Amend15C2

** Essential Questions: **** 1. Wha **** t issue **** s promp **** te **** d t **** he creation of your amendment? **** 2. What impact did your amendment have on society at that time? **


The 15th amendment states that people cannot be told that they cannot vote because of their race, color, or if they were previously a slave. No matter what race or color a person is they cannot be denied the right to vote if they are an American citizen. The amendment was passed by Congress on February 26, 1869. Then the amendmentwas ratified on February 3, 1870.

1. The issue that prompted the creation of the 15th amendment was that the African American men in America wanted to vote in elections. This is what caused this idea to come up. There were many African American men in all of the states and they would affect the elections that went on in the United States. Many states however did not want black men voting with them. This was a big issue for the country. Finally the amendment went into action and now people of any race or color can vote in an election if they are an American citizens.

2. The 15th amendment impacted society greatly at that time. Every election not only included white voters, but also voters from other races that lived in America. Many people were not in favor of this happening. It not only gave African Americans the right to vote but it also allowed them to hold an office in the government. Hiram Rhoads Revels was the first African American ever to sit in the United States Congress. He was elected to the Senate, and many African Americans looked up to him.

[|What groups were in favor of the 15th amendment?(PF)] The republicans were the group that were in favor of the 15th amendment. They used to have a huge voter majority over the Democrats and the republicans wanted to keep it that way. They started to lose their advantage and the only way to get it back was to get the votes of the African American men in the North. However, even in the North the people did not like the idea of African American men voting. At the end of 1869, Congress approved a compromise amendment that did not even mention African Americans voting. The amendment said, "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 the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." This way the amendment sounded like it was for all American citizens to vote and not just African Americans.

[|Who was against the 15th amendment and why?(PF)] The democrats were against the 15th amendment because they were afraid that if African Americans were allowed to vote they would vote republican. The democrats argued that the 15th amendment restricted the states rights to run their own elections. They also said that the republicans were breaking their promise to allow states outside of the south to decide for themselves if they wanted African Americans to vote. Democrat leaders said that African Americans had low levels of literacy so that was another reason they shouldn't vote. Also, they said that African Americans "wou ld be easily swayed by false promises and outright bribery." Overall the democrats were trying to say that African Americans weren't intelligent enough to be voting.



[|What were the problems with the amendment?(PF)] A big problem with the 15th amendment was that many states did not want topass it because they did not want Chinese and Irish immigrants voting. This was a problem because a large amount of them lived in all the states. California and Oregon would not ratify the amendment because of how many immigrants lived in those states. The amendment was passed without the approval of California and Oregon. This is because they didn't need every state to ratify the amendment, they only needed a three fourths vote. About 90 years later these states ended up ratifying the 15th amendment.

[|Who was the first African American to vote?(PF)] The first African American to vote under the 15th amendment was Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He voted on March 31, 1870 for the town's charter. He voted within two months of the amendment being ratified. Mr. T.L. Kearny, Peterson's boss, was the man who encouraged him to go and vote. He said to Peterson "go to the polls and exercise a citizen's privilege." The town later rewarded Peterson with a medallion for being the first African American man to vote in that town.

[|How did some Southern States try to avoid letting African Americans vote, even after the 15th amendment was ratified?(PF)] Of course the Southern states didn't like the idea of African Americans being allowed to vote in their states. They were still angry about the loss of the Civil War and of their slaves. Now the government wanted them to let African Americans vote. To avoid this, Southern states passed laws that still stopped African Americans from voting. One law prevented people whose grandfathers were not citizens from voting. Also, some states would charge people money to vote, so African Americans who couldn't afford it couldn't vote. It was not until much later that the federal government got involved to make the states follow the 15th amendment.

what states followed the 15th amendment? []Alabama,Arkansas,,California,Connecticut,Delaware,Florida,Georgia,Illinois,Indiana,Lowa,Kansas,Kentucky,Louisiana,Main,Maryland,Massachusetts,Michigan,Minnesota,Mississippi,Missouri,Nebraska,Nevada,New Hampshire,New Jersey,New York,North Carolina, Ohio,Oregan,Pennsylvania,Rhode Island,South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas,Vermont,Virginia,West Virginia and Wisconsin.These are all the states that follow the 15th amendment.

what states did not want to follow the 15th amendment and why? [] The states that did not want to follow the 15th amendment were California and Oregan. This was because they did not like the Chinese population. Then 90 years later they finally wanted to follow the 15th amendment because the Chinese population went down from then. Luckily they passed this amendment because treaty helped african americans.

How many years did it take the states to ratify the amendment? it took from feb 26,1869 to march 30th,1870 to ratify the 15th amendment. This amendment took so long because some states wouldn't ratify it or did not trust it would work.

who wrote the 15th amendment? George Washington wrote the 15th amendment. From Centerville Indiana. George believed that all citizens should vote no matter your race or color. He first started with just giving women the right to vote. Then he realized he should make it so everyone can vote no matter gender,race and color.