Southern Voting Barriers Essay

“…Jim Crow constitution was held before it went into force, the effects were immediate and profound for back voters as well as white ones, despite Glass’s claims,” stated by the article. Therefore, by the end of 1902 registrars and literacy test had limited 21,000, all coming with a conclusion that 147,000 that were register were eliminated, and three years later the new poll tax cut that number in half. Lastly, in 1915 the 15th Amendment struck down the grandfather clause with the help of the Supreme Court of the United States, and soon it also abolished state and local poll taxes in 1966. “The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated literacy test and required Virginia and other states to seek approval from a federal court or the U.S attorney general before implementing changes to its election

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.

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".

On June 21, 1915 the Supreme court decided that the grandfather rule and Literacy test o voters violate the constitution and should not be legal. This issue is a very important matter in the eyes of many people in the south. Before the supreme court ruled that Literacy tests and the grandfather rule were unconstitutional, the voting system was very biased towards white males. Although the 15th amendment was passed to allow all people to participate in politics if they were an american citizen, the federal governments for many states made laws that restricted many voters from voting.

- Congress passed a 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction there of, are citizens of the United States and of the states in which they reside," thus repudiating the Dred Scott ruling which had denied slaves their right of citizenship. The 15th amendment provided that, “The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be be denied or abridged by the United States or any states on the account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

In the Reconstruction Amendments, found in document A, The right to vote couldn’t be denied to any man. On the other hand, their were literacy tests along with poll taxes. The idea behind literacy tests were to restrict african american men from voting. Unlike white men, african americans were not well educated, they wouldn’t able to pass the literacy test if they couldn’t read or write or just didn’t know the answers to the questions about American history.

In response to this, Southern states that opposed this idea created literacy tests. People (mainly of another race) were presented with a form of test that would evaluate whether they were able to read or not. If they could not pass, they were denied the right to vote. This, however, was in compliance with the Constitution because they were not denying upon race, but upon the test. Because men of color had just recently been freed from slavery, many were not able to read or write.

The grandfather clause was one of these racist laws. This law stated that an individual was not allowed to vote if their grandfather was unable to vote in slavery days. Luckily the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down. Sadly, however other rulings by the courts like William v. Mississippi, (1898) allowed states to add poll taxes and require literacy tests to voting requirements. These laws dramatically reduced the amount

Following the Civil War and freeing of slaves all over America a new question arose: Should black people be able to vote? Further, were they even citizens in the fullest sense? Now freed from slavery, black Americans found themselves in a political limbo where they were no longer property but not fully citizens. In an effort to extend protection from discrimination at the poll booth, an amendment to the Constitution was passed declaring it unlawful to deny voting on account of race. This amendment, however, was met with unprecedented resistance. Suppression of the black vote was just one step in preventing black Americans from being treated as citizens.

The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 abolished slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 granted African Americans citizenship and equal protection under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 granted African Americans the right to vote. These amendments were passed in an effort to combat racism and reshape public perception of blacks, however, these laws were hard to enforce and Southern states developed their own laws like the Black Codes to control the newly freed slaves. Jim Crow-era laws in the South like the poll tax and literacy tests prevented many blacks in the South from voting. Anyone who tried to break Southern traditions was subject to violence and intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan.

As said in PBS, “Literacy tests were used to keep people of color -- and, sometimes, poor whites -- from voting, and they were administered at the discretion of the officials in charge of voter registration” (The Rise and Fall of jim crow). They would give people that wanted rights a test on American history or laws If a black person went to take the test they would give them a harder test. Sometimes people trying ti gain rights could not even read in english. Also a lot of the blacks did not have a great education at the time so it made it extremely difficult for them. The Literacy test were unfair to some people that wanted

Blacks like other citizens of America were considered foreigners in their own country. Black codes were implemented to control black men and women. They were not allowed to vote, or own property. If they did have their own property, it was rented land from former slave owners. In order to keep the vote amongst the white men, they sought to disenfranchise the black man. “However, in order to maintain ascendency amongst the blacks, it was desirable and expedient to keep the negro from voting.” As a result, poll taxes, literacy tests, property qualification and grandfather clauses were applied. If they passed the following tests, they were still denied the right to vote. The Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror prevented many blacks from voting. Other methods such as manipulation, deliberate theft of ballot boxes and incarceration also prevented blacks from voting. In A History of Suffrage in America, it said, “the real objection to black suffrage was not a dislike of an ignorant electorate, but a keen apprehension that negroes enjoying political power would utterly demoralize the state.” On the contrary, blacks felt although they were free, “slavery was not abolished until the black man has the ballot”. Along with disenfranchisement, came segregation. Black people had to deal with the notion that they were

The only way any men were to be exempted from this clause was if his father or grandfather were to have voted previous to 1867. Being that African Americans’ ancestors were slaves, they were not able to be exempted thus they had to pass the tests, pay the tax, and pass any other requirements thrown at them. It was not until June 21, 1915 that the court declared it unlawful, leaving way for African Americans to 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

One of the first changes in voting rights began with issuing literacy tests to limited individuals in hopes to earn a chance to vote. Specifically, the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test was given to African Americans before they were declared eligible to vote. This practice was intended to keep African Americans from having any input when it came to voting. The idea of this literacy test was to give African Americans the chance to earn the right to vote but, would not guarantee that right. The 1965 Alabama Literacy Test was part of voter discrimination by only requiring a certain group of individuals participate in taking it. The 1965 Alabama Literacy Test was intended to be challenging to