The Fifteenth Amendment In The United States

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.

Before the United States Constitution was implemented in 1788, there was a certain principle in society where only men of a Caucasian race had the right to vote in elections. Many people including women and those of different races and colors protested, marched, and fought get the right to vote. Since the country's leaders at the time were dissatisfied with the structure of the society and government they decided to make the US Constitution. With the making of the Constitution it created amendments to better the rights of people and create a better society. Since women and people of different colors and races wanted the right to vote, the constitution created the 15th and 19th amendment. According to the legal form institute website last updated on November 2nd of 2009, it stated that the 15th amendment was "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. According to the history.com website last updated in 2010, it stated that the 19th amendment "granted American women the right to vote—a right known as woman suffrage (S)". Ever since the constitution was made it made a huge effect on today's society and government which gives every single person the right to vote.

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

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 United States was not enforcing the Amendments they created, which was a negative for African American rights. The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, but after the Compromise of 1877 many Southerners and Democrats who were not in support of African Americans voting made it harder for African Americans to vote by creating restriction measures. Congressman Benjamin Boyers’ speech about why African Americans should not be able to vote spoke about how he believed that African Americans did not have the same mental caliber as other citizens in the United States

It was the result of several proposals presented to the “Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction of the House of Representatives” and various other committees. Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the above committee, introduced the idea on April 30th, 1866 as “a plan for rebuilding a shattered nation”. On June 8th, 1866 it was passed by a landslide in the senate by 120-32, even though it had been vetoed by President Johnson, who had been against the 14th amendment from the very beginning of the development. It defined federal citizenship and made all citizens equal when it came to the law, as well as opening up the door for black suffrage and adding civil rights into the constitution. Although there were many favorable outcomes to this amendment, there were drawbacks as well. Many states were unwilling to ratify the amendment or used loopholes to get around the decision, and the fact that President Johnson actively opposed the amendment led to more tension between both the President and congress and congress and the southern states. A year later, on March 7th, 1867, a joint resolution that involved suffrage was introduced, and three years later it would become the 15th amendment. The 15th amendment said 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.” (15th

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 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 Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1870, and granted African-American (Black) men the right to vote by declaring 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." (U. S. Const. amend. XV).

The 15th Amendment is the last of the three “Reconstruction amendments” that passed after the Civil War. This amendment outlaws the states or the federal government from using a citizen's race, color or previous status as a slave for voting qualification. Its basic purpose was to emancipate former slaves who weren’t allowed to vote and weren’t even considered American citizens before. But that was not until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, almost a century later, that the full promise of the 15th Amendment was achieved in all states.

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.

Throughout this time, the ranking of freedman was significantly increased, and by 1868; many state legislatures had African American delegates. All of America, as well as the South, had to be rebuilt, and, despite the South's hostile resistance, African-Americans were slowly and gradually becoming part of this nation. The long-awaited citizenship for Blacks was confirmed in 1868, by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. By 1870, the 15th Amendment had been added to the Constitution, which gave blacks the right to vote. The 15th Amendment forbids the states from denying the right to vote to any person on account of race, color, or previous condition of

When the Fifteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution, stating, “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 the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” Southern states searched for loopholes in an attempt to deny freedmen the right to vote. Southern state governments required blacks to pay voting taxes, pass literacy tests and endure many other discriminatory, restrictive practices. In addition, the Ku Klux Klan intimidated black men who tried to vote by burning their homes, churches and schools, and even murder. As Frederick Douglass explained, “it is said that we are ignorant; admit it. But if we know enough to be hung, we know enough to vote. If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together. If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and fight for the flag for the government, he knows enough to vote ....What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.”

The United States Congress, in trying to rectify the historical inequity of not having Blacks vote, amended the United States Constitution with the 15th Amendment. Although this was a step in the right direction to empower Blacks, there were many issues that were not specifically addressed which left room for the southern states to circumvent the law and continue the suppression of the Black vote. With no national organization to fight the local laws that included many discriminatory restrictions against Blacks, and impeded by a lack of resources to be able to get legal assistance, the southern states had free reign to enact laws that suppressed the vote. The use of poll taxes, educational requirements, literacy tests, which whites were exempted

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.