Fifteenth Amendment
Chapter 40 of the CLEP American Government study guide on Effortless Math covers Fifteenth Amendment: the key terms, the core ideas, and worked examples showing how this topic is tested on the exam.
CLEP American Government, Chapter 40
Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment says that the United States and the states may not deny or abridge the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Ratified in 1870, it gave Congress enforcement power and created a constitutional rule that applied to every level of government. Its text did not limit the vote to men, but women still faced sex-based exclusions until later reform.
Formal protection did not end racial disenfranchisement. States used literacy tests, intimidation, discriminatory registration, white primaries, and other devices that avoided an explicit racial label while preserving exclusion. Courts and Congress gradually challenged those practices. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 supplied stronger federal enforcement tools for the amendment's promise.
For an exam question, focus on the prohibited basis. The Fifteenth Amendment addresses race, color, and previous servitude. The Nineteenth addresses sex, the Twenty-Fourth addresses poll taxes in federal elections, and the Twenty-Sixth protects citizens eighteen or older from age-based denial. Matching the barrier to the amendment is more reliable than matching only the historical period.
Video lesson: Voting rights | Political participation | US government and civics | Khan Academy
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