The House Joint Resolution proposing the 15th amendment to the Constitution, December 7, 1868

The House Joint Resolution proposing the 15th amendment to the Constitution, December 7, 1868

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed on February 26, 1868 and ratified less than a year later on February 3, 1870. The 15th Amendment was the last of three Constitutional amendments proposed by the United States Congress as part of the Congressional plan for Reconstruction. It extended the right to vote to African American men and affirmed that “the right of citizens of the United States” - which included African Americans after the passage of the 14th Amendment - “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.” Despite the promises of this amendment, however, over the next several decades many African Americans, including those residing in North Carolina, found themselves disfranchised as the result of state laws.

United States Congress

United States Congress, "The House Joint Resolution proposing the 15th amendment to the Constitution, December 7, 1868," Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1999, General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=44 (accessed April 26, 2012).

1868-12-07

Erin Glant

Document

Government Document

Fortieth Congress of the United States of America;

At the third Session, Begun and held at the city of Washington, on Monday, the seventh day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.

A Resolution Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Respresentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both Houses concurring) that the following article be proposed to the legislature of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:

Article XV.

Section 1. 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—

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.