USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The laws often included a grandfather clause, which allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax.

Detailed explanation-2: -Until the Supreme Court struck it down in 1915, many states used the “grandfather clause “ to keep descendents of slaves out of elections. The clause said you could not vote unless your grandfather had voted–an impossibility for most people whose ancestors were slaves.

Detailed explanation-3: -The origin of the term “grandfather clause” refers to statutes put in place after the Civil War by seven Southern states in an attempt to block African Americans from voting, while exempting white voters from taking literacy tests and paying poll taxes required to vote.

Detailed explanation-4: -This effectively prevented most African Americans from being able to vote after the implementation of these laws. The grandfather clause in this law, which limited their application to prior voters, became the term for any clause that has an effect of not applying to individuals doing an activity prior to the law.