For many years, gaining equality has been an objective of many blacks in America. Having endured slavery, discrimination, and constant denial of their fundamental rights by white Americans, blacks began standing up for their rights and demanding those freedoms delegated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The Declaration of Independence affirms that all men are created as equals and guarantees no person or class of persons shall be deprived of their unalienable rights, such as their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
One of the denied rights of blacks, was the right to vote. When that right was finally granted, many barriers were set in place to further keep blacks from exercising their right to vote, …show more content…
It prohibited disenfranchisement by state and federal governments on account of a person’s ethnic group or past enslavements. Because of this amendment, southern states came up with a plethora of alternative methods intended to disenfranchise blacks. For example, Georgia initiated a poll tax and required back taxes be paid before being allowed to vote. It was to exclude people from voting, not to collect income, since no state brought suits against any individuals for failure to pay the tax. Those who did not own property could pay a poll tax to vote. The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibited poll taxes as a prerequisite to vote in elections for the President, presidential electors, and Members of Congress. It also granted Congress the power to enforce this amendment with appropriate legislation. Prior to the fifteenth amendment, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction promoted the idea of suffrage for all …show more content…
Schnell in 1949, when a Federal court struck down biased dispensations of the literacy test. In 1965 Congress put an end to literacy tests in the South with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and in 1970 ended it on a national scale.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned the poll tax in state elections while the Supreme Court declared poll taxes unconstitutional and a direct violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. After the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Congress addressed widespread voting injustices against blacks, thus pushing voting rights advocates to push for federal legislation to remove remaining barriers to voter registration.
The Nineteenth Amendment prohibited the federal and state governments from denying individuals the right to vote on the basis of sex. It also grants Congress the power to impose this rule through legislation. The Constitution introduced in 1787 was a gender-neutral document: It did not prohibit women from voting. The Framers gave individual states the power to determine who could participate in elections. All states granted men suffrage. New Jersey was the only state to grant both women and men suffrage. Because the Constitution did not prohibit women from voting, no constitutional amendment was technically necessary for women to exercise
The Declaration of Independence affirms that all men are created as equals and guarantees no person or class of persons shall be deprived of their unalienable rights, such as their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
One of the denied rights of blacks, was the right to vote. When that right was finally granted, many barriers were set in place to further keep blacks from exercising their right to vote, …show more content…
It prohibited disenfranchisement by state and federal governments on account of a person’s ethnic group or past enslavements. Because of this amendment, southern states came up with a plethora of alternative methods intended to disenfranchise blacks. For example, Georgia initiated a poll tax and required back taxes be paid before being allowed to vote. It was to exclude people from voting, not to collect income, since no state brought suits against any individuals for failure to pay the tax. Those who did not own property could pay a poll tax to vote. The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibited poll taxes as a prerequisite to vote in elections for the President, presidential electors, and Members of Congress. It also granted Congress the power to enforce this amendment with appropriate legislation. Prior to the fifteenth amendment, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction promoted the idea of suffrage for all …show more content…
Schnell in 1949, when a Federal court struck down biased dispensations of the literacy test. In 1965 Congress put an end to literacy tests in the South with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and in 1970 ended it on a national scale.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned the poll tax in state elections while the Supreme Court declared poll taxes unconstitutional and a direct violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. After the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Congress addressed widespread voting injustices against blacks, thus pushing voting rights advocates to push for federal legislation to remove remaining barriers to voter registration.
The Nineteenth Amendment prohibited the federal and state governments from denying individuals the right to vote on the basis of sex. It also grants Congress the power to impose this rule through legislation. The Constitution introduced in 1787 was a gender-neutral document: It did not prohibit women from voting. The Framers gave individual states the power to determine who could participate in elections. All states granted men suffrage. New Jersey was the only state to grant both women and men suffrage. Because the Constitution did not prohibit women from voting, no constitutional amendment was technically necessary for women to exercise