The main goal of the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, was to prohibit denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

This amendment aimed to ensure that African American men could exercise their voting rights following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. It was a crucial part of the Reconstruction efforts to integrate freed slaves into American civic life. However, despite its passage, various discriminatory practices, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, were implemented in many Southern states to circumvent the amendment and suppress African American voting rights.