Jonathan Henderson

History

6 March, 07:26

According to the Fifteenth Amendment, citizens were not supposed to be restricted from voting based on their race or previous

status as slaves. In spite of this federal law, southern states passed their own laws aimed at preventing African Americans from

voting. First, poll taxes and literacy tests were required in order to vote. Later, states began passing "grandfather clauses," which

stated that people who could not pass the literacy test or pay the poll tax could vote if they, their fathers, or grandfathers had been

allowed to vote on or before January 1, 1867. Why were grandfather clauses enacted?

A.

Southerners realized that literacy tests and poll taxes were unfair for poor people

B. African Americans advocated the use of grandfather clauses.

C.

The use of literacy tests and poll taxes had prevented whites from voting.

D. Grandfather clauses were a fair way to decide who had the right to vote.