Question

Read the following excerpt from the Fifteenth Amendment:

“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.”

Describe how this law attempted to reconcile the discrepancy between American ideals and public policy.

(1 point)
Responses

a Large numbers of people march on Washington for the passage of laws.

b The NAACP lobbies Congress for passage of a right-to-vote law.

c Congress passes a law to ensure all people have the right to vote.

d The Supreme Court addresses the Fifteenth Amendment’s constitutionality.

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

c Congress passes a law to ensure all people have the right to vote.

The Fifteenth Amendment was passed by Congress to explicitly state that the right to vote could not be denied based on race, color, or previous servitude. This law was an attempt to reconcile the contradiction between American ideals of equality and democracy with the discriminatory public policies that had previously excluded African Americans from voting. By passing this amendment, Congress aimed to ensure that all citizens would have the right to participate in the democratic process regardless of their race or background.