WESTWARD EXPANSION INDUSTRIALIZATION URBANIZATION 1870 1900
GILDED AGE POLITICS
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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by imposing poll taxes and literacy tests
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by stationing police outside of polling booths
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Either A or B
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -Poll taxes, literacy tests, fraud and intimidation all turned African Americans away from the polls. Until the Supreme Court struck it down in 1915, many states used the “grandfather clause “ to keep descendents of slaves out of elections.
Detailed explanation-2: -The poll tax requirements applied to whites as well as blacks, and also adversely affected poor citizens. The laws that allowed the poll tax did not specify a certain group of people. This meant that anyone, including white women, could also be discriminated against when they went to vote.
Detailed explanation-3: -State legislatures employed literacy tests as part of the voter registration process starting in the late 19th century. Literacy tests, along with poll taxes, residency and property restrictions, and extra-legal activities (violence and intimidation) were all used to deny suffrage to African Americans.
Detailed explanation-4: -Through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other means, Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans. It would take the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of African Americans in the South were registered to vote.