Voting Rights for Blacks
Voting Rights for African Americans
America, a country founded on freedom and liberty for all, has reached a major milestone in its rich history. This year, 1970, marks the hundred year anniversary of the ratification of the 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and state government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizens race, color, or previous condition of servitude which was ratified February 3, 1870, as the third and final of the Reconstruction Amendments. Though many felt based on the suffrage of the Negro people the ratification of the amendment was part of a just and worthy cause, others felt that in some ways it was wrong for such a people to possess the same rights as common white folk. The passing of the bill has been faced with many political hurdles on its way to becoming part of one of America’s greatest pieces of literature, the United States Constitution. Before the 15th Amendment was brought forth to congress, each state was given the chance to decide on the citizen’s right to vote. Keep in mind that there were many defining events that led up to the ratification of the 15th Amendment, such as the Compromise of 1850, which tried to settle a prolonged confrontation between the Southern slave states and the Northern free states, regarding the acquired territories during the Mexican-American War, which took place between 1846 and 1848. The compromise made secession avoidable and reduced conflict for four years. Another hurdle was the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened territories for new settlement, and allowed through Popular Sovereignty the determination of slavery in that region. This caused settlers who opposed slavery and ones that were for slavery to clash, leading to a Bloody Kansas. As we all know eventually, this led to the United States Civil War, in which the south tried to succeed from the union and failed by losing the war. In turn
America, a country founded on freedom and liberty for all, has reached a major milestone in its rich history. This year, 1970, marks the hundred year anniversary of the ratification of the 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and state government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizens race, color, or previous condition of servitude which was ratified February 3, 1870, as the third and final of the Reconstruction Amendments. Though many felt based on the suffrage of the Negro people the ratification of the amendment was part of a just and worthy cause, others felt that in some ways it was wrong for such a people to possess the same rights as common white folk. The passing of the bill has been faced with many political hurdles on its way to becoming part of one of America’s greatest pieces of literature, the United States Constitution. Before the 15th Amendment was brought forth to congress, each state was given the chance to decide on the citizen’s right to vote. Keep in mind that there were many defining events that led up to the ratification of the 15th Amendment, such as the Compromise of 1850, which tried to settle a prolonged confrontation between the Southern slave states and the Northern free states, regarding the acquired territories during the Mexican-American War, which took place between 1846 and 1848. The compromise made secession avoidable and reduced conflict for four years. Another hurdle was the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened territories for new settlement, and allowed through Popular Sovereignty the determination of slavery in that region. This caused settlers who opposed slavery and ones that were for slavery to clash, leading to a Bloody Kansas. As we all know eventually, this led to the United States Civil War, in which the south tried to succeed from the union and failed by losing the war. In turn