1. Ensuring the Right to Vote in the United States
... this amendment was to give black males the right to vote. The Supreme Court left to the state governments the responsibility for protecting most of the basic rights of their citizens. Some state governments passed laws that made it almost impossible for black males to exercise their newly-won right. Some of the laws enacted were poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. Poll taxes required citizens ... to pay a tax before they could vote. Since most former slaves were very poor, they were unable to pay the tax. In a number of the states, poor white men were allowed to vote ev...
- Word Count: 2017
- Approx Pages: 8
- Grade Level: High School