Identify if each statement about rights, protections, and powers granted by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments is true or false.

Question

A) States' laws about civil rights are more powerful than federal laws.
B) Persons who have been convicted of a serious crime are banned from holding office.
C) African Americans did not receive the same civil rights as other citizens for many years after the Reconstruction Amendments were passed.
D) Babies born in the United States to a citizen of another country are granted US citizenship.
E) African American men were given the right to vote before women were.

Answer 1

Here are the answers to each statement regarding the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments:

A) False - Federal laws regarding civil rights take precedence over state laws due to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

B) True - The Fourteenth Amendment allows states to impose restrictions on individuals convicted of serious crimes, including banning them from holding public office.

C) True - Although the Reconstruction Amendments were passed, many African Americans continued to face discrimination and were often denied the same civil rights as other citizens for many years afterward.

D) True - Under the Fourteenth Amendment, individuals born in the United States, regardless of their parents' citizenship, are granted U.S. citizenship (this is known as birthright citizenship).

E) True - The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African American men the right to vote, while women, including African American women, would not achieve the right to vote until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920.

So the final answers are: A) False
B) True
C) True
D) True
E) True