The Seventeenth Amendment And The Voting Process During The Gilded Age

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

The greatest reform of democracy came from the people pushing the boundaries of what a democracy should be—the Progressive Movement. If there is to be hope of abolishing partisan gerrymandering and bringing true voting equality, or at least moving toward equality, for the first time in U.S. history, it is going to require another social movement, similar to the Progressive

Vonelle Robertson Professor Currie American National Government April 15th, 2015 Essay: Should the 17thAmendment be repealed? While citizens of each state did not directly vote in the senators of their respective states legislatures chose the senators based on the law that was adopted in the constitution in 1788.The 17th amendment came about because of the state legislature being deadlocked over the election of United States Senators. This left numerous senate vacancies lasting as long as months or even years. But this was not the first attempt to amend the constitution to elect senators by popular vote. It was first introduced in the US House of Representatives in 1826 but the amendment did not have favorable support until the late 19th century

The 17th Amendment granted the people the right to choose their representatives. Restrictions imposed by the states would conflict with the 17th Amendment right of the people to choose their legislators. U.S. Term Limits Inc. also argued the states had the power to regulate the times, places, and manner of holding elections under Article I, Section 4, making Amendment 73 constitutional. The Court rejected this argument, stating Section 3 of the amendment was only an attempt to create new qualifications for members of Congress and was not a direct attempt to regulate the time, place, or manner of holding

When you look around at the world today, we have so many rights. People of all race and gender have the right to vote. However, this wasn’t always the case. In 1800s America, the fight over slavery was more prominent than it ever had been before. The civil war sparked the start of an evolution, an evolution led by none other than Ulysses S. Grant.

In some community’s blacks were denied the right to vote, adequate education for their

Throughout the history of any great nation, there can be found the clashing of political titans; the United States is no exception. During the pivotal years following the American Revolution, the Anti-Federalist and Federalist groups emerged to lay the political groundwork for what would one day become one of the greatest democratic republics the world has ever seen. These polar-opposite factions proved to be a source of great division amongst the citizens of the newly established country, especially during the arising constitutional debate. Various influential figures from both sides molded and refined the beginnings of the Constitution in order to quell the expectations and desires of the larger population. Though the process of ratification

We see multiple successes of voting equality attempted through amendments, however, the Supreme Court’s decision on Shelby County v. Holder has pushed back years and years of effort for voting rights. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling was in Shelby County’s favor, stating that the Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional along with Section 5. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, who wrote the majority’s opinion, said that the power to regulate election was reserved to the states, not the federal government. As a result to the court’s decision, the federal government can no longer determine which voting law discriminates and can be passed. After the case, many states had freely passed new voting laws; the most common voting law states passed

The Bourbon Democrats bolstered a free market approach, with low levies, low charges, less spending and, as a rule, a Laissez-Faire (hands-off) government. They contended that levies made most products more costly for the shopper and financed the trusts (syndications). They additionally reproved dominion and abroad extension. By difference Republicans demanded that national success relied on upon industry that paid high wages, and cautioned that bringing down the duty would be a fiasco since merchandise made by low-wage European assembly line laborers would surge American markets. The political history of the Gilded Age is normally lessened to a story of debasement and outrage.

The Freedmen's Bureau “aided many freed people in achieving one of their primary goals: obtaining land” (Hewitt and Lawson 464). It also helped with housing, small loans, and put newly freed black people in touch with lawyers. This bureau is a clear example of how the government paid attention to Black people’s needs and made it their top priority. Many African American citizens were able to thrive through this bureau and were able to successfully reconnect with their family, obtain sustainable jobs, and much more. The 15th Amendment stated that voting rights could not be denied to any male based on race, skin color, or former slave status (Document C).

But, when these officials were elected to Congress, they passed the “black codes” and thus the relations between the president and legislators became worst (Schriefer, Sivell and Arch R1). These so called “Black Codes” were “a series of laws to deprive blacks of their constitutional rights” that they were enacted mainly by Deep South legislatures. Black Codes differ from a state to another but they were stricter in the Deep South as they were sometimes irrationally austere. (Hazen 30) Furthermore, with the emergence of organizations such as the Red Shirts and the White League with the rise of the Conservative White Democrats’ power, efforts to prevent Black Americans from voting were escalating (Watts 247), even if the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that gave the Blacks the right to vote had been ratified in 1870.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a large portion of Americans were restricted from civil and political rights. In American government in Black and White (Second ed.), Paula D. McClain and Steven C. Tauber and Vanna Gonzales’s power point slides, the politics of race and ethnicity is described by explaining the history of discrimination and civil rights progress for selective groups. Civil rights were retracted from African Americans and Asian Americans due to group designation, forms of inequality, and segregation. These restrictions were combatted by reforms such as the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, etc. Although civil and political

One hundred years after the Constitution was ratified, a political party emerged that threatened to destroy it: the Progressive party. The Progressive party was built upon the idea that the American government is not doing anything to help the country move forward. They believe that there must be moving forward for the “…uplift and betterment of mankind…”(PR pg. 319). They believe that the government of the founding fathers is not keeping up with the rapid changes in society and that it must adapt to the new challenges (PR pg. 333). Although both the progressive party and the founding fathers declare that they want to guard against tyranny and uphold the good of the people, they have different approaches to the issue.

To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”

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.