If the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, which were passed almost 100 years earlier, guaranteed that African-Americans had the right to vote, why was legislation such as The Voting Rights Act of 1965 necessary?
There are several good sites here with information.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=why+was+legislation+such+as+The+Voting+Rights+Act+of+1965+necessary&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=fabe5f418103de0b
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary despite the existence of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments for a few reasons. While these amendments did grant African-Americans the right to vote, they were not fully enforced and were subject to various discriminatory practices that prevented many African-Americans from exercising their right to vote.
To understand why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary, let's break it down step by step:
1. The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. It granted African-Americans freedom, but it did not explicitly give them the right to vote.
2. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized in the United States, including African-Americans. It also established the principle of equal protection under the law, but it did not explicitly secure voting rights.
3. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African-American men the right to vote. However, while it prohibited racial discrimination in voting, it did not address other tactics that were used to disenfranchise African-Americans, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, and violence.
4. Despite the existence of these amendments, many states in the United States implemented discriminatory practices to prevent African-Americans from voting. These included literacy tests, poll taxes, and various other voter suppression tactics. These measures were often targeted at African-Americans and had the effect of denying them the right to vote.
5. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to address these discriminatory practices. It aimed to enforce and strengthen the voting rights guaranteed by the 15th Amendment. The Act provided several key provisions, including the prohibition of literacy tests and the requirement for federal oversight of voting practices in states with a history of discrimination.
In summary, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments did grant African-Americans important rights, including the right to vote. However, due to discriminatory practices implemented by various states, these rights were not fully realized. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary to combat these discriminatory practices and ensure that all citizens had equal access to the voting process.