The practice of expanding voting rights, culminating in the 15th Amendment, sought to do what?

• A. Abolish poll taxes.
• B. Prohibit denial of suffrage based on race (grant Black men the right to vote).
• C. Provide universal suffrage regardless of sex.
• D. Lower the voting age to 18.

Answer: (B)

The main idea is that the 15th Amendment places a protection on the right to vote by stopping states from denying it based on race, color, or a formerly enslaved status. Ratified during Reconstruction, it was aimed at ensuring Black men could vote after emancipation. That’s why this option is the best fit: it directly names preventing racial denial of suffrage and extending voting rights to Black men. It doesn’t speak to women’s suffrage (that came with the 19th Amendment) or to lowering the voting age (the 26th Amendment) or to abolishing poll taxes (addressed later by other measures). In practice, even with this protection, barriers persisted for many years, leading to further civil rights protections in the Voting Rights Act to enforce it.