Many Southern states passed laws that required citizens who wanted to vote to pay a poll tax. The tax was set high enough so it became a luxury many Southerners could not afford. Some states also required that citizens had to pass a literacy test before they could vote. They were designed so that no matter the education, African Americans would fail. In theory, these law applied equally to everyone and did not violate the Fifteenth Amendment. However, whites were excused from these measures because of a "grandfather clause". This clause said that the taxes and tests did not apply to any man whose father or grandfather could vote on January 1, 1867. No blacks could vote on that day. When African Americans protested, the Supreme Court found that the new laws did not violate the Fifteenth Amendment because they did not deny anyone the right to vote based on race.
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