Fifteenth amendment to the United states Constitution - wikipedia Fifteenth amendment to the United states Constitution This article is part of a series on the Constitution of the United States of America Preamble and Articles of the Constitution Preamble II III IV V VI VII Amendments to the Constitution Bill of Rights II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII Unratified Amendments Congressional Apportionment Titles of Nobility Corwin Child Labor Equal Rights D.C. Voting Rights History Drafting and ratification timeline Convention Signing Federalism Republicanism Full text of the Constitution and Amendments Preamble and Articles I -- VII Amendments I -- X Amendments XI -- XXVII Unratified Amendments United States portal U.S. Government portal Law portal Wikipedia book The Fifteenth Amendment ( Amendment XV ) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen 's `` race, color, or previous condition of servitude ''. It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions of black former slaves. By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws, but the election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters was important for the party 's future. On February 26, 1869, after rejecting more sweeping versions of a suffrage amendment, Congress proposed a compromise amendment banning franchise restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude. After surviving a difficult ratification fight, the amendment was certified as duly ratified and part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870. United States Supreme Court decisions in the late nineteenth century interpreted the amendment narrowly. From 1890 to 1910, most black voters in the South were effectively disenfranchised by new state constitutions and state laws incorporating such obstacles as poll taxes and discriminatory literacy tests, from which white male voters were exempted by grandfather clauses. A system of whites - only primaries and violent intimidation by white groups also suppressed black participation. In the twentieth century, the Court began to interpret the amendment more broadly, striking down grandfather clauses in Guinn v. United States ( 1915 ) and dismantling the white primary system in the `` Texas primary cases '' ( 1927 -- 1953 ). Along with later measures such as the Twenty - fourth Amendment, which forbade poll taxes in federal elections, and Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections ( 1966 ), which forbade poll taxes in state elections, these decisions significantly increased black participation in the American political system. To enforce the amendment, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided federal oversight of elections in discriminatory jurisdictions, banned literacy tests and similar discriminatory devices, and created legal remedies for people affected by voting discrimination. The amendment created a split within the women 's suffrage movement over the amendment not prohibiting denying the women the right to vote on account of sex. Contents 1 Text 2 Background 3 Proposal and ratification 3.1 Proposal 3.2 Ratification 4 Application 4.1 Reconstruction 4.2 Post-Reconstruction 5 See also 6 References 6.1 Notes 6.2 Citations 6.3 Bibliography 7 External links Text The Fifteenth Amendment in the National Archives 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. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Background In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of black former slaves freed by the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment, the latter of which had formally abolished slavery. Following the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by Congress, however, Republicans grew concerned over the increase it would create in the congressional representation of the Democratic - dominated Southern states. Because the full population of freed slaves would be now counted rather than the three - fifths mandated by the previous Three - Fifths Compromise, the Southern states would dramatically increase their power in the population - based House of Representatives. Republicans hoped to offset this advantage by attracting and protecting votes of the newly enfranchised black population. In 1865, Congress passed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1866, guaranteeing citizenship without regard to race, color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. The bill also guaranteed equal benefits and access to the law, a direct assault on the Black Codes passed by many post-war Southern states. The Black Codes attempted to return ex-slaves to something like their former condition by, among other things, restricting their movement, forcing them to enter into year - long labor contracts, prohibiting them from owning firearms, and by preventing them from suing or testifying in court. Although strongly urged by moderates in Congress to sign the bill, President Johnson vetoed it on March 27, 1866. In his veto message, he objected to the measure because it conferred citizenship on the freedmen at a time when 11 out of 36 states were unrepresented in the Congress, and that it discriminated in favor of African Americans and against whites. Three weeks later, Johnson 's veto was overridden and the measure became law. This was the first time in American history that Congress was able to muster the votes necessary to override a presidential veto. Despite this victory, even some Republicans who had supported the goals of the Civil Rights Act began to doubt that Congress possessed the constitutional power to turn those goals into laws. The experience encouraged both radical and moderate Republicans to seek Constitutional guarantees for black rights, rather than relying on temporary political majorities. On June 18, 1866, Congress adopted the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the laws regardless of race, and sent it to the states for ratification. After a bitter struggle that included attempted rescissions of ratification by two states, the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted on July 28, 1868. The second section of the Fourteenth Amendment punished, by reduced representation in the House of Representatives, any states that disenfranchised any male citizens over 21 years of age. By failing to adopt a harsher penalty, this signaled to the states that they still possessed the right to deny ballot access to blacks. Northern states were generally as averse to granting voting rights to blacks as Southern states. In the year of its ratification, only eight Northern states allowed blacks to vote. In the South, blacks were able to vote in many areas, but only through the intervention of the occupying Union Army. Congress had granted suffrage to the blacks in the territories in 1867 by passing the Territorial Suffrage Act. Proposal and ratification Proposal An 1867 drawing depicting African Americans casting ballots Anticipating an increase in Democratic membership in the following Congress, Republicans used the lame - duck session of the 40th United States Congress to pass an amendment protecting black suffrage. Representative John Bingham, the primary author of the Fourteenth Amendment, pushed for a wide - ranging ban on suffrage limitations, but a broader proposal banning voter restriction on the basis of `` race, color, nativity, property, education, or religious beliefs '' was rejected. A proposal to specifically ban literacy tests was also rejected. Some Representatives from the North, where nativism was a major force, wished to preserve restrictions denying the franchise to foreign - born citizens, as did Representatives from the West, where ethnic Chinese were banned from voting. Both Southern and Northern Republicans also wanted to continue to deny the vote temporarily to Southerners disfranchised for support of the Confederacy, and they were concerned that a sweeping endorsement of suffrage would enfranchise this group. A House and Senate conference committee proposed the amendment 's final text, which banned voter restriction only on the basis of `` race, color, or previous condition of servitude ''. To attract the broadest possible base of support, the amendment made no mention of poll taxes or other measures to block voting, and did not guarantee the right of blacks to hold office. This compromise proposal was approved by the House on February 25, 1869, and the Senate the following day. The vote in the House was 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it, some because they thought the amendment did not go far enough in its protections. The House of Representatives passed the amendment with 143 Republican and 1 Conservative Republican votes of `` Yea '' ; 39 Democrat, 3 Republican, 1 Independent Republican and 1 Conservative votes of `` Nay '' ; 26 Republican, 8 Democrat and 1 Independent Republican not voting. The final vote in the Senate was 39 to 13, with 14 not voting. The Senate passed the amendment with a vote of 39 Republican votes of `` Yea '', 8 Democrat and 5 Republican votes of `` Nay '' ; 13 Republican and 1 Democrat not voting. Some Radical Republicans, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, abstained from voting because the amendment did not prohibit literacy tests and poll taxes. Following congressional approval the proposed amendment was then sent by Secretary of State William Henry Seward to the states for ratification or rejection. Ratification An 1869 Thomas Nast cartoon supporting the Fifteenth Amendment. In the cartoon, Americans of different ancestries and ethnic backgrounds sit together at a dinner table with Columbia to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal as equal members of the American citizenry, while Uncle Sam prepares and sets the table. Though 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. Historian William Gillette wrote of the process, `` it was hard going and the outcome was uncertain until the very end. '' One source of opposition to the proposed amendment was the women 's suffrage movement, which before and during the Civil War had made common cause with the abolitionist movement. However, with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which had explicitly protected only male citizens in its second section, activists found the civil rights of women divorced from those of blacks. Matters came to a head with the proposal of the Fifteenth Amendment, which barred race discrimination but not gender discrimination in voter laws. After an acrimonious debate, the American Equal Rights Association, the nation 's leading suffragist group, split into two rival organizations : the National Woman Suffrage Association of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who opposed the amendment, and the American Woman Suffrage Association of Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell, who supported it. The two groups remained divided until the 1890s. 1870 print celebrating the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in February 1870, and the post Civil War political empowerment of African Americans. Nevada was the first state to ratify the amendment, on March 1, 1869. The New England states and most Midwest states also ratified the amendment soon after its proposal. Southern states still controlled by Radical reconstruction governments, such as North Carolina, also swiftly ratified. Newly elected President Ulysses S. Grant strongly endorsed the amendment, calling it `` a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day. '' He privately asked Nebraska 's governor to call a special legislative session to speed the process, securing the state 's ratification. In April and December 1869, Congress passed Reconstruction bills mandating that Virginia, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia ratify the amendment as a precondition to regaining congressional representation ; all four states did so. The struggle for ratification was particularly close in Indiana and Ohio, which voted to ratify in May 1869 and January 1870, respectively. New York, which had ratified on April 14, 1869, tried to revoke its ratification on January 5, 1870. However, in February 1870, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas ratified the amendment, bringing the total ratifying states to twenty - nine -- one more than the required twenty - eight ratifications from the thirty - seven states, and forestalling any court challenge to New York 's resolution to withdraw its consent. The first twenty - eight states to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment were : Nevada : March 1, 1869 West Virginia : March 3, 1869 North Carolina : March 5, 1869 Illinois : March 5, 1869 Louisiana : March 5, 1869 Michigan : March 8, 1869 Wisconsin : March 9, 1869 Maine : March 11, 1869 Massachusetts : March 12, 1869 Arkansas : March 15, 1869 South Carolina : March 15, 1869 Pennsylvania : March 25, 1869 New York : April 14, 1869 ( Rescinded ratification : January 5, 1870 ; re-ratified : March 30, 1870 ) Indiana : May 14, 1869 Connecticut : May 19, 1869 Florida : June 14, 1869 New Hampshire : July 1, 1869 Virginia : October 8, 1869 Vermont : October 20, 1869 Alabama : November 16, 1869 Missouri : January 10, 1870 Minnesota : January 13, 1870 Mississippi : January 17, 1870 Rhode Island : January 18, 1870 Kansas : January 19, 1870 Ohio : January 27, 1870 ( After rejection : April 1 / 30, 1869 ) Georgia : February 2, 1870 Iowa : February 3, 1870 Secretary of State Hamilton Fish certified the amendment on March 30, 1870, also including the ratifications of : Nebraska : February 17, 1870 Texas : February 18, 1870 The remaining seven states all subsequently ratified the amendment : New Jersey : February 15, 1871 ( After rejection : March 17 / 18, 1870 ) Delaware : February 12, 1901 ( After rejection : March 17 / 18, 1869 ) Oregon : February 24, 1959 ( After rejection : October 26, 1870 ) California : April 3, 1962 ( After rejection : January 28, 1870 ) Maryland : May 7, 1973 ( After rejection : February 4 / 26, 1870 ) Kentucky : March 18, 1976 ( After rejection : March 11 / 12, 1869 ) Tennessee : April 8, 1997 ( After rejection : November 16, 1869 ) 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. President Grant said of the amendment that it `` completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came to life ''. Many Republicans felt that with the amendment 's passage, black Americans no longer needed federal protection ; congressman and future president James A. Garfield stated that the amendment 's passage `` confers upon the African race the care of its own destiny. It places their fortunes in their own hands. '' Congressman John R. Lynch later wrote that ratification of those two amendments made Reconstruction a success. Application Reconstruction The first known black voter after the amendment 's adoption was Thomas Mundy Peterson, who cast his ballot on March 31, 1870, in a Perth Amboy, New Jersey referendum election adopting a revised city charter. In United States v. Reese ( 1876 ), the first U.S. Supreme Court decision interpreting the Fifteenth Amendment, the Court interpreted the amendment narrowly, upholding ostensibly race - neutral limitations on suffrage including poll taxes, literacy tests, and a grandfather clause that exempted citizens from other voting requirements if their grandfathers had been registered voters, a condition only white men could generally meet. The Court also stated that the amendment does not confer the right of suffrage, but it invests citizens of the United States with the right of exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of their race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and empowers Congress to enforce that right by `` appropriate legislation ''. The Court wrote : The Fifteenth Amendment does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one. 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. Before its adoption, this could be done. It was as much within the power of a State to exclude citizens of the United States from voting on account of race, &c., as it was on account of age, property, or education. Now it is not. If citizens of one race having certain qualifications are permitted by law to vote, those of another having the same qualifications must be. Previous to this amendment, there was no constitutional guaranty against this discrimination : now there is. It follows that the amendment has invested the citizens of the United States with a new constitutional right which is within the protecting power of Congress. That right is exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This, under the express provisions of the second section of the amendment, Congress may enforce by `` appropriate legislation. '' White supremacists, such as the Ku Klux Klan ( KKK ), used paramilitary violence to prevent blacks from voting. A number of blacks were killed at the Colfax massacre of 1873 while attempting to defend their right to vote. The Enforcement Acts were passed by Congress in 1870 -- 1871 to authorize federal prosecution of the KKK and others who violated the amendment. However, as Reconstruction neared its end and federal troops withdrew, prosecutions under the Enforcement Acts dropped significantly. In United States v. Cruikshank ( 1876 ), the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government did not have the authority to prosecute the perpetrators of the Colfax massacre because they were not state actors. Voter registration card, Alamance County, North Carolina, 1902, with statement from registrant of birth before January 1, 1867, when the Fifteenth Amendment became law Congress further weakened the acts in 1894 by removing a provision against conspiracy. In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president after a highly contested election, receiving support from three Southern states in exchange for a pledge to allow white Democratic governments to rule without federal interference. As president, he refused to enforce federal civil rights protections, allowing states to begin to implement racially discriminatory Jim Crow laws. A Federal Elections Bill was successfully filibustered in the Senate. Post-reconstruction From 1890 to 1910, poll taxes and literacy tests were instituted across the South, effectively disenfranchising the great majority of black men. White male - only primary elections also served to reduce the influence of black men in the political system. Along with increasing legal obstacles, blacks were excluded from the political system by threats of violent reprisals by whites in the form of lynch mobs and terrorist attacks by the Ku Klux Klan. Some Democrats even advocated a repeal of the amendment, such as William Bourke Cockran of New York. In the 20th century, the Court began to read the Fifteenth Amendment more broadly. In Guinn v. United States ( 1915 ), a unanimous Court struck down an Oklahoma grandfather clause that effectively exempted white voters from a literacy test, finding it to be discriminatory. The Court ruled in the related case Myers v. Anderson ( 1915 ), that the officials who enforced such a clause were liable for civil damages. The Court addressed the white primary system in a series of decisions later known as the `` Texas primary cases ''. In Nixon v. Herndon ( 1927 ), Nixon sued for damages under federal civil rights laws after being denied a ballot in a Democratic party primary election on the basis of race. The Court found in his favor on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law, while not discussing his Fifteenth Amendment claim. After Texas amended its statute to allow the political party 's state executive committee to set voting qualifications, Nixon sued again ; in Nixon v. Condon ( 1932 ), the Court again found in his favor on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment. Following Nixon, the Democratic Party 's state convention instituted a rule that only whites could vote in its primary elections ; the Court unanimously upheld this rule as constitutional in Grovey v. Townsend ( 1935 ), distinguishing the discrimination by a private organization from that of the state in the previous primary cases. However, in United States v. Classic ( 1941 ), the Court ruled that primary elections were an essential part of the electoral process, undermining the reasoning in Grovey. Based on Classic, the Court in Smith v. Allwright ( 1944 ), overruled Grovey, ruling that denying non-white voters a ballot in primary elections was a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. In the last of the Texas primary cases, Terry v. Adams ( 1953 ), the Court ruled that black plaintiffs were entitled to damages from a group that organized whites - only pre-primary elections with the assistance of Democratic party officials. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Court also used the amendment to strike down a gerrymander in Gomillion v. Lightfoot ( 1960 ). The decision found that the redrawing of city limits by Tuskegee, Alabama officials to exclude the mostly black area around the Tuskegee Institute discriminated on the basis of race. The Court later relied on this decision in Rice v. Cayetano ( 2000 ), which struck down ancestry - based voting in elections for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ; the ruling held that the elections violated the Fifteenth Amendment by using `` ancestry as a racial definition and for a racial purpose ''. 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. Although the Fifteenth Amendment was never interpreted to prohibit poll taxes, in 1962 the Twenty - fourth Amendment was adopted banning poll taxes in federal elections, and in 1966 the Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections ( 1966 ) that state poll taxes violate the Fourteenth Amendment 's Equal Protection Clause. Congress used its authority pursuant to Section 2 of the Fifteenth Amendment to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, achieving further racial equality in voting. Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act required states and local governments with histories of racial discrimination in voting to submit all changes to their voting laws or practices to the federal government for approval before they could take effect, a process called `` preclearance. '' By 1976, sixty - three percent of Southern blacks were registered to vote, only five percent less than Southern whites. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Sections 4 and 5 in South Carolina v. Katzenbach ( 1966 ). However, in Shelby County v. Holder ( 2013 ), the Supreme Court ruled that Section 4 ( b ) of the Voting Rights Act, which established the coverage formula that determined which jurisdictions were subject to preclearance, was no longer constitutional and exceeded Congress 's enforcement authority under Section 2 of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Court declared that the Fifteenth Amendment `` commands that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race or color, and it gives Congress the power to enforce that command. The Amendment is not designed to punish for the past ; its purpose is to ensure a better future. '' According to the Court, `` Regardless of how to look at the record no one can fairly say that it shows anything approaching the ' pervasive, ' ' flagrant, ' ' widespread, ' and ' rampant ' discrimination that faced Congress in 1965, and that clearly distinguished the covered jurisdictions from the rest of the nation. '' In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, `` Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet. '' While the preclearance provision itself was not struck down, it will continue to be inoperable unless Congress passes a new coverage formula. See also Ballot access Black suffrage Forty acres and a mule Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ( 1920, women 's right to vote ) Twenty - sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ( 1971, uniform voting age of 18 or older ) Voting rights in the United States United States labor law References Notes Citations ^ Jump up to : `` The Constitution : Amendments 11 -- 27 ''. National Archives. Retrieved March 15, 2010. ^ Jump up to : Goldstone 2011, p. 22. Jump up ^ Stromberg, `` A Plain Folk Perspective '' ( 2002 ), p. 111. Jump up ^ Nelson, William E. ( 1988 ). The Fourteenth Amendment : From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine. Harvard University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978 - 0 - 674 - 04142 - 4. Retrieved June 6, 2013. Jump up ^ Stromberg, `` A Plain Folk Perspective '' ( 2002 ), p. 112. Jump up ^ Foner 1988, pp. 199 -- 200. Jump up ^ Forner, Eric ( 2002 ) ( 1988 ). Reconstruction : America 's Unfinished Revolution. New York : HarperCollins. pp. 250 -- 251. ISBN 0 - 06 - 093716 - 5. Jump up ^ Castel, Albert E. ( 1979 ). The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. American Presidency. Lawrence, Kan. : The Regents Press of Kansas. p. 70. ISBN 0 - 7006 - 0190 - 2. Jump up ^ Castel, Albert E. ( 1979 ). The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. American Presidency. Lawrence, Kan. : The Regents Press of Kansas. p. 71. ISBN 0 - 7006 - 0190 - 2. Jump up ^ Rosen, Jeffrey. The Supreme Court : The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America, p. 79 ( MacMillan 2007 ). Jump up ^ Newman, Roger. The Constitution and its Amendments, Vol. 4, p. 8 ( Macmillan 1999 ). Jump up ^ Goldstone 2011, pp. 22 -- 23. Jump up ^ Killian, Johnny H. ; et al. ( 2004 ). The Constitution of the United States of America : Analysis and Interpretation : Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 28, 2002. Government Printing Office. p. 31. ISBN 978 - 0 - 16 - 072379 - 7. ^ Jump up to : Foner 1988, p. 255. Jump up ^ Foner 1988, p. 448. Jump up ^ Goldstone 2011, p. 36. Jump up ^ Congressional Globe, 39th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 381 -- 8 ^ Jump up to : Gillette, William ( 1986 ). `` Fifteenth Amendment : Framing and ratification ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 23, 2013. ^ Jump up to : Foner 1988, pp. 446 -- 47. Jump up ^ Foner 1988, p. 447. ^ Jump up to : Goldstone 2011, p. 37. ^ Jump up to : Goldman 2001, p. 3. ^ Jump up to : `` Black Voting Rights : The History of the 15th Amendment ''. Harpers. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ Gillette 1965, pp. 73 -- 74. Jump up ^ Zak, Michael ( February 26, 2016 ). `` Congratulating the Republican Party for according voting rights to African - Americans ''. Grand Old Partisan. TypePad. Retrieved March 2, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Congressional Globe, House of Representatives, 40th Congress, 3rd Session, page 1563 - 1564 In : A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation : U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 -- 1875 ''. memory.loc.gov. February 25, 1869. Retrieved July 6, 2014. Jump up ^ Gillette 1965, p. 75. Jump up ^ `` Congressional Globe, Senate, 40th Congress, 3rd Session, page 1641 In : A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation : U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 -- 1875 ''. memory.loc.gov. February 26, 1869. Retrieved July 6, 2014. Jump up ^ Gillette 1965, p. 76. Jump up ^ Kennedy, Robert C. ( November 2001 ). `` Uncle Sam 's Thanksgiving Dinner, Artist : Thomas Nast ''. On This Day : HarpWeek. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on November 23, 2001. Retrieved November 23, 2001. Jump up ^ Walfred, Michele ( July 2014 ). `` Uncle Sam 's Thanksgiving Dinner : Two Coasts, Two Perspectives ''. Thomas Nast Cartoons. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016. Jump up ^ Foner 1988, pp. 447 -- 48. Jump up ^ James J. Kilpatrick, ed. ( 1961 ). The Constitution of the United States and Amendments Thereto. Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government. p. 46. Jump up ^ `` A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation : U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 -- 1875, Statutes at Large ''. The Library of Congress. March 30, 1870. pp. 1131 -- 1132. Retrieved July 6, 2014. Jump up ^ Palumbo 2009, p. 172. Jump up ^ John R. Lynch, `` Some Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes '', The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 2, No. 4, October 1917, p. 365 Jump up ^ Bond, Gordon. North Jersey Legacies : Hidden History from the Gateway to the Skylands. The History Press, 2012, p. 134. Jump up ^ 92 U.S. 214 ( 1876 ) ^ Jump up to : Johnson 2000, p. 661. Jump up ^ Goldstone 2011, p. 97. ^ Jump up to : See 92 U.S. 214 ( 1876 ) Jump up ^ Goldstone 2011, p. 91. Jump up ^ 92 U.S. 542 ( 1876 ) ^ Jump up to : Elliott, Ward E.Y. ( January 1, 2000 ). `` Fifteenth Amendment ( Judicial Interpretation ) ''. Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ However, in Ex Parte Yarbrough ( 1884 ), the Court allowed individuals who were not state actors to be prosecuted because Article I, Section 4 gives Congress the power to regulate federal elections. Jump up ^ Conlin, Joseph R. ( 2013 ). The American Past : A Survey of American History, Volume II : Since 1865. Cengage Learning. p. 423. ISBN 978 - 1 - 133 - 94664 - 9. Retrieved 25 June 2013. Jump up ^ Wendy Hazard, `` Thomas Brackett Reed, Civil Rights, and the Fight for Fair Elections, '' Maine History, March 2004, Vol. 42 Issue 1, pp. 1 -- 23 Jump up ^ Clarke, Thomas H.R. ; McKay, Barney ( 1901 ). A Republican Text - Book for Colored Voters. Washington, D.C. : T.H.R. Clarke and B. McKay. Retrieved February 28, 2016. W. Bourke Cocharn, of New York, a leading Northern Democrat, has emphasized the above expression of Senator Tillman by advocating a repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Thus the Democratic party North and South is joining hands to disfranchise the negro. Jump up ^ 238 U.S. 347 ( 1915 ) Jump up ^ 238 U.S. 368 ( 1915 ) Jump up ^ Mahoney, Dennis J. ( January 1, 2000 ). `` Guinn v. United States 238 U.S. 347 ( 1915 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 273 U.S. 536 ( 1927 ) Jump up ^ Karst, Kenneth L. ( 1986 ). `` Nixon v. Herndon 273 U.S. 536 ( 1927 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 286 U.S. 73 ( 1932 ) Jump up ^ Karst, Kenneth L. ( 1986 ). `` Nixon v. Condon 286 U.S. 73 ( 1932 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 295 U.S. 45 ( 1935 ) Jump up ^ Karst, Kenneth L. ( 1986 ). `` Grovey v. Townsend 295 U.S. 45 ( 1935 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 313 U.S. 299 ( 1941 ) Jump up ^ 321 U.S. 649 ( 1944 ) Jump up ^ Karst, Kenneth L. ( 1986 ). `` Smith v. Allwright 321 U.S. 649 ( 1944 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 345 U.S. 461 ( 1953 ) Jump up ^ Karst, Kenneth L. ( 1986 ). `` Terry v. Adams 345 U.S. 461 ( 1953 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved June 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 364 U.S. 339 ( 1960 ) Jump up ^ Newman, Roger K. ( January 1, 2001 ). `` Brown, John R ''. The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved 25 June 2013. Jump up ^ 528 U.S. 495 ( 2000 ) Jump up ^ Katz, Ellen D. ( December 1, 2000 ). `` Race and the right to vote after Rice v. Cayetano ''. Michigan Law Review. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved 1 July 2013. Jump up ^ 383 U.S. 663 ( 1966 ) Jump up ^ Karst, Kenneth L. ( 1986 ). `` Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections 383 U.S. 663 ( 1966 ) ''. Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). Retrieved 25 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` Twenty - fourth Amendment ''. Constitutional Amendments : From Freedom of Speech to Flag Burning. -- via HighBeam Research ( subscription required ). January 1, 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2013. ^ Jump up to : Schwartz, John ( 25 June 2013 ). `` Between the Lines of the Voting Rights Act Opinion ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` John Lewis and others react to the Supreme Court 's Voting Rights Act ruling '', The Washington Post, June 25, 2013 Jump up ^ `` SHELBY COUNTY, ALABAMA v. HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL, ''. LII / Legal Information Institute. Jump up ^ Lyle, Denniston ( June 25, 2013 ). `` Open recap : Voting law in deep peril ''. SCOTUSblog. Retrieved June 30, 2013. Bibliography Foner, Eric ( 1988 ). Reconstruction : America 's Unfinished Revolution, 1863 -- 1877. HarperCollins. ISBN 978 - 0 - 06 - 203586 - 8. Gillette, William ( 1965 ). The Right to Vote : Politics and the Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Johns Hopkins Press. Goldman, Robert Michael ( 2001 ). A Free Ballot and a Fair Count : The Department of Justice and the Enforcement of Voting Rights in the South, 1877 -- 1893. Fordham Univ Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8232 - 2084 - 7. Goldstone, Lawrence ( 2011 ). Inherently Unequal : The Betrayal of Equal Rights by the Supreme Court, 1865 -- 1903. Walker & Company. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8027 - 1792 - 4. Johnson, Paul ( 2000 ). A History of the American People. Orion Publishing Group, Limited. ISBN 978 - 1 - 84212 - 425 - 3. Palumbo, Arthur E. ( 2009 ). The Authentic Constitution : An Originalist View of America 's Legacy. Algora Publishing. ISBN 978 - 0 - 87586 - 707 - 6. Swinney, Everette ( 1962 ). `` Enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment, 1870 -- 1877 ''. Journal of Southern History : 202 -- 218. JSTOR 2205188. Stromberg, Joseph R. ( Spring 2002 ). `` A Plain Folk Perspective on Reconstruction, State - Building, Ideology, and Economic Spoils ''. Journal of Libertarian Studies : 103 -- 137. External links Fifteenth Amendment and related resources at the Library of Congress CRS Annotated Constitution : Fifteenth Amendment United States Constitution Articles Preamble II III IV V VI VII Amendments Ratified Bill of Rights 5 6 7 8 9 10 Others 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Pending Congressional Apportionment Titles of Nobility Corwin Amendment Child Labor Repealed Eighteenth Amendment Unsuccessful Equal Rights District of Columbia Voting Rights List of Amendments Bill of Rights ( Amendments 1 -- 10 ) Reconstruction Amendments ( Amendments 13 -- 15 ) Amendment proposals in Congress Convention to propose amendments State ratifying conventions Formation History Articles of Confederation Mount Vernon Conference Annapolis Convention Philadelphia Convention Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan Connecticut Compromise Three - Fifths Compromise Committee of Detail Signing Independence Hall Syng inkstand The Federalist Papers Anti-Federalist Papers Massachusetts Compromise Virginia Ratifying Convention Hillsborough Convention Rhode Island ratification Drafting and ratification timeline Clauses Appointments Appropriations Assistance of Counsel Bills of credit Case or Controversy Citizenship Commerce Compact Compulsory Process Confrontation Congressional enforcement Contract Copyright and Patent Double Jeopardy Due Process Equal Protection Establishment Exceptions Excessive Bail Ex post facto Extradition Free Exercise Free Speech Fugitive Slave Full Faith and Credit General Welfare Guarantee Impeachment Import - Export Ineligibility Militia Natural - born citizen Necessary and Proper New States No Religious Test Oath or Affirmation Origination Petition Postal Presentment Privileges and Immunities Privileges or Immunities Recess appointment Recommendation Self - Incrimination Speech or Debate Speedy Trial State of the Union Supremacy Suspension Take Care Takings Taxing and Spending Territorial Title of Nobility Treaty Trial by Jury Vesting Vicinage War Powers List of clauses Interpretation Concurrent powers Constitutional law Criminal procedure Criminal sentencing Dormant Commerce Clause Enumerated powers Equal footing Executive privilege Incorporation of the Bill of Rights Judicial review Nondelegation doctrine Preemption Saxbe fix Separation of church and state Separation of powers Taxation power Unitary executive theory Display and legacy National Archives Charters of Freedom Rotunda Independence Mall Constitution Day Constitution Gardens National Constitution Center Scene at the Signing of the Constitution ( painting ) A More Perfect Union ( film ) Worldwide influence US Government Portal Law Portal Wikipedia book Voting rights in the United States Constitutional provisions Article I Voter Qualifications Clause Elections Clause 1st Amendment 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause 15th Amendment 17th Amendment 19th Amendment 23rd Amendment 24th Amendment 26th Amendment Federal laws Voting Rights Act of 1965 Amendments List of covered jurisdictions Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act National Voter Registration Act of 1993 Help America Vote Act of 2002 State laws Voter access Absentee ballot Early voting Postal voting Provisional ballot Voter registration in the U.S. Initiatives and referendums Recall election Vote denial Electoral fraud Grandfather clause Literacy test Poll tax Voter caging Voter ID laws Vote dilution Gerrymandering Plurality - at - large voting One man, one vote By group Women Youth Felons Foreigners Transgender people District of Columbia residents Puerto Rico residents Guam residents History Timeline Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era Selma to Montgomery marches Timeline of women 's suffrage Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 Silent Sentinels U.S. suffragists publications History of direct democracy Related Ballot access Campaign finance Citizenship Disfranchisement Election Election law Elections Electoral reform Electoral College Redistricting Secret ballot Suffrage Voting Voting system Voter registration National Voting Rights Museum Suffrage Basic topics Universal suffrage Women Black Youth Resident foreigners Expatriates in country of origin Voting age Demeny voting Suffragette Compulsory voting Disfranchisement Women 's liberation movement By country Australia 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act aboriginal women Japan Hong Kong Kuwait New Zealand Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom women Wales laws 1832 1918 1928 United States women Native Americans foreigners District of Columbia Puerto Rico amendments 15th 19th 23rd 24th 26th 1965 Voting Rights Act Events International Woman Suffrage Alliance conferences 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 1 July marches 2014 protests UK Mud March ( 1907 ) Women 's Sunday ( 1908 ) Black Friday ( 1910 ) Great Pilgrimage ( 1913 ) Open Christmas Letter U.S. Seneca Falls Convention Declaration of Sentiments Rochester Convention Ohio Women 's Convention National Women 's Rights Convention Suffrage Hikes 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession Silent Sentinels Night of Terror `` Give Us the Ballot '' Selma to Montgomery marches Related Age of candidacy US Voting Rights Museum Umbrella Movement Women Suffragists Timeline of women 's suffrage US in majority - Muslim countries Women 's suffrage organizations and publications Women 's rights activists Suffragette Memorial Pankhurst Centre Pankhurst Memorial Belmont - Paul Monument International Women 's Day Susan B. Anthony Day Women 's Equality Day Eagle House Justice Bell 1920 US presidential election Leser v. Garnett Popular culture `` The March of the Women '' ( 1910 song ) The Mother of Us All ( 1947 opera ) `` Sister Suffragette '' ( 1964 song ) Shoulder to Shoulder ( 1974 series ) Not for Ourselves Alone ( 1999 documentary ) Iron Jawed Angels ( 2004 film ) Great Petition ( 2008 sculpture ) Selma ( 2014 film ) Suffragette ( 2015 film ) Susan B. Anthony dollar 2020 US ten - dollar bill VIAF : 174691226 LCCN : n97009341 GND : 4732629 - 3 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution&oldid=829604375 '' Categories : 1870 in American law 1870 in American politics Aftermath of the American Civil War Amendments to the United States Constitution History of voting rights in the United States Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant Reconstruction Era Hidden categories : Subscription required using via Pages containing links to subscription - only content All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from September 2017 Articles with permanently dead external links CS1 : Julian -- Gregorian uncertainty Use mdy dates from June 2013 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Good articles Talk Contents About Wikipedia Ænglisc Беларуская Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano עברית 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Українська 中文 8 more Edit links This page was last edited on 9 March 2018, at 17 : 33. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what civil right is guaranteed by the 15th amendment
Answer: prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".