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Amendment XV in the National Archives

1870 celebration of the 15th amendment as a guarantee of African American rights

1867 drawing depicting the first vote by African Americans

Amendment XV (the Fifteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution provides that governments in the United States may not prevent a citizen from voting because of his race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870.

The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) is one of the Amendments passed after the Civil War, known as the Reconstruction Amendments. This amendment prohibits the states or the federal government from using a citizen's race, color, or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. Its basic purpose was to enfranchise former slaves. The first person to vote under the provisions of the amendment was Thomas Mundy Peterson who cast his ballot in a Perth Amboy school board election being held on February 4, 1870, the day after the fifteenth amendment was ratified. But it was not really until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, almost a century later, that the full promise of the fifteenth amendment was actually achieved in all states.

After the passage on a per capita and absolute basis, more blacks were elected to political office during the period from 1865 to 1880 than at any other time in American history. Although no state elected a black governor during Reconstruction, a number of state legislatures were effectively under the control of a substantial African American caucus. These legislatures brought in programs that are considered part of government's duty now, but at the time were radical, such as universal public education. They also set aside all racially biased laws, even those prohibiting interracial marriage (so-called anti-miscegenation laws).

Despite the efforts of groups like the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate black voters and white Republicans, assurance of federal support for democratically elected southern governments meant that most Republican voters could both vote and rule in confidence. For example, when an all-white mob attempted to take over the interracial government of New Orleans, President Ulysses S. Grant sent in federal troops to restore the elected mayor.

However, after the close election of Rutherford B. Hayes, Hayes, in order to mollify the South, agreed to withdraw federal troops. He also overlooked poll violence in the deep south, despite several attempts by the Republicans to pass laws assuring the rights of black voters and to punish intimidation. To show the unwillingness of Congress to take any action at this time, even a bill that would have required incidents of violence only at polling places to be publicized failed to be passed. Without the restrictions, voting place violence against blacks and Republicans increased, including instances of murder. Most of this was done without any interference by law enforcement, and often even with their co-operation.

By the 1890s, many southern states had rigorous voter qualification laws, including literacy tests and poll taxes. Some states even made it difficult to find a place to register to vote.

The original House and Senate draft of the Amendment stated that the right to vote and to be a candidate would not be denied or abridged by the States based on certain factors, i.e. race [1]. It is unclear why the final version of the amendment omitted the candidacy right, although some of the lawmakers felt it was uncessary to include both, because the right to vote also meant the right to be a candidate.

Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment on February 26, 1869.^[1] The following states ratified the amendment:

1. Nevada (March 1, 1869)
2. West Virginia (March 3, 1869)
3. Illinois (March 5, 1869)
4. Louisiana (March 5, 1869)
5. Michigan (March 5, 1869)
6. North Carolina (March 5, 1869)
7. Wisconsin (March 5, 1869)
8. Maine (March 11, 1869)
9. Massachusetts (March 12, 1869)
10. Arkansas (March 15, 1869)
11. South Carolina (March 15, 1869)
12. Pennsylvania (March 25, 1869)
13. New York (April 14, 1869, rescinded on January 5, 1870, rescinded the rescission on March 30, 1870)
14. Indiana (May 14, 1869)
15. Connecticut (May 19, 1869)
16. Florida (June 14, 1869)
17. New Hampshire (July 1, 1869)
18. Virginia (October 8, 1869)
19. Vermont (October 20, 1869)
20. Alabama (November 16, 1869)
21. Missouri (January 7, 1870)
22. Minnesota (January 13, 1870)
23. Mississippi (January 17, 1870)
24. Rhode Island (January 18, 1870)
25. Kansas (January 19, 1870)
26. Ohio (January 27, 1870, after having rejected it on April 30, 1869)
27. Georgia (February 2, 1870)
28. Iowa (February 3, 1870)

Ratification was completed on February 3, 1870. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:

1. Nebraska (February 17, 1870)
2. Texas (February 18, 1870)
3. New Jersey (February 15, 1871, after having rejected it on February 7, 1870)
4. Delaware (February 12, 1901, after having rejected it on March 18, 1869)
5. Oregon (February 24, 1959)
6. California (April 3, 1962, after having rejected it on January 28, 1870)
7. Maryland (May 7, 1973, after having rejected it on February 26, 1870)
8. Kentucky (March 18, 1976, after having rejected it on March 12, 1869)
9. Tennessee (April 2, 1997, after having rejected it on November 16, 1869)

• Voting Rights Act

• Fifteenth Amendment and related resources at the Library of Congress
• National Archives: 15th Amendment
• CRS Annotated Constitution: 15th Amendment