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What do the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments say?

What do the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments say?

The Fourteenth Amendment affirmed the new rights of freed women and men in 1868. The law stated that everyone born in the United States, including former slaves, was an American citizen. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment affirmed that the right to vote “shall not be denied…on account of race.”

What was the loophole in the 15th Amendment?

The Fifteenth Amendment had a significant loophole: it did not grant suffrage to all men, but only prohibited discrimination on the basis of race and former slave status. States could require voters to pass literacy tests or pay poll taxes — difficult tasks for the formerly enslaved, who had little education or money.

What does previous condition of servitude mean?

1 : a condition in which one lacks liberty especially to determine one’s course of action or way of life. 2 : a right by which something (such as a piece of land) owned by one person is subject to a specified use or enjoyment by another.

What is the fifteenth amendment in simple terms?

The amendment reads, “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.” The 15th Amendment guaranteed African-American men the right to vote.

Why were the 13 14 and 15th amendments passed?

The Civil War Amendments The 13th (1865), 14th (1868), and 15th Amendments (1870) were the first amendments made to the U.S. constitution in 60 years. Known collectively as the Civil War Amendments, they were designed to ensure the equality for recently emancipated slaves.

What is the fifteenth Amendment in simple terms?

What rights did the Fifteenth Amendment protect?

Fifteenth Amendment, amendment (1870) to the U.S. Constitution that guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on ‘race, color, or previous condition of servitude.’ Its ratification effectively enfranchised African American men while denying the right to vote to women of all colors .

Which states ratified 15th Amendment?

Ratified in some states. The 15th amendment then was ratified by Nevada, Maine. Illinois, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

What does the Fifteenth Amendment prohibit states from doing?

The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction

Why was the 15th Amendment ratified?

The main impetus behind the 15th Amendment was the Republican desire to entrench its power in both the North and the South. Black votes would help accomplish that end. The measure was passed by Congress in 1869, and was quickly ratified by the requisite three-fourths of the states in 1870.