15W7


Fifteenth Amendment

Essential Questions: What issues prompted the creation of your amendment?
What impact did your amendment have on society at the time?


1 Why weren't slaves allowed to vote?
Slaves weren't allowed to vote because they weren't citizens. For a very long time, up until the Civil War, slaves were considered property of actual American citizens. They were worth nothing to most Americans, usually Southerners.

2.Were people happy with the creation of the amendment?
Most people were happy with the creation of the 15th amendment especially the Native Americans, women, and African Americans. On the other hand the Southern states weren't happy at all. The Southern states weren't happy because they believed that slaves were not people. They wanted the slaves to, well, be enslaved, and giving them the freedom to vote was the last thing they wanted.

3.What rights did the slaves have at the time?
Slaves didn't have many rights before the 15th amendment.

4. How did the southern states react to the creation of the amendment?
Southern states didn't like the 15th amendment at all and still tried to keep slaves from voting. They did not want the people they owned to be counted as "people". For most southern states, they refused to ratify this amendment.

5.What happened to the freed slaves when they tried to vote?
Any slave who tried to vote before this amendment were threatened, beaten, or even killed. Their houses were burned down and their families were hurt.

6.Which states opposed this amendments the most?
Many Southern states did not like this amendment. Some states didn't ratify the 15th amendment for a very long time. It would take a full 100 years for every US state to ratify it. Not only did some states not like this law, but some groups didn't like it. The most infamous group of all was the KKK. This group hated on African-Americans. Even though that before this law slaves couldn't vote in the North, less people opposed it.

7.After the law was passed, were all African-Americans/slaves granted all the rights as other US citizens?
After this law was passed, African-Americans had rights. Then again, they still didn't have every right, even though they were supposed to. During the 1900s, segregation still existed.

8.After this law was passed, was everyone (regardless of race/gender) allowed to vote?
No, even after this law was passed, most people could still not vote. Women were not allowed to vote until the 19th amendment, which wasn't passed until the 1920s. This meant that it would be about another 50 years for all US citizens to be able to vote.

9. Was this law passed by Congress before or after the Civil War?
The 15th Amendment was passed after the Civil War. It was passed by the House of Representatives on February 25th, 1869. The Senate passed it the following day. It wasn't easy for all the states to finally ratify it, though. While most states ratified it between 1869-1870, it would take about 100 years for some states to finally give it the nod. 6 States (Delaware-1901, Oregon-1959, California-1962, Maryland-1973, Kentucky-1976, and Tennessee-1997) didn't ratify this amendment for awhile. It would take many more years for that to come.

10.Who was the first slave, women, African American or Native American was the first to vote?
CLICK HERE!!!!!
Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the authority of the 15th Amendment.

(ST) What issues prompted the creation of your amendment?
The issues that prompted the creation of the 15th amendment were that African-Africans were being discriminated against. While the 14th Amendment said that anyone, including slaves, who were born here were automatically citizens, freed slaves still had little rights that other citizens had. If African Americans tried to vote, they would be beaten. While they were "citizens", they still had very few rights. After the Union States won the Civil War, slaves were freed and granted more rights. The main reason behind this law was that the North wanted to have more power in the South. These problems led Congress to finally say that African Americans could vote.

(LN) What impact did your amendment have on society at the time?
At the time that this amendment was created, slavery was just ending. This meant that most Southerners (and some Northerners) still weren't keen on African Americans having rights. Still, the this changed society. It gave former slaves, for the first time in their lives, feel free. They also felt like they had a voice. This law was also the start of the true "all men were created equal". Shortly after this amendment was signed, women got the right to vote. This also led to more and more amendments and laws that helped with civil rights. More and more freedom and equality acts and bills have been signed.



LIST OF ALL THE WEBSITES WE GOT INFORMATION FROM
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h415.html
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/15th-amendment
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fifteenth-amendment
http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/african-americans-and-the-15th-amendment
http://kids.laws.com/15th-amendment

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Current Event:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/01/22/why-african-american-voters-may-doom-bernie-sanders-candidacy/
(ST) This article talks about how the voting rights are still a big issue in our country today. Bernie San
der's and Hilary Clinton both presidential candidate, Bernie Sander's thinks that if he can't find a way to win over a large portions of the african american voters he won't be able to win the race. In the article it talks about how African Americans are a huge part of the Democratic coalition. If he could win over the African American voters he can win the race. He would like any race including African Americans to have the right to vote which they do according to the 15th amendment. So, in conclusion, the talk about the right to vote still goes on his our country today.

I believe that anyone of any race should be able to vote. I believe this because people today still shouldn't be judged by what they look like or how they act. If you are old enough to vote you should vote for the person of your chose to run our country. Another reason I believe that anyone should have the right to vote is because the while reason the 15th amendment was created was to make people equal and by picking and choosing who can vote and who can't isn't really equal. For these reasons I strongly believe that anyone should be able to vote for who should run our country.


Current Event-Lauren Nurzia
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/08/04/voting-rights-still-a-political-issue-50-years-later

This article is about how voting rights are still a big issue, 150 years after the 15th amendment was first made. The article says that there have been many occasions where voting rights have been violated. This includes instances like racial discrimination, false felony charges, etc. There have been many times where voting discrimination have occurred. It also says that there have been court cases and times in our justice system where there is discrimination. This is exactly the opposite of what the 15th amendment says, and that is wrong. It also says that Hillary Clinton has made several remarks against Republicans, saying that they try to stop millions of Americans from voting. You cannot violate an amendment, no matter the reason. There is no time for racial discrimination when comes to the ballot box.

I believe that the 15th amendment was made for a reason, and all these years later, that reason is still very much the same. Every man is created equal, and this amendment makes sure they are. The 15th amendment is a very important amendment. You should be able to vote no matter what your race is. This is an important issue today because race relations in America aren't the best, and elections play a big role in that. Everyone should be able to vote for who they want to, without their skin color being an issue. The US, in todays world, shouldn't have to worry about voting discrimination, and this amendment is helping to stop that. America is all about freedom, and the first step in that is being able to vote.