WGU D267 Task 2 |Latest Update with Complete Solution
A1. The Fifteenth Amendment signified the right for African American men to vote. This amendment was important because it was the stepping stone right after the Civil War, in which African Americans got their freedom and equal rights. If these rights had not been given, African Americans would have continued to be viewed as less than the white man. They would have continued to be put in a vulnerable state without the hope of one day being citizens with their rights. During this time frame, voting was seen as a privilege for those who had the right, but it was also seen as a great honor as it distinguished those who were considered citizens of America who could participate in democracy and those who were not and could not.
(WGU.2020)
A2. The opponents of the Fifteenth Amendment believed that it did not provide enough protections for Black voting rights. This is because the amendment just protected their right to vote based on non-discrimination for a person of color. Opponents also believed that the States should be left in charge of who gets to vote. All of this led to loopholes found in the amendment which ended in literacy and financial requirements coming into play which caused blacks to still be blocked from voting for years to come.
(WGU.2020)
A3. Many people aided in the journey to pass the 15 th amendment including, radical Republicans and activists like Fredrick Douglas and Henrey McNeal Turner. The radical republicans like Charles Sumner believed that the Constitution was strong enough to protect against any form of discrimination while most of them wanted even more protections by adding an additional amendment. Fredrick Douglas, a former slave) advocated for the right with the belief that freedom was meant for all and would mean nothing if the rights and protections for African Americans weren’t included in equal citizenship. Turner was an army chaplain who served during the Civil War. He stood on the grounds that if black men could serve and die in the fight against the Union, they should have the same rights as the white men who served. (WGU.2020)
- / 1