The Right to Vote

<p>This study covers the immediate background passage and ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Gillette contends that the Fifteenth Amendment was intended to give voting rights to African Americans in the north sidelining those in the south. African American suffrage in other words had the pragmatic effect of bringing power to the Republicans of the north. In short the Fifteenth Amendment was not a radical document but rather was pushed by Republican moderates in an effort to consolidate their power.</p>