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Breedlove V. Suttles Case

711 Words3 Pages

Don’t Sleep Through the Amendment

Annoyed about the loss of the civil war and hoping to declare continued superiority over the blacks of the South, the Southern states created the poll tax. All who wanted to vote in 1904 Virginia had to pay a tax of a dollar and fifty cents a price about thirty dollars in today’s money. Because of its high price poor whites and most African Americans were not able to vote because they were generally poor. Many saw the injustice of the poll tax and tried to push for its demise. “The poll taxes themselves were at one point ruled not to be unconstitutional in the Breedlove v. Suttles case because it did not violate the provisions set forth by either the Fourteenth Amendment or the Fifteenth Amendment” …show more content…

Suttles court case. “[Nolan]Breedlove led to the introduction of the first poll tax constitutional amendment in 1939 and to efforts to abolish the poll tax through State Action”(thefreedictionary.com). After Nolan Breedlove a twenty-eight year old man who was white tries to vote but was denied do to his inability to pay the poll tax. Nolan decided to sue the state of Georgia arguing that poll taxes were unconstitutional due to the fourteenth amendment which states equal protection for all groups. However the Supreme Court ruled the tax still constitutional by itself. Nevertheless his case did bring national attention to the injustice of the Poll Tax and by 1960 only five states had a poll tax. Thus paving the way for the creation of the twenty-fourth …show more content…

Poll taxes targeted the poor especially African Americans in the way of ineligibility to vote. At one point they were declared constitutional to the Supreme Court but brought much attention on the subject. But through hard work of many people thought the United States especially Governor Price of Virginia; men and women alike were able to convince the government of the poll taxed correction. This led to its demise in 1964 after the passing of the twenty-fourth amendment. Thus leading to future laws and rights being passed benefitting the voting system of all

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