-
Period: to
Voting Rights Over the Years
-
The End of the Civil War
After the Civil War ended and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery America had to deal with the issue of the rights of African Americans. The abolition of slavery was the first step towards equality of race and eventually led to all races being able to vote. -
The 15th Amendment
After the slaves were given freedom the question became whether they deserved the same rights as caucasian people. Many people wanted to keep African Americans from receiving the right to vote so in 1869 the 15th amendment made it so that minority males had the right to vote. -
Supreme Court Rulings
Even after minority males had the right to vote people still wanted to limit their rights. To make sure as little minorites voted some places created a literacy test where if you passed you could vote, if you couldn't you weren't allowed to vote. This action was made because most African Americans coming out of slavery didn't have much education and because the Supreme court ruled it constitutional this limited the minority vote. -
Supreme Court Rulings 2
In another atempt to restrict African American voting rights the Grandfather clause was made. This made it so that a person had to prove their grandparents could vote in order to be able to vote. Most African American's grandparents were slkaves and unable to vote so this would've hurt their voting rights but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. The ruling led to increased voting rights of minorities. -
The 19th Amendment
After the issue of colored people being able to vote came the Suffragettes. These were people trying to convince the government to allow women the right to vote. In 1920 the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote and icreased voting rights. -
24th Amendment
In February of 1964 the 24th amendment passed whcih outlawed poll taxes. Poll taxes were an extra tax you would have to pay in order to vote, this caused many African Americans and poor caucasians to be unable to vote. By outlawing poll taxes the amount of voting rights increased to include the poorer. -
Voting Rights Act
This act banned racial and ethnic discrimination in elections, meaning that more people of color could run. and colored people overall would be better represented in politics.
