The Fifteenth Amendment guarantees that 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."(Library of Congress). This means, in theory, that any US citizen should be able to vote no matter what their background. But the limits of this amendment are very apparent. This amendment does not guarantee rights of black women, they were not able to vote until 1920, earned with the rise of the woman’s suffrage movement. This amendment doesn’t allow Native American people to vote, because although they lived on US soil for longer than any one, they didn’t get a vote until 1924. This amendment also doesn’t guarantee that
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These barriers very specifically targeted black voters’ lack of education (literacy tests) and their lack of money to spend (poll tax). Even more heinous was the “Grandfather Clause”; a law implemented by state governments after the Fifteenth Amendment was passed making it so citizens whose grandfathers had the right to vote didn’t have to pay poll taxes and take literacy tests. The people in those governments knew that black men couldn’t previously vote, so the grandfather clause was ridiculously biased. State government, with their white governing parties, found their way to once again disenfranchise the black men’s vote, working around the rights given by the newly ratified amendment (Voting …show more content…
The Thirteenth Amendment was the start of the Civil War amendments, abolishing slavery in all states of America. This amendment was undeniably important for the rights of black people and for the common good in general. “But we will never be free // until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me,” says John Laurens in Broadway 's “Hamilton” and he has a tremendous point. The whole point of the Civil War amendments (The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth) was to grant rights and freedoms to black people that were previously only subjected to white people. A powerful argument could be made towards any of these amendments as being the most important. But the Fifteenth Amendment ties it all together. Now that black men were able to vote, they could now also make a difference in the government that once held them in chains. Now that all the pieces were together, black people could finally make a difference for themselves in America.
The Supreme Court is the final judge in all court cases involving the constitution. Its job is to tell when something is unconstitutional, whether it be state laws, governing powers, sometimes even the president themselves (Scholastic). Judicial review is the Supreme Court’s power to review legislative and executive actions, giving them the power to reject laws and decisions of the states. These decisions
These barriers very specifically targeted black voters’ lack of education (literacy tests) and their lack of money to spend (poll tax). Even more heinous was the “Grandfather Clause”; a law implemented by state governments after the Fifteenth Amendment was passed making it so citizens whose grandfathers had the right to vote didn’t have to pay poll taxes and take literacy tests. The people in those governments knew that black men couldn’t previously vote, so the grandfather clause was ridiculously biased. State government, with their white governing parties, found their way to once again disenfranchise the black men’s vote, working around the rights given by the newly ratified amendment (Voting …show more content…
The Thirteenth Amendment was the start of the Civil War amendments, abolishing slavery in all states of America. This amendment was undeniably important for the rights of black people and for the common good in general. “But we will never be free // until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me,” says John Laurens in Broadway 's “Hamilton” and he has a tremendous point. The whole point of the Civil War amendments (The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth) was to grant rights and freedoms to black people that were previously only subjected to white people. A powerful argument could be made towards any of these amendments as being the most important. But the Fifteenth Amendment ties it all together. Now that black men were able to vote, they could now also make a difference in the government that once held them in chains. Now that all the pieces were together, black people could finally make a difference for themselves in America.
The Supreme Court is the final judge in all court cases involving the constitution. Its job is to tell when something is unconstitutional, whether it be state laws, governing powers, sometimes even the president themselves (Scholastic). Judicial review is the Supreme Court’s power to review legislative and executive actions, giving them the power to reject laws and decisions of the states. These decisions