Art depicting the first African Americans to vote after the 15th Amendment was passed
The Fifteenth Amendment had the most long and short term effects. It helped the Republican Party to win in 1870, and this party brought extreme changes to the south. With the passing of this amendment, African Americans felt more empowered to participate in politics and hold office. Thomas Mundy Peterson from New Jersey became the first African American to vote and Hiram R. Revels from Mississippi became the first African American to be elected into Congress. In spite of this, as Reconstruction ended, so did the rule of the Republican Party. Southern state governments nullified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Discriminatory practices, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, were passed to prevent blacks from voting. For example, as article “African Americans and the 15th Amendment” published by the Constitutional Rights Foundation asserts, “In Mississippi, 67 percent of the black adult men were registered to vote in 1867; by 1892 only 4 percent were registered”.