15th Amendment
when was the 15th amendment ratified?
February 3, 1870
There were exams meant to prove a voter cold read, but were often designed to make Black citizens fail.
What are literacy tests?
This president, a former civil war general, signed the 15th amendment into law.
Who is Ulysses S. Grant?
This was the political party of Abraham Lincoln that pushed for the 15th amendment.
Who were the republicans?
This landmark 1965 act gave the federal government the power to oversee elections in states with a history of discrimination.
What is the Voting Rights Act?
What are the three specific criteria listed in the 15th amendment that cannot be used to dent a citizen the right to vote?
Race, color, or previous condition of slavery.
A fee that had to be paid before a person could cast a ballot, effectively disenfranchising the poor.
What is a poll tax?
Who is Frederick Douglass.
These were Southern laws passed immediately after the Civil War to restrict the freedom of Black people before the 15th amendment existed.
What are the Black Codes?
This 1915 supreme court case finally ruled that the "Grandfather Clause" was unconstitutional.
What is Guinn v. United States?
The 15th amendment is the final of three "Reconstruction Amendments" passed after the civil war. Which two amendments preceded it?
The 13th amendment that abolished and the 14th amendment.
This rule allowed men to vote without passing tests if their ancestors had the right to vote before 1867.
What is the grandfather clause?
Who are Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton?
This federal agency was established to help formerly enslaved people with education, jobs, and protecting their new voting rights.
What is the Freedmen's Bureau?
This 1944 case ended the practice of "white primaries" in Texas and the rest of the South.
What is Smith v. Allwright?
Despite the 15th amendments passage, which major group of American citizens was still denied the right to vote until the 19th amendment in 1920?
Women, the 15th protected race but not protect against any type of sexual discrimination.
These were primary elections in Southern states where only white voters were permitted to participate.
What are white primaries?
This man was the first African American to serve in the U.S. senate, representing Mississippi during reconstruction.
Who is Hiram Revels?
This was the nickname given to Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction to participate in the new governments.
What are carpetbaggers?
This 2013 Supreme Court case struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act, making it easier for states to change voting laws without federal approval.
What is Shelby County v. Holder?
Southern state bypassed the 15th amendment for decades using poll taxes and literacy tests. Which landmark 1965 legislation finally gave the federal government the power to fully enforce the amendment?
The voting rights act of 1965.
This type of test involved asking potential voters impossible questions like, "How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?"
What is an understanding clause?
This republican senator from Massachusetts was the primary author and driving force behind the reconstruction amendments.
Who is Charles Sumner?
The 15th Amendment was a requirement for these former confederate states to do before they could be readmitted to the Union.
What is ratify the amendment/reconstruct their state constitutions?
This 1876 Supreme Court case was the first to limit the 15th Amendment, ruling it didn't "confer" the right to vote, only prohibited discrimination.
What is United States v. Reese