What did the 15th Amendment aim to guarantee, and what obstacles emerged in practice?

• A. Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race; literacy tests, poll taxes, violence, and intimidation undermined it.
• B. Guaranteed universal suffrage for all.
• C. Abolished poll taxes.
• D. Gave the president authority to enforce voting rights.

Answer: (A)

The main point here is that the Fifteenth Amendment was meant to protect the voting rights of Black men by preventing states from denying the right to vote because of race, color, or prior condition of servitude. It set a federal standard against racial discrimination in voting, a critical step after the Civil War. But in practice, many states found ways to sidestep or undermine that protection. They used literacy tests and poll taxes to keep Black voters away, imposed new registration hurdles, and fostered violence and intimidation—especially by groups like the Ku Klux Klan—to deter participation. Federal enforcement of the amendment varied over time, and during periods when enforcement waned, these barriers were effective in suppressing Black political power. The situation began to change again with later civil rights legislation, but the immediate obstacle course shows why the amendment’s intent didn’t translate into wide, lasting guarantee at the ballot box. The other options don’t fit because the amendment did not promise universal suffrage, did not abolish poll taxes by itself, and did not vest presidential enforcement power.