Why did southern states use poll taxes literacy test and grandfather
clauses to restrict voting rights?
Southern states used poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to restrict voting rights primarily to disenfranchise African Americans and poor white Americans. These measures were implemented as part of Jim Crow laws and were intended to maintain white supremacy and eliminate political power and representation for minority groups. The poll tax required individuals to pay a fee in order to vote, which disproportionately affected lower-income individuals who may not have been able to afford the tax. Literacy tests were often administered in a discriminatory manner, with questions deliberately designed to be difficult and confusing for African Americans. The grandfather clause allowed individuals to vote only if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote before the 15th amendment was passed, which effectively excluded African Americans who had been enslaved and unable to vote before that time.
Overall, these measures were used as discriminatory tactics to suppress the voting rights of minority groups and maintain the power and control of white supremacy in the southern states.