Essay On The First 15 Amendment

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Pages: 4

Of the first fifteen Amendments to the Constitution, the three most important are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments all have the commonality of being related to the Civil War. The Civil War was a trying time in American history and while Reconstruction was a failed effort, piecing the Union back together was no easy task. Though some may argue that these Amendments did not immediately solve the problems the United States faced, the Amendments were revolutionary shaped the future of the United States. The Thirteenth Amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist …show more content…
Although the right to vote was not given to women for another fifty years the language of the Fifteenth Amendment gives all citizens of the United States the right to vote. During the previous century, the founding fathers had declared that all men were created equal. While the founding fathers did not specify that race was an exception as to who could vote, but only allowed white men to vote, it was an unheard of idea. At the time of the Revolutionary War only affluent members of the community were given the right to vote. Given that between a hundred years voting rights were given to all white men to all men was colossal in its own right. Many argue that this Amendment inapt because many states did not recognize this until a century later. For example, Tennessee did not officially ratify the Fifteenth Amendment until 1997. Another contention could be that the civil rights movements in the 1960s is what awarded blacks the right to vote. While all arguments are valid, the fact that the Amendment was created in the first place is what makes it