15th Amendment Flash Cards

To extend the right to vote to former slaves.

Vote discrimination on the basis of race

Right of citizens of US to vote shall not be denied or abridged by US or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

February 26, 1869

By Secretary of State: March 30 1870

Both houses of Congress began working on what was to become 15th amendment

Advocated giving suffrage to women as well as to blacks

Only denial of the vote on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Southern states prevented black citizens from voting by using discriminatory techniques such as racial gerrymandering, literacy tests coupled by grandafther clauses, delegation of authority to "private" all-white associations, and poll taxes

Gradually invalidated all of the discriminatory techniques/devices

1st discriminatory device to be invalidated

States allowed individuals who had been voters or who were descendants of those who had been voters before 14th or 15th amendments to register to vote if they could not meet a literacy requirement.

Often prevented from voting either b/c they were illiterate or as a result of the discriminatory administration of literacy tests

Court invalidated Oklahoma's grandfather clause in

Observed that the grandfather clause perpetuated the very conditions which the 15th Amendment was intended to destroy