Essay on Voting Right Acts of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 marked the biggest legal change in the relationship of the state and federal governments in the area of voting since the era of the Reconstruction Acts which enfranchised African Americans in conquered Southern states.

In 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson tried to convince Congress to pass his Voting Rights Act to overcome many problems. This proposed legislation denied the right of states to enforce restrictions on who could vote in general elections. Johnson explained that Every American citizen should have an equal opportunity and right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in the United States women and men are kept from voting simply because they are Black. (Clarence, 33)

By 1965 combined efforts to break the grip of state disfranchisement had been in progress for some time, but had achieved only little success overall and in few areas had proved almost entirely useless. The murder of voting rights activists in Philadelphia, gained attention at national level, along with numerous other acts of terrorism and violence. Finally, the meaningless attack on March 7, 1965, by state troopers on peaceful marchers convinced the Congress and President to overcome Southern legislators’ resistance to efficient voting rights legislation. President Lyndon Baines Johnson issued a call for an efficient voting rights law. Hearings began soon thereafter on the purposed bill that would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Clarence, 36)

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits inequity in voting procedures or practices because of color or race. In 1957 and 1960, Congress had passed few voting rights laws that took small steps toward increasing minority voting participation in general elections for all Americans. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, however, took big steps towards making voting rights a reality................

ESSAY ON THE AMERICAS