It prevents the States, or the United States, however, from giving preference, in this particular, to one citizen of the United States over another on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Any American cannot be denied the right to vote, based on race, color or being a former slave.

381–8Wendy Hazard, "Thomas Brackett Reed, Civil Rights, and the Fight for Fair Elections", Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Fifteenth amendment definition, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, prohibiting the restriction of voting rights “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” See more.

The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by the states of the defeated Confederacy, which were forced to ratif… The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring 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." Fifteenth Amendment.

Arguably one of the most consequential amendments to this day, the amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. In the 20th century, the Court began to read the Fifteenth Amendment more broadly.The Court addressed the white primary system in a series of decisions later known as the "Texas primary cases." The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: 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.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, prohibiting the restriction of voting rights “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3Though many of the original proposals for the amendment had been moderated by negotiations in committee, the final draft nonetheless faced significant hurdles in being ratified by three-fourths of the states.

In The Court also used the amendment to strike down a After judicial enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment ended grandfather clauses, white primaries, and other discriminatory tactics, Southern black voter registration gradually increased, rising from five percent in 1940 to twenty-eight percent in 1960.The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Sections 4 andArticle of amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enumerating prohibition of federal and state governments denying right to vote on account of raceStromberg, "A Plain Folk Perspective" (2002), p. 111.Stromberg, "A Plain Folk Perspective" (2002), p. 112.Congressional Globe, 39th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. Previous to this amendment, there was no constitutional guaranty against this discrimination: now there is. "One source of opposition to the proposed amendment was the Nevada was the first state to ratify the amendment, on March 1, 1869.The first twenty-eight states to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment were:The remaining seven states all subsequently ratified the amendment:The amendment's adoption was met with widespread celebrations in black communities and abolitionist societies; many of the latter disbanded, feeling that black rights had been secured and their work was complete.

In the twentieth century, the Court began to interpret the amendment more broadly, striking down grandfather clauses in Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment punished, by reduced representation in the House of Representatives, any state that disenfranchised any male citizens over 21 years of age.

This, under the express provisions of the second section of the amendment, Congress may enforce by "appropriate legislation".Congress further weakened the acts in 1894 by removing a provision against conspiracy.From 1890 to 1910, poll taxes and literacy tests were instituted across the South, effectively disenfranchising the great majority of black men.