15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

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15th Amendment Summary
Reconstruction and the Right to Vote

15th Amendment Constitution History, Summary, Purpose, Definition, African American Rights, 15th Amendment Allows Black Men Right to Vote, United States Constitution and US Civil Rights Acts Facts

15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
Bill of Rights and 15th Amendment Ratification

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States ensures the right of black men to vote:
 
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring 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." Although it passed Congress on February 26, 1869, and was ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century. Through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other means, Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans. It would take the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of African Americans in the South were registered to vote.
 

Transcript of 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870):

 

Fortieth Congress of the United States of America;

 

At the third Session, Begun and held at the city of Washington, on Monday, the seventh day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.

 

A Resolution Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses concurring) that the following article be proposed to the legislature of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:

 

Article XV.

 
Section 1. 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.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
 
Proposal and Ratification

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870:
 
 
# State Date
1 Nevada Mar 1, 1869
2 West Virginia Mar 3, 1869
3 Illinois Mar 5, 1869
4 Louisiana Mar 5, 1869
6 Michigan Mar 5, 1869
5 North Carolina Mar 5, 1869
7 Wisconsin Mar 5, 1869
8 Maine Mar 11, 1869
9 Massachusetts Mar 12, 1869
10 Arkansas Mar 15, 1869
11 South Carolina Mar 15, 1869
12 Pennsylvania Mar 25, 1869
13 New York Apr 14, 1869
14 Indiana May 14, 1869
15 Connecticut May 19, 1869
16 Florida Jun 14, 1869
17 New Hampshire Jul 1, 1869
18 Virginia Oct 8, 1869
19 Vermont Oct 20, 1869
20 Alabama Nov 16, 1869
21 Missouri Jan 7, 1870
22 Minnesota Jan 13, 1870
23 Mississippi Jan 17, 1870
24 Rhode Island Jan 18, 1870
25 Kansas Jan 19, 1870
26 Ohio Jan 27, 1870
27 Georgia Feb 2, 1870
28 Iowa Feb 3, 1870
29 Nebraska Feb 17, 1870
30 Texas Feb 18, 1870
31 New Jersey Feb 15, 1871
32 Delaware Feb 12, 1901
33 Oregon Feb 24, 1959
34 California Apr 3, 1962
35 Maryland May 7, 1973
36 Kentucky Mar 18, 1976
37 Tennessee April 8, 1997

Sources: Library of Congress (Primary Documents in American History); U.S. Constitution Online; National Park Service

Recommended Reading: Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America (Simon & Schuster) (February 5, 2008) (Hardcover). Description: In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history. What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. Continued below... 

As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. Of course, the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued. Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history. The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today.

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Related Reading:
 

Recommended Reading: The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction. Review: "The Bill of Rights stands as the high temple of our constitutional order--America's Parthenon--and yet we lack a clear view of it," Akhil Reed Amar writes in his introduction to The Bill of Rights. "Instead of being studied holistically, the Bill has been broken up ... with each segment examined in isolation." With The Bill of Rights, Amar aims to put the pieces back together and take a longer view of a document few Americans truly understand. Part history of the Bill, part analysis of the Founding Fathers' intentions, this book provides a unique interpretation of the Constitution. Continued below... 

 It is Amar's hypothesis that, contrary to popular belief, the Bill of Rights was not originally constructed to protect the minority against the majority, but rather to empower popular majorities. It wasn't until 19th-century post-Civil War reconstruction and the introduction of the 14th Amendment that the notion of individual rights took hold. Prior to that, the various amendments to the Constitution that make up the Bill of Rights were more about the structure of government and designed to protect citizens against a self-interested regime. Yet so great has been the impact of the 14th Amendment on modern legal thought that the Bill's original intentions have almost been forgotten. Through skillful interpretation and solid research, Amar both reconstructs the original thinking of the Founding Fathers and chronicles the radical changes that have occurred since the inclusion of the 14th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. The results make for provocative reading no matter where you stand on the political spectrum.

 

Recommended Reading: Origins of the Bill of Rights (Yale Contemporary Law Series). From Library Journal: Constitutional historian Levy, author of 36 books concerning American politics and constitutional issues (e.g., The Palladium of Justice: Origins of Trial by Jury), provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the origins of the Bill of Rights and other constitutional provisions that protect rights.

His historical analysis frames fundamental principles of "liberty" and "rights" by interpreting each of the first nine amendments to the Constitution and demonstrating differences between 18th-century American ideals and English common-law practice. His informative arguments in this important work concern nature and the sources of the Bill of Rights within American democracy, providing understanding for both scholars and citizens. Levy's approach to these controversial values, which protect the rights of the people, will be the source of future legal and public discussion. A significant contribution to understanding the Bill of Rights; highly recommended.

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