The Voting Rights Act, signed into law on August 6, 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson, protects the freedoms given by the fifteenth amendment. While the fifteenth amendment allowed all men of color to vote, some states, especially southern ones, loopholed that law. Many people of color were unfairly denied the right to vote through literacy tests and poll taxes. Almost 95 years after the amendment, many people were protesting because their freedoms still weren’t being recognized. A push for change was completely necessary, and while America may not be completely equal yet and the act not be being used to its full potential, the Voting Rights Act was a valuable contribution to equality that helped get this country where it is today. Many factors led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act. One of these was protests by the general population. A large group of people were frustrated by the fact that, despite the passing of the 15th amendment, equality hadn't been reached. Many states unfairly denied colored people the right to vote through technically legal means. This caused anger, and in 1964, many protests and demonstrations were held, often ending in violence. Eventually, this became too much and resulted in the creation of the Voting Rights Act. Said act outlawed literacy tests and …show more content…
America is a country built in freedom, but also on oppression, and the Voting Rights Act was one of the most significant changes in the voting area since directly after the Civil War, during the Reconstruction. Naturally, this change caused a lot of controversy, because many people, especially those in the south, had a way they were used to having things, and didn't want to hear that they were wrong. There were many court cases involving this, because many people challenged it. They never won, because they were wrong, the law was completely constitutional and morally
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Show MoreThis led to the passing of the civil rights act and the voting act in the 1964 and 1965. This allowed for the African Americans to have the right to vote.
It had finally led to an end of the illegal barriers under the 15th Amendment and allowed African Americans to vote without any knowledge or character test. Johnson stated, “For years and years they had been tried and tried and tried and they had failed and failed and failed. And the time for failure is gone” (Johnson). The statistics showed a large increase of African Americans in each state in the South in 1966. By 1970, over a million African Americans had registered to vote by (Quoted in “Victory for Voters”). The Voting Rights Act not only allowed African Americans to vote, but it also opened up many new opportunities for them. After all, Lyndon Johnson had successfully achieved his main goal to get many supporters from the south and it changed the nation towards a positive direction after the
After the Civil War, many amendments were passed in order to better represent blacks in America. The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments all changed blacks’ lives drastically and positively. The 13th amendment ended slavery and the 14th declared blacks as citizens. The fifteenth amendment stated that anyone can vote, regardless of color or race. However, the South devised poll taxes and literacy tests in a successful attempt at preventing blacks from voting. But in 1964, after a sufficient number of states ratified an amendment proposed by Congress, the tables turned for blacks. The 24th amendment banned poll taxes. The voting act of 1965 banned the use of literacy tests related to voting. Voting gave blacks a say in government and helped rise the moral of blacks in America.
Much of the debate on the origins of the Voting Rights Act center on the civil rights views of President Johnson. Historians have said that Johnson’s actions while both the Senate Majority Leader and as President were based on a desire to support bills that would be successful and oppose those that were unlikely to be passed. Johnson had grown beyond a Senate record of being sympathetic to the needs of the underprivileged into a president whose “desire to benefit others was ever the prime motive for his quest for power” (Garrow
... in public places, including parks, libraries, restaurants, sports arenas, and hotels. It also prohibited employment discrimination against race, nationality, gender, religion, physical disability, etc. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is responsible for enforcing these plans and investigating charges of job discrimination. Although, African Americans were still denied their civil rights. Literacy tests and poll taxes kept blacks from voting. at the Freedom Summer was a campaign which focused on registering African Americans to vote. The Brown decision also led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which strengthened the voting rights of African Americans. This act banned literacy tests. The Twenty-fourth Amendment was ratified in 1964. It banned poll tax, which denied African Americans their right to vote.
... religion, sex, or national origin. It also ended unequal application of voter registration requirement, racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and in public accommodations. This pivotal legislation demonstrated the growing support of the movement by the government. One year later, the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination in voting, accomplished the goal of garnering equal voting rights for black Americans.
Recently, only 60% of registered voters have actually voted in presidential elections. This brings up the question: should Americans be required to vote? This question receives very mixed answers. Many Americans believe that they should have the choice and the freedom to vote or not; many Americans also believe that mandatory, or required, voting is simply a civic duty. Currently, American citizens are not required to vote. Citizens seem to like this system, but because voting is not mandatory, the amount of citizens that vote in elections is rather low. Americans should not be required to vote because it forces people to vote that are uninterested, makes citizens unhappy, and damages other people’s votes.
Prior to the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution the only citizens of Pennsylvania that were aloud to vote were wealthy men. Wealthy men, not just wealthy white men, all men with a significant amount of money and land were permitted to vote. When poor citizens began to have the right to vote as well is when the shift from class based discrimination changed to racial discrimination. In the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution Article three stated “In elections by the citizens, every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state two years next before the election, and within that time paid a state or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector…” Depending
Women were not allowed to vote in the nineteenth century. This was mainly due to opposing views sweeping America at that time, which were pushed forward by two well known political arguments-a report from the Senate's Committee on Priviledges and Elections and an address by Isabella Beecher Hooker. In 1878, the Senate Committee wrote a response to a proposed constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote, stating the main reasons why women shouldn't be given the ability. Some of these reasons announced that female voters had no experience in political affairs, while being quite generally dependent upon the other sex and incapable of performing military duty. Without the power to enforce the laws they could create, what good
The Voting Rights Act was designed to prohibit racial discrimination when voting. Before the Act, people of color were discouraged from voting often with violence and impossible standards that they had to meet. They were subject to bias literacy tests, character/personality
The 15th amendment was quick to follow the Civil War, making it illegal to deny the right to vote to anyone on account of their race. Blacks did not actually gain the right to vote in all states until The Voting Rights Act in the 1960s. The government gave blacks the right to vote because they saw it could produce an immediate political gain. Nothing could be gained from allowing women to vote, so the government refrained from amending the constitution for women.
In 1965 congress had passed Civil Rights law for all citizens to be able to vote. Before, African American and white women did not have the same equal rights to vote as white men did. The white males allowed a small number of free African Americans to go register and vote. For a African American to vote they were required to be a free citizen and not a runaway slave. In 1867 congress made it possible for African Americans to vote. The new constitutions guarantee black suffrage and congress tried to protect the African Americans right to vote by putting the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. When congress passed the Civil Rights law African American still suffered from voting because congress made it unaffordable for poor people to vote. A
According to former U.S. President, Lyndon B. Johnson, “ The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men." During The Civil Rights Movement, black Americans fought to end racial segregation and to secure their rights as citizens including the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act was an important part in securing their rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most significant and influential piece of federal legislation that was enacted during the events of the Civil Rights Movement. The act radically altered the political status of racial minorities in The United States and prohibited discriminatory
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a push for equality for minorities was in the forefront of America. The obstacles restricting equality amongst all were race, class, and gender prejudices. An example of this can be seen in the Voter's Right act of 1965, which banned racial discrimination in voting. Prior to this act, minorities faced many obstacles including taxes, literacy test, harassment and physical violence. The battle to receive the rights that whites had was a long struggle both physically and mentally, reasons being: first, the laws had to be changed and second, combating the opposition of those who valiantly resisted these changes .The result has been every expansion of civil and political rights in American history.
Throughout the years, African Americans fought for their right to vote. They were determined to be equal as everyone else. Now years later, they are. Although there will always be racism in the world, now you could be punished for it. Unlike in the 1920’s when no one did anything about it. African Americans had no other desire than to be equal. It only took people who stood up for them to get a majority of African Americans and even Caucasian people to follow in their footsteps. Whether you’re a girl or boy, African American or Caucasian, short or tall, we all deserve to be treated equally.