Essay about The Voting Rights Act

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The Voting Rights Act
On 6 August 1965, the Voting Rights Act ended all the discriminatory literacy tests for voting. It also poll taxes as a way of assessing whether anyone was fit or unfit to vote. As far as Johnson was concerned, all you needed to vote was American citizenship and the registration of your name on an electoral list. No form of hindrance to this would be tolerated by the law courts.It also set up federal examiners to go to different states, schools, everywhere to check that no black people were being discriminated against in voter registration. This stopped states from imposing their own literacy rules or other rules, for example, voter must have their own property to be registered to vote.
Impact (extra)
The impact was dramatic. By the end of 1966, only 4 out of the traditional 13 Southern states, had less than 50% of the American registered to vote. By 1968, even hard-line Mississippi had 59% of African Americans registered. In the longer term, far more African Americans were elected into public office. The Act was the boost that the civil rights cause needed to move it swiftly along and Johnson has to take full credit for this. As Martin Luther King had predicted in earlier years, demonstrations served a good purpose but real change would only come through the power of Federal government. Johnson proved this. V Sanders has called what he did as a "legislative revolution". Johnson had one break in that he worked with a Congress that had a majority of

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