Tonya Bettineschi

His 307
Dr. Bailey
11/18/16

Reaction to the Fifteenth Amendment

The Fifteenth Amendment was a significant moment in history because it extended the

Constitutional right to vote in elections to African Americans. This amendment changed the lives

of African Americans, yet received opposition from white southerners. Primary documents from

the beginning of the 1860s show how these laws changed the lives of many African Americans

and the opposition they faced as well.

In 1869, the Fifteenth amendment was officially added to the Constitution of the United

States government. The Fifteenth amendment ensured that all male citizens of the United States

of America would be granted the right to vote, regardless of race or skin color. For the first time

in history, this right was extended to people other than white males. For African Americans, this

was a major accomplishment. Freed slaves were now given the chance to participate in elections.

It was a symbol of freedom that white men had the privilege of enjoying, but black men did not.

It was considered to be a small step towards equality.

An African American song emerged after the ratification of the Fifteenth amendment in

1869. After the Civil War, African Americans witnessed a small victory after slavery had been

abolished with the fall of the Confederate States. The war came to an end in 1865, and 4 years

later they were given the right to vote. This was a significant milestone in African American

history. Only a few years prior, they were slaves. Now they were considered citizens of the

United States and given the same right as white men who had previously owned and enslaved
them. The ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment signified that African Americans were “no

longer ruled by the rod” of white masters.1 These were lyrics in the song “The Fifteenth

Amendment” which was written by Joshua McCarter Simpson and became popular among many

African Americans. This song was sang in celebration of receiving the right to vote and praised

the nation for ratifying the progressive amendment.

Joshua McCarter Simpson was an African American abolitionist during the 1860s.

Simpson was born in Ohio in 1820. He was considered to be a free black, however, he still faced

many hardships and discrimination while he was growing up. He was forced to work as an

indentured servant until he was old enough to leave and pursue a career as an abolitionist.

Simpson was a significant figure during his time because he contributed to the abolitionist

movement by writing poetry and songs that lifted the spirits of African Americans who were

struggling to obtain their freedom. His songs and poems became popular along the Underground

Railroad. His song that he wrote after the ratification of the Fifteenth amendment in 1870,

reflected the feelings and attitudes of African Americans after they were given the right to vote.

“...The home of the brave,

Now contains not a slave;
Each homestead’s a Liberty Tree;
And the story we’ll sing,
‘Till the welkin shall ring;
That all men are EQUAL and FREE” 2

This is a verse from “The Fifteenth Amendment”, which is the song that Joshua McCarter

Simpson wrote. The lyrics in this verse are rejoicing the fact the United States government

finally recognized the injustice that African Americans had faced for centuries upon centuries.

Slavery had negatively impacted the lives of many generations of slaves. There was finally a

1
“Printed song lyrics: 'The Fifteenth Amendment,' ca. 1870,” Digital Public Library of America,
2
Ibid.
glimmer of hope in 1865, after the Confederacy fell to the Union and slavery was officially

abolished. Since 1776, the United States of America made false claims under the Declaration of

Independence that “all men are created equal”.3 In the Declaration of Independence, the

forefathers stated this in reference to white men only. The only men who were considered equal

were the white, male, American citizens. African Americans and women did not qualify as being

equal under this idea. However, the ratification of the Fifteenth amendment began to change race

relations in the United States.

Although the Fifteenth amendment extended voting rights to African Americans, there

were many obstacles they had to overcome. The amendment states that 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”, however, this was not the case in real

life scenarios.4 This federal law was never fully implemented in the states. It was a law for the

papers rather than practice. States, especially those states who were a part of the Confederacy

during the Civil War, had a major issue with allowing African Americans to vote in the elections.

They believed that freed slaves should not be considered citizens and given the same rights as

white men. This amendment severely challenged the status of white men and so they did

everything in their power to deny African Americans of their constitutional rights.

The Fifteenth amendment gave voting rights to all men regardless of race, however, it

was never enforced. The federal government did not have the means to enforce this law in every

state and so some states refused to comply. Mainly in the southern states there was a wide range

of opposition to the Fifteenth amendment. White men of the south were extremely angered by

3
"The Declaration of Independence:Full Text." ​Ushistory.org​. Independence Hall Association,Web.17 Nov.
2016.
4
"The Constitution of the United States," Amendment 15.
the progressive United States government interfering in the south. When the amendment was

passed, so were many rules that countered it. Literacy tests and the grandfather clause were both

establish in order to disenfranchise African Americans from having the right to vote.

The Grandfather Clause was

first enacted in southern states in the

year 1895. The Grandfather Clause

was drafted in attempts to prevent

African Americans from voting even

after the Fifteenth amendment was

passed. Seven Southern states

adopted this clause after the

Reconstruction Era in order to

protect white’s rights and deny suffrage to black people in America. The Grandfather Clause was

interesting because in order for African Americans to vote, they had to show proof that they

could read and write, they had to be a landowner, and their grandfather needed to have voted

before him. These rules allowed for southern states to “keep every negro in the state from

voting.”5 The political cartoon that was published during this time period shows how the

Grandfather Clause was considered to be the “first step into a new slavery”.6 Slaves were never

given the right to vote, therefore this law prevented almost all African Americans from voting in

elections because their enslaved ancestors did not have this right.

5
​The Negro Disenfranchised​. Digital image.
Http://kkkislife.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/8/2/23824055/990430.jpg?467​. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
6
Ibid.
 Literacy Tests were another measure taken by southern whites to prevent African

Americans from voting. Because the Federal Government did not enforce the Fifteenth

amendment in each and every state, state laws were able to overpower federal laws. This became

an issue because states were incorporating laws that promoted the continuance of white

supremacy over blacks. In 1915, grandfather

clauses were ruled unconstitutional in the

court case of Guinn v. United States. The

court case decision found that grandfather

clauses were made to intentionally restrict

African Americans rights. However, the

outlaw of grandfather clauses did not signify

the end of racial discrimination in the south.

Instead, southern states found another

loophole. By the 1950s, Literacy Tests

became very popular.

African Americans were given the right to

vote by the federal government, however to

vote in state elections they needed to pass a

literacy tests. These tests were employed by state governments in order to prevent many African

Americans from practicing their Fifteenth Amendment rights. Literacy Tests were deliberately

made to be extremely difficult. If one could pass, they could vote. Passing the test was a major

challenge for many since it was designed with questions that were nearly impossible to answer.
When an African American failed the test, the white southerners were able to justify denying

them the right to vote by claiming they were uneducated and did not know basic information that

citizens of the United States should be aware of.

In the 1950s, the state of Louisiana adopted Literacy Tests for voter registration. The test

the state gave to African Americans who wanted to vote consisted of 30 questions. Potential

voters were expected to take the test and pass it in order to vote. In order to pass, one had to be

very educated and get a 100% because “one wrong answer denotes failure of the test” and

therefore the denial of the right to vote.7The main purpose of this test was to examine the

reading, writing, and comprehension skills of African Americans. These tests were considered to

be difficult because African Americans were not able to receive a decent education during this

time. The Literacy Tests were successful in that it benefitted white southerners by preventing and

limiting the amount of black people who were actually allowed to vote in southern states.

White Southerners did everything in their power in order to prevent African Americans

from gaining the right to vote. Literacy Tests and Grandfather Clauses were the most effective

strategy used. However, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act was important

because it finally allowed for the federal government to be able to enforce the Fifteenth

amendment throughout the United States. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made it illegal for

states to “deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race

or color”.8 It also outlawed the use of prerequisite tests to qualify someone to vote in the election.

Under this law, all male citizens of the United States had the right to vote.

7
Onion, Rebecca. "Literacy+test - Google Search." ​Literacy Tests​. The Vault, 28 June 2013. Web. 17
Nov. 2016.
8
"Voting Rights Act of 1965" (PL 89-110, 6 August 1965), 79​ United States Statutes at Large.
 African Americans, after the end of the Civil War, finally were given the right to vote.

This small step towards equality was a victory for African Americans. However, they faced

many hardships as a result up until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed.