U.S. Constitution · Amendment XV, Section 1 · ratified 1870-02-03
Right to Vote Not Denied by Race, section 1
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Live in the VFA record
Cited 1 times in VFA's public record; none yet this month.
1 public item cites this provision · 0 in October 2026 (last month: 0)
Citations per week, last 12 weeks
The text
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude--
National Archives transcription (public domain; original spelling and capitalization). archives.gov
SI explainer
An explainer for this provision is in the queue. It appears here once it passes the SI Editorial Standard’s automated checks. The text, founding-era sources and live citations below are complete.
In the founders’ words
- “But, sir, the first section of the proposed amendment does not give to either of these classes the right of voting. The right of suffrage is not, in law, one of the privileges or immunities thus secured by the Constitution. It is merely the creature of law.” Jacob M. Howard, Sen. Jacob M. Howard, Speech Introducing the Fourteenth Amendment, Senate, May 23, 1866 (Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 2764-66) (1866-05-23)
- “A measure which makes at once 4,000,000 people voters who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so (with the assertion that "at the time of the Declaration of Independence the opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black men had no rights which the white man was bound to respect"), is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free Government to the present day.” Ulysses S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Special Message to Congress on the Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, March 30, 1870 (1870-03-30)
Public-domain primary sources, quoted word for word and checked against the linked text.
Leading Supreme Court cases
- Guinn v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915)
- Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944)
- Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U.S. 339 (1960)
- South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301 (1966)
Cited in the VFA record
“Where this provision is cited”
Roll-call votes are listed when the measure voted on has a current Constitution Index grade citing this provision. Counts include only published items.
Cite this page
Values for America Constitution Explorer, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution (text: National Archives transcription, public domain), Amendment XV, Section 1, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution/amendment-15/section-1
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