Trump referred to the press, and I'm quoting his exact words, as "dishonest, disgusting, and scum."Just ten days ago, you might have heard in a press conference, President Donald Trump said that the "press is out of control."(Chemerinsky, 553). To clashes between different ideologies on college campuses with some initiating riots. The first amendment grants many freedoms, however it does not grant protection from consequence.
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
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
In 1867, Congress passed a new Reconstruction Act, that threw out the state governments of states that refused to ratify the 14th amendment. The 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, providing a constitutional guarantee of voting rights for African American males.
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.
15th Amendment Blacks were allowed to vote The Freedmen’s Bureau was an organisation set up by the government in 1865. It organised