Amendment XV
Voting Rights — Race
Ratified February 3, 1870
The Fifteenth Amendment completed the Reconstruction Amendments by enfranchising Black men. However, Southern states immediately developed workarounds — poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and violence — that effectively disenfranchised Black voters for nearly a century until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Full Text
Section 1.
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—
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Annotated Version
The Amendments XI–XXVII document includes phrase highlights and court case references for this amendment.
Constitutional Framework
Original Text
U.S. Constitution
Articles I–VII (1787). The three branches, enumerated powers, and the framework these amendments modify.
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Amendments I–X
Bill of Rights
Ratified December 15, 1791. Freedom of religion, speech, press, arms, due process, and more.
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Amendments XI–XXVII
Later Amendments
Ratified 1795–1992. Abolition of slavery, equal protection, women's suffrage, and more.
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