In the year of 1865 many significant events took place. The civil war had just recently ended and the United States was entering a time of reconstruction which brought along many changes for the current and future citizens of the United States. During the year 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated and along with Lincoln the Wade- Davis bill died in his pocket. But what triggered the assassination of President Lincoln is the fact that during this time he wanted to move towards the slaves being treated more equally and eventually being freed into society. This enraged many people because they did not see the African Americans as equal to them. The white society of America thought that they were above and better than the slaves as well as even …show more content…
The 14th amendment completely rewrites the whole constitution and deems the slaves as full citizens of the United States. This amendment also undoes the ruling of the Dred Scott case which states that no black man has any rights that any white man should recognize. Even with this amendment being passed only two states explicitly allowed black men to vote, Tennessee and Iowa. Eventually because many white men began to find loop holes in letting the black men vote the 15th amendment was passed. The new 15th amendment states a list of reasons that a state cannot allow an individual to vote. This list consist of reasons like race, ethnicity, social class, and things such as previous servitude. The typical male that was allowed to vote and seen as a full citizen was a male that was white, free, and 21 years or older. As all of these amendments were past in the effort to give blacks their full citizenship nothing seemed to …show more content…
This ballot was called the Australian ballot. The Australian ballot was a ballot that was controlled and printed off by the state and sent out to the poll from there. This ballot made it hard for anyone, the black men and lower class white men, to vote correctly. If a male did not have the correct schooling in how to read or write then they more than likely would not have been able to vote during this time unless they took the understanding test. To take the understanding test you had to completely embarrass yourself and then you were present with a test that was noncommon knowledge questions that had nothing to do with voting. Because of this many uneducated men did not go and vote so therefore it was easier for the educated, higher class white men to steal the other men’s votes and vote for the candidate they wanted to
As noted in Document 1, the 14th Amendment explicitly affirmed: “…All persons born or naturalized in the United State, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…” The 14th Amendment ------------ (lead into the 15th amendment) 15th Amendment: The Fifteenth Amendment granted all male citizens, regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” the right to vote.
Finally, with the ratification the fifteenth amendment in 1870s, it secured the vote for the African Americans, and it forbid states from denying any citizens from the right to vote based on race, color, or “previous condition of servitude.” These three amendments were significant changes during the Reconstruction period because all people, not just white, can fully enjoy being an American citizen without worrying over their race or
To gain support, they gave the allusion to the less powerful that the power was equally distributed. Right after the constitution, voting was basically exclusive to Protestant, land-owning white men. It wasn’t until 1856 when North Carolina was the last state to lift its property requirements for voting. Even then it wasn't until the 15th Amendment in 1869 and the 19th Amendment in 1919 than let all men and then all women vote.
DBQ Essay Did you know the 13th amendment gave African Americans their freedom from slavery. Then the 14th amendment gave them their citizenship. Finally, the 15th amendment was passed so that they had the right to vote. These amendments were passed during reconstruction. Even with these amendments, freedmen’s lives didn’t change much socially, economically, and politically throughout reconstruction.
Brown v. Board of Education was a Supreme Court Case held in Topeka, Kansas, May 17th, 1954 declaring segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. It did end segregation in schools but problems followed shortly after including struggles with the Civil Rights laws, voting rights and bussing. The 15th amendment “grants all men the right to vote and shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”. This was especially towards African American males in the South. Many Southern states tried to prevent them from voting by requiring that all male African Americans to pay a poll tax and take a literacy test which is a test of one’s ability to read and write.
This was a method to ensure the disenfranchisement of black Americans as they could not vote of topics that directly affected them such as pushing for an anti-lynching
It also stated that everyone born or naturalized in the U.S citizenship no matter what race they were. In 1866 the Civil Rights Bill was passed and it stated that ex-slaves were U.S citizens and also gave them the right to make contracts, sue, be witnessed in court, and also to own land. The president vetoed this bill which also means that he violated the 14th amendment. In his veto statement the president said that the blacks were not qualified for citizenship and also that the bill operates in favour of the blacks and against the whites. The Republicans didn’t have any hope in working with the president to make progress after this and tensions increased.
The fourteenth amendment protects the little people. The people who are slipping through the cracks, the ones that have fallen by the wayside of the majority. Recently, this has meant rulings in favor of same-sex marriage. Historically, it has granted women the right to an abortion and given African Americans the right to go to the same schools as their fellow Americans. In each case, an oppressed or otherwise infringed group from the overreaches of the state, the society at large.
Due to this, 93% of blacks could not vote, which led to extremely biased elections, unjust juries, and little to no
The 14th amendment essentially grants citizenship to all people born in The United States. The law also states no person can be denied "equal protection of the laws. " In many states this law freed slaves. This changed because of the 14th amendment it allowed colored people to vote and voice their opinions.
The 14th Amendment was a milestone in the United States history. It is the sole amendment that keeps our people and their rights together. The rights of the people are a major aspect to keeping the American society going in a positive direction. With no rights, the government of the United States would be purely communism with one leader giving all of the orders. In most cases, history has proven that way of running your society is not the most successful way of doing things.
The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “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.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the
When black people who wanted to vote, took the test, there were multiple answers, so the people who corrected these tests usually always marked them wrong. That is why before the 1965 Voting
And with the 15th Amendment (Voting Right) was passed in 1870, all men regardless of race or color were able to vote. All ex-slaves became a republican due to President Lincoln actions. But even with the Voting Right amendment passing, it was more difficult for ex-slaves in the South to exercise the voting right then those in the
Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.