What is the 24th amendment in simple terms

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noun

an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, forbidding the use of the poll tax as a requirement for voting in national or U.S. Congressional elections.

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Words nearby Twenty-fourth Amendment

twentyfold, twenty-four, twenty-fourmo, twenty-four-seven, twenty-fourth, Twenty-fourth Amendment, twentymo, twenty-nine, twenty-ninth, twenty-one, twenty questions

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

MORE ABOUT TWENTY FOURTH AMENDMENT

What is the Twenty-fourth Amendment?

The Twenty-fourth Amendment is an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that forbids using payment of a poll tax as a requirement for voting in national or Congressional elections.

The Constitution of the United States is the document that serves as the  fundamental law of the country. An amendment is a change to something. An amendment to the Constitution is any text added to the original document since its ratification in 1788. The Constitution has been amended 27 times in American history.

The Twenty-fourth Amendment has two sections.

The first section outlaws requiring a voter to pay a poll tax in order to vote in a national election or an election for a member of Congress.

The second section gives Congress the power to enforce the amendment with laws.

The wording of the Twenty-fourth Amendment means that it only forbids poll taxes at the federal level, allowing state and local poll taxes. However, within two years of the amendment being ratified, the Supreme Court ruled state and local poll taxes unconstitutional as well in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. Interestingly, the Court cited the Fourteenth Amendment and not the Twenty-fourth Amendment in its ruling.

In any event, all poll taxes are now illegal in the United States. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that indirect expenses that serve the same purpose as poll taxes, such as requiring a voter to obtain government paperwork or requiring a convicted felon to settle their debt before voting, are constitutional. It remains to be seen whether the Court will ever consider future “indirect taxes” to violate the Twenty-fourth Amendment.

Why is Twenty-fourth Amendment important?

Although modern Americans may think poll taxes sound like an undemocratic idea, such taxes have been legal for most of American history. The Constitution leaves it up to the states to decide voter qualifications. At first, most states only allowed property owners to vote. Later, poll taxes were used to decide who could vote. The theory was that all taxpayers, not just landowners, would be invested in the electoral process and would be knowledgeable of the issues and candidates.

By the mid-1800s, most states had done away with poll taxes and allowed all white men to vote. However, after the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, which forbids denying the right to vote based on race, poll taxes came back as an effective way to prevent Black men (and poor white men) from voting. For much of the rest of American history, poll taxes would be used alongside things like literacy tests to prevent Black people from voting and to support the racist system of Jim Crow.

By the 1960s only five states still enforced poll taxes—Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia. Despite this, President John F. Kennedy supported getting rid of all poll taxes as part of his push for civil rights. Thinking that any normal legislation would be impossible because the Constitution guarantees states the right to set voter qualifications, Congress resolved that only a Constitutional amendment could outlaw poll taxes.

Congress managed to narrowly pass the proposal for the Twenty-fourth Amendment on August 27, 1962. Many feared the amendment wouldn’t go far enough to protect the voting rights of Blacks, because the amendment only applied to federal elections. However, this limitation was deemed necessary in order to convince enough states to ratify it. The Twenty-fourth Amendment was indeed successfully ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.

Did you know … ?

Although the Twenty-fourth Amendment found little support in the South, only one state, Mississippi, actually voted to reject it.

What are real-life examples of Twenty-fourth Amendment?

Pictured above is a receipt given to Rosa Parks after paying a poll tax in 1956. The Twenty-fourth Amendment made poll taxes illegal in federal elections.

Today, the Twenty-fourth Amendment is uncontroversial. It is often cited when people accuse modern groups or politicians of voter suppression.

57 years ago, the 24th Amendment was ratified, abolishing the poll tax & removing a barrier to the ballot for millions.

Now, it’s time for Congress to pass #HR1 & further protect the sacred right to vote. Let's strengthen our democracy by making voting even more accessible.

— Rep. Deb Haaland (@RepDebHaaland) January 23, 2021

#OTD–1964: The 24th Amendment was officially added to the US Constitution. It outlawed the #PollTax as a #voting requirement in federal elections. The poll tax was a prime example of #JimCrow laws that disproportionately disenfranchised African-American voters.#History

— Joe Madison (@MadisonSiriusXM) January 23, 2020

Quiz yourself!

True or False?

The Twenty-fourth Amendment forbids the use of poll taxes for all elections.

How to use Twenty-fourth Amendment in a sentence

  • A fourth suspect, a 26-year-old woman named Hayat Boumeddiene, remains at large.

  • Why would “they” want to crush him just for attempting to buy something twenty years ago?

  • But in more middle-class and working-class neighborhoods, sessions are typically a fourth of that price.

  • He won re-election twice as governor of New York, and had the hubris to run for a fourth term before being defeated in 1994.

  • Open-carry activists are known for baiting cops into on-camera arguments about the Second Amendment and state laws.

  • I presume the twenty-five or thirty miles at this end is unhealthy, even for natives, but it surely need not be so.

  • In treble, second and fourth, the first change is a dodge behind; and the second time the treble leads, there's a double Bob.

  • Before daybreak we had ridden five and twenty miles, but had been compelled to abandon two more guns.

  • On four bells there are four times as many changes as on three; that is—four times six changes, which makes Twenty-four.

  • This vessel, loaded with supplies, went ashore and was lost; and one hundred and twenty Japanese and three Dutchmen were drowned.

What does the 24th Amendment mean in kid words?

The Twenty-Fourth Amendment banned poll taxes. Poll taxes were a fee that people were required to pay before they could vote. In states that required poll taxes, many African Americans and other poor voters were unable to exercise their right to vote.

What is the 26th Amendment in simple terms?

The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

What is the 24th Amendment called?

Not long ago, citizens in some states had to pay a fee to vote in a national election. This fee was called a poll tax. On January 23, 1964, the United States ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any poll tax in elections for federal officials.