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5.Voting Rights Act of 1965
5.Voting Rights Act of 1965
The effectiveness of the 14 amendment
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More handpicked essays just for you.
5.Voting Rights Act of 1965
5.Voting Rights Act of 1965
The effectiveness of the 14 amendment
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Based on the book Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman, the book focuses on the voting rights for African Americans and the struggle they had to go through to obtaining the right to vote in the United States. Berman also describes the difficulties African Americans faced even after the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. The voting Rights Act wanted to eliminate many obstacles that occurred when it came to voting, which included literacy tests, poll taxes or any racial discrimination that prevented African Americans or other minorities from voting. The voting Rights Act operated and increased democracy participation in the south after the 1960’s.
This act, passed by the 89th Congress, is considered one of the most important Civil Rights acts ever passed. This bill allowed anyone, no matter what race, to vote freely, without worrying about being accosted of claims of illiteracy, insufficient education, etc… This contributed to the controversy in Texas, because the way voting districts were drawn at the time, using Stacked Vote gerrymandering, meant that districts were often times drawn based on race. Before the act was passed; this led to the white population in the districts—Remember this was during the Civil Rights Era—often times preventing the, “Colored Population”, from voting, citing reasons such as; Lack of Knowledge, and Illiteracy. This acts passing stopped all of that. The acts passing created another problem.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, among other landmark legislation, were direct results of the activism and advocacy led by Dr. King and his contemporaries. These laws aimed to dismantle systemic racism and uphold the principles of the social contract by guaranteeing equal rights and protections for all citizens. However, it is important to acknowledge that Dr. King's work was not without challenges and opposition. He faced significant resistance, threats, and violence throughout his life.
Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 creates a coverage formula for determining which states and political subdivisions will be subject to additional scrutiny. The formula is based on the previous use of racially discriminatory practices and low voter registration or turnout. Section 5 of the Voting Rights act of 1965 holds that no jurisdiction that qualifies under the coverage formula can implement any changes in voting procedures until the changes are approved by the U.S. Justice Department or a federal court. Under Section 5 all states must obtain federal permission before enacting any law related to voting. (Con Law Textbook, pg. 725)
In summary, the Fifteenth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution in order to give U.S. citizens the right to vote. This means that a U.S. citizen who is eighteen years of age or older shall be allowed to vote and not discriminated against because of their race, color, or history of servitude. The Fifteenth Amendment also gives Congress the right to create laws in order to enforce the amendment. Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act in 1965 in response to the Jim Crow laws. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act says that local governments and certain states must obtain permission from the federal government before they can make any changes to their voting laws or practices.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were two symbolic laws passed by Congress in response to the nonviolent protests, boycotts, demonstrations, and sit-ins. The people were expressing their first amendments rights of freedom of speech and right to peacefully assemble. As a result, the movement managed to end separation by law in American society; however, separation among some citizens remained.
The voting act was an act that supported that african americans have the right to vote like any white man. Another tactic used was the idea of Black Nationalism. African Americans united together was under Malcolm X and islam. Malcolm X gave African Americans a idea of black nationalism and that they are good and better than white people. Also SNCC, which used to have white members purged them all so that the African Americans can do things themselves without the help of any white men.
To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”
The Voting Rights Act was one of the most revolutionary bills ever passed by the congressional legislation in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill into law on August 6th, 1965, not only as part of politics but also, a depiction of morals. Since 1965, it has protected minority voters at the polls, but it has been fifty years since the Voting Rights Act has been passed and it is still a controversial topic that is constantly debated on today. The voting rights of all minorities throughout the country are once again under attack which impacts one’s ability to exercise his or her constitutional right as a citizen.
The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “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.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the
Americans all around the nation were stunned by the executing of social liberties laborers and the ruthlessness they saw on their TVs. Freedom summer raised the cognizance of a large number of individuals to the predicament of African-Americans and the requirement for change. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed Congress to some extent in light of the fact that administrators ' constituents had been instructed about these issues amid Freedom
XV, § 2. The VRA is the exercise of that power. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 to affirm the fundamental rights of each citizen to participate in elections. The current version of Section 2 of the VRA provides:
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was created August 6th, 1965 signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson after much conversations both private and public, major and minor, they all did their job to affect President Lyndon to come to a option soon enough. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major event allowing blacks to vote/register. Martin Luther King Jr. was the most famous of the people who gave speeches about racial segregation though he was one of the only ones who used peace in his speeches, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was much influenced by Martin Luther King Jr.’s crowd and his ground shaking and motivating speeches, much was going on during the creation process of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the events that happened creation process
Although technically people of color had the right, white people were making it very difficult to register. When African Americans went to register they would be tested continuously, something white people never had to deal with. Only two percent of African Americans in the south could vote. Before the march from Selma to Montgomery there were many protests to try to gain fair voting rights. One man, Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed at a peaceful protest by a state trooper.
Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.