Reconstruction and Suffrage

This resource is an Inquiry Pack to accompany the Suffrage Timeline on LegalTimelines.org, which explores the history of voting rights in the United States, from its early influences to constitutional amendments and landmark Supreme Court cases.

Built around primary sources from the Library of Congress and other collections, this Inquiry Pack facilitates a deep dive into an important aspect of the history of suffrage and voting rights in the United States.

Each Inquiry Pack includes a background reading, several primary sources (documents, articles, images), discussion questions about the sources, an inquiry question, and an inquiry extension question.

This pack includes the following components:

• Introduction: Reconstruction and Suffrage
• Universal Suffrage
• Suffrage Movement Split
• Views on Suffrage During Reconstruction
• Ratification of the 15th Amendment
• Inquiry Question: Could there have been a path to universal suffrage in the years after the Civil War? Why or why not?
• Inquiry Extension Question and Sources: Examine the extension sources. What does this set of documents tell you about the impact of the 15th Amendment?
• Inquiry Question Graphic Organizer