Grandfather clause of grandfather clause

After the American Civil War, on March 2, 1867, the U.S. Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, requiring the 10 southern states to recognize the right to vote for blacks as a condition for rejoining the Union. In 1870, on the basis that 10 southern states had fulfilled this requirement of the law, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulated that neither the federal nor the state governments could restrict the right of citizens to vote because of differences in race. This was used to protect black people's right to vote, while southern states indirectly restricted or deprived black people of their right to vote through the provisions of electoral qualifications.

One of the eligibility restrictions is the "grandfather clause" restriction. All those who had obtained the right to vote before 1866 or 1867 and their descendants were entitled to vote without having to meet education or property qualifications. In 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed, black people did not have the right to vote at all. Therefore, they had to meet strict education or property qualifications to enjoy the right to vote.

The Federal Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in the 1915 case of Cuinn v United States.