15th Amendment Dbq Essay - 1392 Words

An act that was made to help create more fairness in the voting system was the 15th Amendment. â€Å"The 15th Amendment was the last of the â€Å"Reconstruction Amendments to be adopted. It was designed to prohibit discrimination against voters on the basis of race or previous condition of servitude. Previously, the states had had full responsibility for determining voter qualifications. Reasons for supporting the amendment are not immediately evident, but they went far beyond an idealistic desire to spread the fruits of democracy to former slaves.† (15th Amendment). The Article, Background of the 15th Amendment where the author is unknown states, â€Å"The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring†¦show more content†¦The Act has undergone several changes and additions since its passage, but the U.S. Supreme Court found a key provision of the Act unconstitutional in 2013. The act significantly widened the franchi se and is considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history.† (Staff 3). In the article, Voting Rights Act, author Staff states, â€Å"The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States.† (Staff 2). Even though all these efforts and laws were made to give everyone a fair and equal chance to vote, there are still many restrictions and setbacks everywhere in today s society and the major ones are Voter ID laws, Voter registration restrictions, State felon disenfranchisement policies, Purging of Voter Rolls, Transgender Disenfranchisement, Disinformation about Voting Procedures, Inequality in Election Day Resources, and Caging Lists. The first topic that needs to be addressed is Voter ID laws. What voter ID laws are, is they are laws that basically state that a person is required to give some form of photo identification before they are able to register to vote or receive a ballot for an election. The states that are strict about photo identification is Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi,Show MoreRelatedEssay about Who Killed Reconstruction?1873 Words   |  8 Pagesincrease of freedom for former slaves. However, there was also great resistance to change. In 1877 attempts to reconstruct the South officially ended, leaving white-only governments in power. This DBQ asks you to decide who, North or South, was most responsible for the end of Reconstruction Background Essay North or South: Who Killed Reconstruction ...the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery. -W.E.B. Dubois 1876 was an exciting year for America