Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Facts for Kids

The Fifteenth Amendment (or Amendment XV) is an important part of the U.S. Constitution. It was added on March 30, 1870. This amendment gave African-American men the right to vote. It was one of the special changes made to the Constitution after the American Civil War. These changes are called the Reconstruction Amendments.

What the Amendment Says
Why This Amendment Was Needed
How the Amendment Changed Things
Images for kids
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What the Amendment Says

The Fifteenth Amendment has two main parts:

Section 1: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or limited by the United States or by any state because of their race, color, or if they were once enslaved."
Section 2: "The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

This means that no state or the U.S. government could stop someone from voting just because of their race. It also meant that Congress could make laws to ensure this right was protected.

Why This Amendment Was Needed

Voting Rights in the Early U.S.

The original Constitution and the Bill of Rights did not clearly say who could vote. This meant that each state could decide its own rules. Some states allowed free black people to vote. Others allowed women to vote. A few states even required people to own property to vote.

Because of these different rules, many people, especially African Americans, did not have the right to vote.

The Election of 1868

In the 1868 election, Republican Party candidate Ulysses S. Grant became president. He won by a small number of votes. Many free black voters in the South supported him. Without their help, he might have lost the election.

At that time, most black people in the Northern states could not vote. The Republican Party wanted to stay in power. They believed that giving black men the right to vote would help them win more elections.

Passing the Amendment

In 1869, the Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House. They proposed the Fifteenth Amendment. It was then sent to the states to be approved.

The amendment was quickly approved by three-quarters of the states in early 1870. This was partly because Republicans also controlled many state governments in the South. This made it hard for Southern Democrats to stop the amendment.

How the Amendment Changed Things

Challenges to Voting Rights

Even after the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, it did not immediately help black men vote in the South. For almost 100 years, many unfair methods were used to stop them. These included:

Scary tactics: Some groups used violence and threats to keep black people from voting.
Poll taxes: People had to pay a fee to vote. Many poor black citizens could not afford this.
Grandfather clauses: These rules said you could only vote if your grandfather had voted. This stopped most black men, whose grandfathers were enslaved, from voting.

Fighting for Fair Voting

The Supreme Court and Congress tried to stop these unfair voting rules. For example, in 1944, a big court case called Smith v. Allwright made it illegal to stop African Americans from voting in primary elections in Texas.

In 1957, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. This law said that all Americans, including African Americans, had the right to vote. However, stopping each unfair rule one by one was very difficult. As soon as one rule was stopped, a new one would appear.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The biggest change came with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This important law removed many of the remaining barriers that stopped minorities from voting. Congress has changed this law five times since then to keep protecting voting rights.

Images for kids

The Fifteenth Amendment in the National Archives
An 1867 drawing showing African Americans voting for the first time.
An 1869 Thomas Nast cartoon supporting the Fifteenth Amendment. It shows Americans of different backgrounds sharing a Thanksgiving meal as equals.
An 1870 picture celebrating the Fifteenth Amendment. It shows the new political power of African Americans after the Civil War.
A Voter registration card from Alamance County, North Carolina, 1902. It includes a statement from the person registering that they were born before January 1, 1867.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965.