14th and 15th Amendment Questions

Summarize the Fourteenth Amendment in your own words.

This amendment granted citizenship to anyone who was born or naturalized in the US, which included freedmen. This also provided the citizens equal protection under the laws.

What values are reflected in the 14th Amendment?

It reflects how America is striving and working towards fairness/equality.

During the Reconstruction era, how did African Americans begin exercising the rights they believed were protected by the Fourteenth Amendment? Make a list.

* **Voting**


* **Participate in political processes**
* **Buy land**
* **Find their own employment**
* **Use public spaces**

Why couldn't black women vote?

No women in the 1800s had the right to vote.

In 1868, how many states in the North did not allow blacks to vote?

Eleven.

What was the last state to approve the 15th Amendment?

Kentucky.

Why was Congress worried about the new amendment? 

It would protect black men’s right to vote, which would clearly create much controversy in society.

What was the KKK doing in the South?

Scaring away black voters.

What did Southern whites use to keep blacks from voting? 

Poll taxes and literacy tests.

Why do you think blacks had to fight until the 1960s to fully gain the right to vote?

Much of society was still racist up until the 1960s, since black people had a bad reputation. 

Why do you think Southerners did not want blacks to vote?

They did not want the African Americans to gain power and impact legislation.