The 15th Amendment

“The 15th Amendment”
an informative/explanatory essay by Louisa
Written by a seventh grade student, this informative/explanatory essay explores
and discusses the constitutional amendments and supreme court cases that finally
led to African Americans having the right to vote. Because this student chose the
topic and feels passionate about it, you can hear her voice in each paragraph.
Here are some questions that can help you study and learn from this informative/
explanatory essay:
❉❉ How does the opening sentence draw you into the introduction?
❉❉ Why does the author give background information in the introduction?
❉❉ What is the author trying to explain in this essay? Does the introduction make
this clear to you? Explain with examples.
❉❉ How does the author organize and sequence the paragraphs? Is this effective?
Explain.
❉❉ Why does the author include information on specific aments? Information on
specific Supreme Court cases?
❉❉ How does having historically accurate details make the essay more
convincing?
❉❉ How does the author bring you back to the introduction and then take you
beyond it?
©2012 by Heinemann from Smart Writing: Practical Units for Teaching Middle School Writers by Laura Robb (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann). This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.
The 15 th Amendment
Did you know that in the mid-19 th century slaves were considered only 3/5 th5 of a
human being? This is only the least of the awful treatment that they received from their
masters. African-Americans had been enslaved and treated unfairly for over a century,
and it was time to take action. This cruel discrimination led to the Civil War, where the
nation broke apart and fought over civil rights for slaves. When the North won the war
and the slaves were freed from their owners, Congress added three amendments to the
Constitution of the United States. These were called the Reconstruction Amendments,
and one of which was the 15 th Amendment. Personally, I believe that it was a great idea
that established their right to vote, but it was poorly enforced by the government.
African-American suffrage lasted for nearly a century after the amendment was ratified.
Let's explore what led to the writing of these Reconstruction Amendments.
Slavery and discrimination against African-Americans was harsh and unfair.
Slaves were sold to their owners for nearly a century, becoming more and more popular
in the 18 th century through the 19 th century. Ifa slave wouldn't obey his master, the
consequences went from beatings to lynching. Slavery was frowned upon in the North,
and they welcomed escapees from the South who wanted freedom from their owners. A
very famous escaped slave was Harriet Tubman, a successful abolitionist, famous for her
"Underground Railroad". After a long time of slavery and cruelty towards AfricanAmericans, the abolitionists decided it was time to take action. And thus, the Civil War
began. It was a violent battle to the end. Finally, on April 18 t \ 1865, the Confederate
states surrendered to the North. The slaves were officially freed from their masters, but
African-Americans still faced years of discrimination and segregation before them.
After the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln urged the Southern States to
rejoin the nation, and become The United States of America once again. Meanwhile,
Congress was busy guaranteeing the rights of African-Americans. The Reconstruction
Amendments (the 13 th , 14 th , and 15 th) were created to ensure fair treatment of AfricanAmericans. The 13 th amendment freed the slaves from their servitude, the 14th
amendment guaranteed citizenship to African-Americans born in the United States, and
the 15 th amendment guaranteed African-Americans the right to vote. The purpose of the
Amendments was to protect the civil rights of all former slaves and to ensure equality for
all. The Reconstruction acts were also called "black suffrage". The 15 th amendment
unfortunately only guaranteed a male right to vote, and it wouldn't be another sixty years
until women were guaranteed their rights. Section one from the 15 th amendment states,
"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 ofrace, color, or previous condition of
servitude." The amendment went through lots of changes and was rewritten several times,
but Congress decided on the first version of the amendment. It was first drafted in 1868,
but wasn't ratified until February 30, 1870.
After the 15 th amendment was ratified, many former slaves voted for their first
time. Unfortunately, the South wasn't too thrilled about African-Americans having the
right to vote. In fact, it would be nearly a century later until they would be able to vote
without discrimination from the Southern States. Those states used every technique
possible to keep blacks from voting; such as poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and even
terrorism. Such discrimination led to court cases, such as Smith v. Allwright in the
1940' s, which asked, "Did denying blacks the right to vote in primary elections violate
the 15 th Amendment?" In my opinion, the answer is yes. Eventually, the Southerners got
what the wanted, and African-Americans stopped voting in elections. The court case
Plessy v. Ferguson ruled "separate but equal." African-Americans were being so unfairly
treated that they were losing hope in a stop in segregation. But all hope was not lost. Civil
Rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. urged Congress to take action. In 1965,
President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to pass legislation "which will make it
impossible to thwart the 15 th Amendment," he said. Finally, after years of "separate but
equal", Jim Crow Laws, and Black Codes, the March on Washington put a stop to
segregation. The 1965 Voting Rights Act was enacted to protect the rights of AfricanAmericans that were guaranteed in the 15 th amendment. The act was expanded in 1970,
1975, and 1982. The African-American struggle to vote was finally over.
It took nearly a century, but African-Americans finally got their right to vote
without any interference from the southern states. After all those efforts, AfricanAmericans can now vote without being charged a poll tax. They no longer have to fear
the threat of terrorism while casting a vote. Even though the amendment was
inadequately enforced, it was a fair amendment and would have been more effective ifit
was enforced by government officials. And now, African-Americans are no longer 3/5 ths
of a human being, but a whole one, with rights, and a guarantee to vote.
Louisa Janssen
December 17, 2011
Block 3
Works Cited Page
"15th Amendment Site." 15th Amendment Site-Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
"15th Amendment." GroUer Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2011. Web. 12
Dec. 2011.
"Our Documents - 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870)."
Welcome to OurDocuments.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
"Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. U.S. Grant: Warrior. WGBH American
Experience I PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec.
2011.
Hamilton, Charles V. "Fifteenth Amendment." World Book Student. World Book, 2011.
Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
The Constitution and Racial Discrimination: The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth
Amendments. Prod. Duncan Group. Duncan Group, 2000. Discovery Education. Web.
11 December 2011. <http://www.discoveryeducation.coml>.