Simone Lawson
The right to vote in the United States has been expanded and protected by several constitutional amendments. The original Constitution did not explicitly protect the right to vote, instead leaving the issue to the states. The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, granted African American men the right to vote, while the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, extended the franchise to women. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes, which had been used to disenfranchise low-income citizens of all races. The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 for all elections. These amendments, along with federal laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1965, have played a crucial role in expanding and safeguarding the right to vote for all Americans.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Amendment Number | 15th Amendment |
| Date of Ratification | 3rd February 1870 |
| Who It Gave the Right to Vote To | All male citizens regardless of their ethnicity or prior slave status |
| What It 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." |
| Who It Didn't Give the Right to Vote To | Women |
| What It Did | Banned all restrictions on the right to vote regarding ethnicity and prior slave status |
| Succeeded By | 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote |
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What You'll Learn
- The 15th Amendment: Prohibiting the restriction of voting rights based on race
- The 19th Amendment: Extending voting rights to women
- The 24th Amendment: Banning poll taxes
- The 26th Amendment: Lowering the voting age to 18
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Eliminating all forms of discrimination in federal, state, and local elections
The 15th Amendment: Prohibiting the restriction of voting rights based on race
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on February 3, 1870, prohibits the restriction of voting rights based on race, colour, or previous servitude. The official text of the amendment is as follows:
> "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 Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
The Fifteenth Amendment was the last of the Reconstruction Amendments and was passed in the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed. During this time, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of millions of black freedmen. While amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the law, the election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters was important for the party's future.
On February 26, 1869, Republicans proposed a compromise amendment that would ban franchise restrictions based on race, colour, or previous servitude. Despite opposition from Democrats and some Republicans, the amendment was ratified and became part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870. The Fifteenth Amendment granted African American men the right to vote, but many were unable to exercise this right due to discriminatory practices and laws such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan.
The right to vote has been further expanded and protected by subsequent constitutional amendments and federal laws, including the Nineteenth Amendment (granting women the right to vote), the Twenty-fourth Amendment (eliminating poll taxes), and the Twenty-sixth Amendment (lowering the voting age to 18). The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also prohibited voter discrimination based on race and provided federal oversight of elections in discriminatory jurisdictions.
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The 19th Amendment: Extending voting rights to women
The 15th Amendment, which was ratified on February 3, 1870, granted the right to vote to male citizens of the United States regardless of their race or prior slave status. However, this amendment did not extend the right to vote to any women in the country.
The campaign for women's suffrage began in the mid-19th century and lasted for several decades. Women lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change to the Constitution. While some pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in each state, others challenged male-only voting laws in court. Suffragists also employed more confrontational tactics, such as picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes.
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on August 18, 1920, finally granted women the right to vote. This amendment makes it illegal to deny any citizen the right to vote based on their sex. While the amendment was a significant victory for women's suffrage, it primarily benefited white women, as women from racial and ethnic minority groups continued to face discrimination and voter suppression.
It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that discrimination against women, regardless of race, ethnicity, or disability status, was prohibited, and women's right to vote was fully protected.
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The 24th Amendment: Banning poll taxes
The 24th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibits both Congress and the states from requiring the payment of a poll tax or any other tax as a prerequisite for voting in federal elections. The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964, during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. This amendment was a significant step towards ensuring that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, had the right to vote.
The concept of poll taxes has a long history, dating back centuries as a method of taxation. In Colonial America, governments initially restricted the right to vote to those who owned property. As the nation expanded, some states transitioned to poll taxes, limiting the voting rights to white men who could pay the tax. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African American men the right to vote. However, many Southern states responded by reinstating poll taxes and literacy tests, effectively disenfranchising African American men and poor whites.
The 24th Amendment was enacted to address this issue and ensure that the right to vote was not denied or abridged due to failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax. It states, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax."
While the 24th Amendment was a significant step forward, it only applied to federal elections. It was not until 1966 that the US Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections that poll taxes for any level of elections were unconstitutional, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling further solidified the right to vote regardless of the ability to pay a poll tax.
The 24th Amendment, along with other constitutional amendments and federal laws, has played a crucial role in expanding voting rights and ensuring that all citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process.
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The 26th Amendment: Lowering the voting age to 18
The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on July 1, 1971, lowered the voting age for all Americans to eighteen years, having previously been twenty-one years for the longest time. The official text of the amendment is as follows:
> The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The earliest calls for lowering the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen emerged in the 1940s, with Congressional proposals being endorsed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1942, during World War II, Congress lowered the minimum age to be drafted into the U.S. Military to 18 from 21. This discrepancy between the voting age and the draft age led to a decades-long debate over lowering the voting age in the United States, with the slogan "old enough to fight, old enough to vote" becoming a rallying cry for a youth voting rights movement.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, increasing public opposition to the Vietnam War renewed debates over lowering the voting age. The increasing number of young American men and women graduating high school, going to college, and engaging in political and social activism led to an increasing national awareness of the process of crafting laws and Constitutional amendments. In 1970, President Richard Nixon added a provision to lower the voting age to 18 in the extensions of the Voting Rights Act. This new act of Congress was challenged in the Supreme Court case of Oregon v. Mitchell, where it was determined that Congress has the authority to lower the voting age for federal elections but not for state elections.
Following this setback, proponents quickly took action to amend the U.S. Constitution to lower the voting age. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to pass the proposed Constitutional amendment, followed by an overwhelming House vote in favor. In just over two months, the requisite three-quarters of state legislatures (38 states) ratified the 26th Amendment, and it officially went into effect on July 1, 1971.
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The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Eliminating all forms of discrimination in federal, state, and local elections
The right to vote in the United States was granted by the Fifteenth Amendment, which was ratified on February 3, 1870. This amendment gave all male citizens the right to vote, regardless of their race or previous status as slaves. However, despite this amendment, many African Americans still faced obstacles to voting due to discriminatory laws and restrictions.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, during the height of the civil rights movement. This landmark legislation was designed to enforce the voting rights protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and to eliminate all forms of discrimination in federal, state, and local elections. It prohibited voter discrimination based on race, colour, or membership in a language minority group and required certain places to provide election materials in languages other than English.
Prior to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, Southern states had legalised disenfranchisement by enacting Jim Crow laws and imposing various voting restrictions, including literacy tests, poll taxes, property ownership requirements, and moral character tests. These discriminatory practices effectively denied many African Americans their constitutional right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to address these issues and secure the right to vote for racial minorities, especially in the South.
The act had an immediate impact, with a quarter of a million new Black voters registered by the end of 1965, one-third of whom were registered by federal examiners. The legislation was later readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975, and 1982, and it is considered the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.
The most recent attempt to strengthen voting rights is the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, introduced in Congress in early 2019. This proposed bill aims to address current attempts to disenfranchise Black voters, such as redistricting, poll location changes, and closures, and limited access to early voting.
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Frequently asked questions
The 15th Amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870, granted African American men the right to vote. However, many were unable to exercise this right due to discriminatory practices and laws such as literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and poll taxes.
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted women the right to vote in the United States.
Yes, several other amendments have expanded and protected voting rights. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes, which often prevented low-income citizens from voting. The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 for all elections. Additionally, the 14th Amendment guarantees that rights of citizenship, such as voting, cannot be restricted by the states.
