15th Amendment

The 13th Amendment freed enslaved people within America. The 14th Amendment made African Americans citizens. It wasn't until the 15th Amendment that African Americans received the right to vote. African Americans had to fight for this right and when they finally received it, white Southerners found ways to take it away again. Let's take a closer look at the fight for the 15th Amendment!

15th Amendment Summary

Nothing happens in a vacuum, let's explore the context for this amendment. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were all passed during the Reconstruction Era. This was the period after the Civil War when the South was to be reconstructed. It lasted from the end of the Civil War until the Great Compromise of 1877.

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and the 14th defined citizenship and naturalization for immigrants. This was a period of unrest because the Southern states did not like that African Americans were gaining rights. The South would not accept these rights unless they were forced to. The political party in power, the radical republicans, passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867.

Fig. 1- Military Districts

This act divided the South into five sections each with a military general in charge. The soldiers would protect the newly established rights of African Americans and enforce other laws and plans established by Congress.

15th Amendment Date

Voting was considered a political right, not a natural right therefore it was up to the state to determine who had the right to vote. The 15th Amendment was passed by Congress in 1869. It would be added to the conditions for Southern states to rejoin the Union. The generals stationed in the different sections would make sure that all eligible voters were registered including African Americans.

15th Amendment Ratified

The 15th Amendment was passed in 1869 but would not be ratified until 1870. This means that Congress passed the article in 1869 but could not get the majority of the House of Representatives to pass it until 1870. The majority means that it has to be two-thirds.

15th Amendment Simplified

• Politicians had three reasons for giving voting rights to African Americans
  • It was the right thing to do
  • It prevented Confederates from gaining power
  • They would vote for Republicans

This amendment was pushed and passed by the radical republican party. They had three reasons for wanting African American male suffrage. It was the right thing to do, it would prevent Confederate politicians from gaining power, and they would vote for Republicans.

Keeping former Confederates out of Congress was very important for reconstruction. The radical republicans wanted to control reconstruction and could not do so if Confederates were in power. Part of the radical republican plan for reconstruction was the enfranchisement of African Americans through rights, education, and government programs.

The 15th Amendment gave voting rights to any man who is an American citizen. It also placed the responsibility of upholding and protecting these rights onto Congress. This included African Americans and people who immigrated to America. There was a large number of Chinese immigrants who came to America looking for work. They often worked in the North on railroads.

Voter Suppression

The 15th Amendment left room for voter suppression. Congress did not want the "unworthy poor" to be able to vote or immigrants. A way of keeping them from voting was allowing for poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. Let's take a closer look at each of these techniques.

Literacy Tests

When someone went to the poll, they would have to read a section of the Constitution. If they could not read it, then they had to explain it to whoever was administering the test. The administrator would determine whether or not the person could vote. In the South, this was used to prevent African Americans from voting.

Fig. 2- African Americans voting

Most African Americans were formerly enslaved. It was illegal for an enslaved person to learn to read so many African Americans were illiterate. They could not read, and the Constitution had never been explained to them. The administrators were white men. When an African American passed the test, the administrator lied and said that they didn't.

Poll Taxes

It cost one dollar to vote. This might seem like a small amount of money today but for an impoverished person in the 19th century, this was a great deal of money. Many African Americans worked as sharecroppers and had to buy food and supplies on credit. They truly could not afford the one dollar that it cost to vote.

Grandfather Clauses

Politicians did not want to prevent white men from voting and many poor white men were illiterate. If someone's father or grandfather could vote before 1867 then he could vote without passing the literacy test or paying the fee. Black people were only able to vote after 1870 so this clause only applied to white men.

Fear Tactics

African Americans who could pass the literacy test and afford the one dollar then had to deal with white mobs. These mobs patrolled voting booths and would fight and sometimes kill black men who were voting. This turned into a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court in the US vs Cruikshank case. The Supreme Court decided that Congress could not intervene as long as politicians were not preventing Black voters. If private individuals or groups did then it was not a federal matter.

Who Did the 15th Amendment Exclude?

The 15th Amendment did not include women or Native Americans. White and black women supported the 15th Amendment believing that everyone would get the right to vote. Though that was not the case. Even though some of the largest African American suffrage leaders were also active in women's suffrage, like Franklin Douglass, the African American male suffrage movement wanted to remain separate from the women's cause.

This created a divide within the women's suffrage movement where some women stayed and advocated for black male voting rights while others separated and focused on women's voting rights. Often white women would insult African Americans because they were able to vote when the white women could not. Women would not be able to vote until 1920.

Fig. 3- Women's Suffrage booth

Native Americans were not considered citizens therefore they could not vote. They would not be given the right to vote until 1924. Even then it was left to the state to decide if the indigenous person could vote. It would not be until 1948 that indigenous people could vote in every state. They still had to pass literacy tests and pay poll taxes.

Significance of the 15th Amendment

The 15th Amendment signified a time of change. Even though African American voting would be suppressed in the South for the following 70 or so years, African Americans were gaining rights. Political power is an important contribution to change. As African Americans gained political power, they were able to change America.