Definition Argument Essay on Amendment XV

Amendment XV has the following two sections: “Section 1: The right of citizens of the United State to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United Sates or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”; and “Section 2: The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation“ (Feinberg). Amendment XV protects the rights of the citizens of Americans to vote during the elections in order to choose the leaders they want. The amendment lists some of the conditions that can be used illegally to deny other people the right to vote. Americans should not be denied to vote based on color, race or by being a former slave (Feinberg). The first section uses these words: color, race and servitude condition, which would be considered not necessary because there is the use of the clause, ‘citizens of the United States’, that represents all the people not only based on race, color or slavery but also on any other trait not mentioned.

            Before the amendment XV, there were occasional civil wars and the right to vote was not for every American. More particularly, race and color made the African American citizens to be denied this important right. This went to all the African American, whether a slave or not, none of them would be allowed to vote. Several States were not for the 15^th amendment because they did not want the Irish and the Chinese immigrants voting. States such as Oregon and California did not ratify amendment XV because of the large amounts of the Chinese immigrants who lived there.

            The fifteenth amendment was passed by the congress on 3^rd March, 1869 and was ratified in 1870 as the last of the three amendments meant for reconstruction. The amendment would basically have mentioned it as a right to all American Citizens without adding those other words. Was there the need to mention the color and race of the people? Was there the need to mention the previous servitude condition of the citizens? The words in the first section sounds too much explaining something obvious. Some people would argue that it was enough to just state “the citizens of the united states” (Loc.gov). Their argument is that, so long as there is a section in the constitution that defines who the citizen of the United States is, the inclusion of race, color and previous servitude conditions should have been avoided when stating the amendment.

            The use of the words race, color and previous servitude conditions is important in stating the amendment so that the point remains clear. This is with respect to a lot that was happening before the amendment. Discrimination used to happen to the citizens of the United States based on color, race and the servitude of an individual. According to (Feinberg) even though the language used in amendment XV prohibits any kind of race-based discrimination to vote, the framers were majorly concerned with enfranchisement of the African Americans. For example, in 1866, many Republicans saw the need for a constitutional amendment which would allow African Americans to vote during elections. There was a point where the Committee on Reconstruction wanted to report a version of amendment XIV which embraced the race-blind suffrage principle. The principle of black suffrage was highly opposed by the northerners until the committee abandoned the issue before proposing an amendment to the floor.

            A large debate went on with the northerners and the Republicans. By 1869, all points were considered and there was a conviction that if blacks were allowed to vote, then it should be a right by itself. The Republicans were convinced that a constitutional amendment was desirable and they were not divided on which language should be adopted when making the amendment. The House of Representatives had adopted a proposal that was similar to the current amendment XV. However, several Republicans raised complains that a narrow language had been used and it would allow States to intentionally disfranchise many African Americans through the adoption of qualifications which, although neutral, would be impossible to practically satisfy for the majority of the freed slaves (Chin 42).

The Senate responded and proposed to eliminate the discrimination on the basis of color, race, previous servitude condition, nativity, education and property in both the right to hold an elective office and the right to vote. A heated debate continued and finally, the senate decided to pass the amendment simply prohibiting discrimination on racial basis. Racial, color and slavery conditions were much used for discrimination during those days hence the need to be specific by use of those words. The second section in this amendment had to mention the Congress’ involvement in the enforcement of the article. This section was clear that if there came a time when the article needed reinforcement, then it had had all the powers to do so, so long as the appropriate legislation was used.

Works cited

Chin, Gabriel J. ‘Reconstruction, Felon Disenfranchisement, And The Right To Vote: Did The Fifteenth Amendment Repeal Section 2 Of The Fourteenth Amendment?’. 92 Georgetown law journal 1.1 (2004): 1-63. Print.

Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. Constitutional Amendments. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 1996. Print.

Loc.gov,. ’15Th Amendment To The Constitution: Primary Documents Of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library Of Congress)’. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.