Voting Rights

The 15th amendment gave African American men the right to vote by saying 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." Sadly, African American men wouldn’t be able to exercise this right for almost a whole century. Using literacy tests, poll taxes, and other methods Southern states could prevent African Americans from voting. It took the passing of Voting Rights Act of 1965 before most African Americans in the South could vote. Woman went

As citizens, all Americans are given certain unalienable rights- the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. America has not always lived up to these standards of equality for all citizens. In fact, some U.S. citizens have and continue to go through quite a lot of trouble to gain equality, specifically in the voting rights department.

Voting was not always fair, especially for colored people. People who were white could vote without problems. Not only did blacks have rights, but Indians couldn't vote. Soon after almost 100 years Native Americans could finally vote.Today everyone has the right to vote no matter what race they are.

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."(The library of congress).The 15th amendment touched upon topics such as race and color but it had not touched on gender equality. It denied women certain rights, such as the right to vote. The constitution did not secure women’s rights to vote! How truly unfair this was! The constitution clarified that males had more power over women. Men were allowed to vote, and had many advantages over women. This made many women outraged. The accentuation on voting during the 1860s drove ladies' rights activists to concentrate on lady suffrage. The two sides built up two opponent national associations that intended to win ladies the 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

The 1965 Voting Rights Acts were adopted because of the flaws found in the 15th amendment that interfered with the basic right to vote for many minorities. The ability to vote is one of the most powerful tools that the American people have to make a change within America. The power to vote is important because you can decide your own government and by choosing your own government you are voicing your ideas on how you want the country to be operated. The amendment that gives US citizens the ability to vote is the 14th amendment which defines what it means to be a citizen. Whereas, the 15th amendment was put in place to stop the discrimination of voting based on your color, race, or previous conditions of servitude.

The Constitution States, “The rights of all citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex”(United States Constitution). The 19th amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920 after many years of women protesting and demanding equality from the government . From the views of many people who believe that the American Revolution was radical all men were treated equally. Conversely, this aspect was taken very literally in the that women were excluded from voting and making

One of the changes made to the Constitution was that slaves, women, and more citizens have the right of suffrage. In document #2, it states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged...on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude...on account of sex.” It also states, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged.” Both of these were added to the Constitution because although throughout history, citizens were angry that some of them didn’t have the right to vote. After the 13th amendment, blacks viewed themselves as citizens and they expected to have the right of suffrage. Women didn’t view themselves below men in the social class so they fought for the right to vote by protesting and creating female activist groups. To be able to fix this problem, the Constitution was

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

When Congress passed the fifteenth amendment African Americans were given the right to vote, however state legislatures created laws to deter the undesirable vote from African Americans. The country sediment was to not have any undesirable or what they considered non American people voting. That is why when the Civil Rights Act of 1866 passes, it granted citizenship not rights to vote. Children of immigrants were also not considered qualified to vote. This society felt that the only eligible voters should be American men, because they considered themselves as superior and denied immigrants, blacks and women to vote to uphold social hierarchy. Each state varied in voter prerequisites and while there was not a specific guideline, there were restrictions to exclude certain members of

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).

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 nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution 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 sex.” This amendment was ratified on August eighteenth of 1920 by the Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby. The amendment did not get ratified till 1920, but the fight for women’s suffrage started long before, in the mid nineteenth century (General Records of the United States Government, 2002). Today many women assume that their right to vote as if it has always; however, this luxury has not long existed. The amendment is not even a hundred year old yet. The nineteenth amendment has great history behind it, strong women who led it, and effects on the way we live our lives today.

Before two fundamental amendments were passed, the only persons who were allowed to vote were Caucasian males, and criminal white males were not explicitly denied voting rights until a certain amendment. The Constitution itself does not overtly state who is allowed to vote. However, one exception is the Fifteenth Amendment where it states that voting rights shall not be denied on the merit of race or color, this implicitly allowed African-Americans to vote. Another exception is the Nineteenth Amendment which stated that the right to vote shall not be denied on the account of sex. The long-awaited ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment was a pivotal moment in the women’s suffrage movement. Those amendments explicitly endorsed and allowed certain groups of people to vote. The ratification of the Fifteenth and the Nineteenth Amendments were a colossal step towards the universal suffrage ideal. Nevertheless, the United States has yet to reach universal suffrage because the Constitution does clearly disenfranchise convicted felons; however, all states have the power to restore voting rights to previously incarcerated or currently incarcerated convicted

The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the government from denying a citizen's right to vote due to a specific race. With which the Congress will have the power by correct legislation to enforce this amendment. Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment on February 26, 1869. Most states didn’t ratify the amendment right away but after a years time three-fourths of the necessary states ratified it. The Fifteenth Amendment became a part of the Constitution in March 1870. During the period of Reconstruction, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed by Congress. This section was a huge success for African Americans and citizens of other races. In the early years of Reconstruction, around 1865, white Americans were debating whether suffrage should be given to