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Jim Crow and End of Reconstruction · US History

What was the purpose of grandfather clauses in Southern voting laws?

  1. To guarantee full, permanent, and constitutionally protected voting rights for every formerly enslaved person
  2. To require all voters to be over seventy years old
  3. To allow some white voters to avoid literacy tests or poll taxes while excluding many Black voters
  4. To give federal judges control over state elections
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Correct answer: To allow some white voters to avoid literacy tests or poll taxes while excluding many Black voters

Grandfather clauses allowed people to vote if their ancestors had voted before the Civil War. Because most African Americans had been enslaved and unable to vote then, the clauses protected many white voters while excluding Black voters.

Difficulty: Medium Question 13 of 20

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