ABSTRACT
The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution provides that "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." In the post-Civil War period, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were adopted in order to eradicate slavery and provide African Americans with constitutionally protected civil rights, including the right to vote. The use of widespread political fraud, such as stuffing ballot boxes and closing poll stations, further undermined black participation in elections. In 1870 alone, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized and killed hundreds of blacks who tried to vote or hold office. In the 1890s, southern states passed legislation and amended their constitutions to further reduce black enfranchisement without directly violating the Fifteenth Amendment. The right to vote as guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment was finally protected and enforced.
