Which amendment protected voting rights regardless of race?

Which amendment protected voting rights regardless of race?

• A. The 14th Amendment
• B. The 13th Amendment
• C. The 15th protected voting rights regardless of race
• D. The 19th Amendment

Answer: (C)

Voting rights regardless of race means the law cannot deny someone the right to vote because of their race or color. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870 during Reconstruction, directly protects this by stating that the rights of citizens 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. That explicit prohibition makes it the clear constitutional guarantee that voting rights cannot be restricted because of race. The other amendments deal with related ideas in different ways: the Thirteenth ends slavery, the Fourteenth guarantees equal protection and citizenship, and the Nineteenth extends suffrage to women. Of course, barriers to voting persisted for many years even with the Fifteenth, which is why later laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were important for enforcing these protections.

Voting rights regardless of race means the law cannot deny someone the right to vote because of their race or color. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870 during Reconstruction, directly protects this by stating that the rights of citizens 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. That explicit prohibition makes it the clear constitutional guarantee that voting rights cannot be restricted because of race. The other amendments deal with related ideas in different ways: the Thirteenth ends slavery, the Fourteenth guarantees equal protection and citizenship, and the Nineteenth extends suffrage to women. Of course, barriers to voting persisted for many years even with the Fifteenth, which is why later laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were important for enforcing these protections.