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Equal Rights for All Men
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Frederick Douglass celebrated in 1870 when African-American men
were given the right to vote with the passing of Fifteenth Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Achieve3000, November 23, 2010).
Gentlemen:
I sincerely regret that an appointment of long standing, and one which I
cannot now recall, will make it out of my power to be present at the City
Hall on Thursday. I feel it a positive deprivation not to be able to join in
the home demonstration of joy and gratitude. The revolution wrought in
our condition by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of The
Photo credit: Wikimedia / Commons
United States, is almost startling, even to me. I view it with something like
amazement. It is truly vast and wonderful, and when we think through
(Public Domain)
what labors, tears, treasures and precious blood it has come, we may well
Frederick Douglass celebrated in
contemplate it with a solemn joy. Henceforth we live in a new world,
1870 when African-American men
breathe a new atmosphere, have a new earth beneath and a new sky above
were given the right to vote with the
us....Equal before the Lord, equal [at] the ballot-box and in the jury-box,
passing of Fifteenth Amendment of
[the] glory or shame of our future condition is to [be] upon ourselves.
the U.S. Constitution.
Until now we have had no glory in our future—only one dark,
monotonous chaos—to which we looked with sad and sullen sense of
wrong. Today we survey a future radiant with light and hope. We were always men—now we are citizens and men among
men. We admit the responsibility..., but do not shrink from it. We start in the race of civilization with many hindrances
attaching to us from our past condition—but we shall be sure to shake off those hindrances in the sad race and sweep onward
in the pathway of improvement, in a manner which will be as gratifying to our friends as grievous to our enemies.
Gentlemen, accept my best wishes for the success of your celebration, and believe me very truly yours,
Frederick Douglass
(From a letter read at a meeting held in April 1876 in Rochester, New York, to celebrate the passing of the Fifteenth
Amendment)
The Fifteenth Amendment
African Americans reacted with joy when the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified. For the first time, African-American men
across the country were legally permitted to vote. It was a deeply significant step in the journey toward racial equality. The
amendment was ratified in 1870, as the U.S. was struggling to recover from the Civil War. The war had destroyed its unity,
ruined its economy, and killed well over one million people.
The Fifteenth Amendment was the third of the Reconstruction Amendments. This series of changes to the Constitution was
designed to help create a country in which all men, regardless of race, enjoyed equal rights and liberties. This last of the three
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Equal Rights for All Men
amendments to the Bill of Rights guaranteed the right to vote to all men (it did not include women), regardless of "race, color,
or previous condition of servitude."
Problems with the New Amendment
As was to be expected, the vote to pass the Fifteenth Amendment was split along party lines. Every Democrat in Congress
opposed it, and with the exception of three lawmakers, every Republican voted in its support.
Some staunch advocates of equal rights, like Senator Charles Sumner, chose not to vote. Sumner, who had been an outspoken
abolitionist, argued that the text of the amendment was not forceful enough. It did not ban poll taxes or literacy tests that
individual states could put in place to keep African Americans from voting.
Original drafts of the Fifteenth Amendment had also provided that the right to hold office be guaranteed to all men, regardless
of color, but a joint committee of the House and Senate had struck that recommendation. These officials felt that a compromise
was necessary. They feared that such a broad measure would make it impossible for the Fifteenth Amendment to gain the
minimum support necessary in Congress.
Others criticized the amendment because it did not give women the right to vote.
The Next 90 Years
On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy became the first African American to vote after the adoption of the new amendment. He
cast his ballot for a school board election in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Now, African-American men had the right to vote and
were guaranteed federal support and protection in their efforts to do so.
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Equal Rights for All Men
Still, not all would-be voters had a chance to cast their ballots. As Sumner had feared, some states enacted poll taxes. These
taxes officially levied a duty on anybody who wished to vote except anybody whose father or grandfather had voting
privileges prior to the Civil War. Voting ranks had been made up exclusively of white males before the war; therefore, only
African or Native Americans were taxed. Literacy tests presented another barrier to African Americans. The tests were
designed to be extraordinarily difficult. They succeeded in keeping many African Americans—even those who were
literate—from voting. (White people—literate or not—were not required to take such tests.) Many states retained some form
of poll tax or literacy test until the 1960s.
More drastic measures were also taken to prevent African Americans from voting. In the South, a group of white men formed
the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in response to the pro-equality measures being enacted in Congress. The KKK used terror tactics to
prevent African Americans from exercising their rights. During elections, KKK members intimidated African-American and
Republican voters.
It would take decades, and the arrival of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, for African Americans to begin to
achieve the level of equality that had been guaranteed to them in the 1870s. White lawmakers had enacted the Fifteenth
Amendment. But it was African-American and white activists who struggled to have it recognized at the polls. The right to
vote—a fundamental part of being a "citizen among men"—was hard won.
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Dig Deeper
After the Civil War, the U.S. faced an uphill battle. The South would return to the Union, but many southerners were bitter
in defeat. Hard feelings between the North and the South remained, and the nation faced difficult questions. How would
the South, much of it now in ruins, be rebuilt and reintegrated into the Union? And what would happen to the former
slaves? Many had been kept from acquiring skills and were the objects of racism among white people in both the North
and the South. These issues proved too complex to be resolved in a single generation.
Reconstruction
The U.S. Congress attempted to rebuild the South and extend rights to African Americans during Reconstruction between
1865 and 1877. As part of Reconstruction, the government passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) outlawed slavery in the U.S. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) granted citizenship to
"all persons born or naturalized in the United States," and the Fifteenth Amendment granted African-American men the
right to vote. (American women could not vote until 1920.)
For a time, African Americans enjoyed the rights that these measures were intended to provide. They voted, owned
property, and became elected officials.
Jim Crow Laws
But the 1870s brought a change in the direction of civil rights in the U.S. During the 1876 presidential election, there was
a dispute concerning electoral votes. Behind closed doors, the Democrats agreed to admit defeat to Republican candidate
Rutherford B. Hayes if he would end Reconstruction. This meant the removal of federal troops that had been stationed in
the South to enforce Reconstruction laws.
In the decades that followed, officials in the South passed a series of state laws—known as "Jim Crow Laws"—that were
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Equal Rights for All Men
designed to deny rights to African Americans. Public facilities, including schools, were racially segregated. Often, schools
for minorities were denied quality resources. African Americans were prevented from voting through measures such as
poll taxes and "literacy tests." These tests consisted of difficult questions about the government that white people were not
required to answer.
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s helped to put an end to Jim Crow Laws. The movement culminated in
the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (passed "to enforce the Fifteenth
Amendment to the Constitution"). These measures reinstated the rights that had been granted to African Americans 100
years before. The fact that this legislation was necessary indicates that laws are constantly being tested. Without attention
from supporters, they can be disregarded or overturned.
Today
Today, under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many states are not allowed to change their election laws without
clearance from the U.S. Justice Department because of a history of civil rights abuses. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court
examined the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act. In a 5-4 decision, the court struck down Section 4 of the act—the
section that determines which jurisdictions should be covered under Section 5. The ruling requires Congress to start from
scratch and take a fresh look at which jurisdictions need federal approval. According to experts, the deletion of Section 4
effectively removes the power of Section 5 until Congress acts to once again determine which jurisdictions should be
covered because of civil rights abuses.
Do you agree with the Supreme Court's decision?
Dictionary
culminate (verb)
to reach the highest or final point
intimidate (verb)
to frighten
jurisdiction (noun)
area of control
literate (adjective)
able to read and write
ratify (verb)
to give formal approval to something
segregate (verb)
to force one group to be kept apart from another group, often based on race
servitude (noun)
slavery of any kind
staunch (adjective)
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firm or steadfast in principles or ideals
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