Section B: American option Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–77 Read the sources and then answer both parts of the question. Source A While a great step forward, the 15th Amendment is more remarkable for what it does not do than what it does do. It fails to guarantee the right of blacks to hold office as that might harm the prospect of ratification in the North. It makes no mention of suffrage provisions covering the white man, as Southern Republicans and Northern Radicals feared that this would return the franchise to the rebels. Many Northern states wished to retain their own individual suffrage qualifications, insisting on owning property for example. In the West there is opposition to the Chinese immigrants getting the vote; some argue that it will destroy the Republican Party there. It is feared that enfranchising the poor, the illiterate and the foreign-born will lead to victory for the Democratic Party. This Amendment will exclude as many as it enfranchises. Henry Adams, an American historian, in a newspaper article, April 1869. Source B You have been presented for consideration the question whether Negroes shall be permitted to vote and hold office in Connecticut. Over and over again the freemen of this Commonwealth have, on their deliberate judgement, refused to enfranchise this separate and inferior race. This measure strikes at the foundation of our system of government. It is a gross perversion of the authority of Congress to propose amendments. It is a long stride toward a deprivation of the States of their essential character, and the consolidation of all power at Washington. This would make this a Kingdom instead of a Republic. Congress might as well propose an amendment setting up a King or an Emperor over us and wiping out at a single stroke of the pen all our rights of citizenship. This sweeping measure is being hurried through before the people at large can have an opportunity to pass judgement upon it. President Washington, with his dying breath, warned his countrymen to beware of sudden changes in their form of government. The injunction should now be heeded. From a political leaflet published in Connecticut, 1869. Source C While supporting a franchise extension to all men in principle, this 15th Amendment is another in a long line of humiliations for women that Republicans have inflicted on our great cause. We reject the idea that the Constitution should prohibit racial discrimination in voting while also supporting discrimination on grounds of sex. Why should black men get the vote while women of culture and wealth remain excluded? Think of those Irish, Blacks, Germans and Chinese, who do not know the difference between a Monarchy and a Republic, having the right to vote. They will not have read the Declaration of Independence and will be making laws for educated and cultured women. Susan B Anthony, a leading supporter of the emancipation of women, to Charles Sumner, 8 February 1870. Source D [Figure D] XVth AMENDMENT. — 'Shoo Fly, don't Bodder see!' A cartoon from 'Harper's Weekly', published March 1870. The black voter shoos away the irritating ‘flies' of states which voted against ratification of the 15th Amendment.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Feb/Mar 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. (a) Indicative content Similarities
2. (a) Source A thinks the Amendment is a good idea and supports it. It mentions that it excludes some sections as well as giving others the vote. It has some reservations about enfranchising some groups, although possibly for different reasons than Source C.
3. (a) Source C also considers the Amendment as a sound idea and supports it in principle. It approves the prohibition of racial discrimination in voting, in theory at least. It also has reservations about enfranchising certain sections of the population, although possibly for different reasons from Source A.
4. (a) Differences
5. (a) Source A argues that it does not go far enough, for example it does not 'guarantee the right of blacks to hold office', and while there are guarantees for black voters, there are not those for whites in some areas. Its comment about the Republican Party suggest that it supports it. It clearly thinks the Amendment might lead to political victory for the Democrats.
6. (a) Source C of course sees the Amendment as 'another in a long line of humiliations for women' and approaches the topic from a very different perspective from Source A. It is strongly critical of the Republican Party, looking at the issue from a very particularist viewpoint and not a 'national' one as Source A evidently did. It goes on at length about the unfairness of blacks getting the vote, while able women do not.
7. (a) Explanation
8. (a) The comments in Source A suggest a fairly balanced and objective view. The points about guarantees and suffrage provisions are accurate, as were the references to hostility to the Chinese getting the vote. The worry about the future of the Republican Party proved unnecessary. Source C is from a passionate advocate of a single issue, and needs to be seen as such. It is unlikely that she represented the views of even a majority of women at the time, but certainly her views on the ‘Irish and the Blacks and Germans and Chinese’ were held by many, both male and female.
9. (a) Accept any other valid responses.
10. (b) Indicative content
11. (b) Source A can be used to support both sides of the argument, but overall is supports it. The author does see the Amendment as a 'great step forward', and while 'remarkable', he does temper his enthusiasm by arguing that it was even more remarkable for what it did not do. His support is primarily for the principle of it. However, he also mentions that some States wished to retain their own property qualifications for voting, probably to retain local power structures and also to exclude minorities. He also mentions there was hostility to the Chinese getting the vote. There is evidence there also that some Republicans might not be supporters as it might well drive voters into the arms of the Democrats. There seems to be lukewarm support for the basic idea, but lots of reservations about the possible implications.
12. (b) Source B has a strong racist element to it, with the reference to a 'separate and inferior race'. However, there is opposition for other reasons. The leaflet argues there is no constitutional right for Congress to propose an Amendment to the Constitution in the first place. It also puts forward the classic 'states rights' argument that the Federal Government in Washington was trying to impose its sovereignty on individual states, which was not what the Founding Fathers intended.
13. (b) Source C, like Source A, suggests support in principle for the Amendment, but again is critical of it in practice. It would have been hard to oppose it in principle, but women’s suffrage groups were not known for their anti-racist views. They seem to be advocating extending the franchise to the able, of both sexes, and possibly by implication, to able black women who had read the Declaration of Independence.
14. (b) Source D, while the portrayal of an African American, voting, being attacked by flies representing various states who opposed the Amendment, does suggest a racial motive for opposition, there are other factors there as well. As with Source B, some individual states were unhappy with a major change being, as they felt, imposed on them without due consultation, by the Federal Government in Washington. However, the 'states rights' argument was often used as an attempt to cover racist attitudes with a veneer of respectability. There was also a growing reaction against the huge increase in the authority of the Federal Government which the Civil War had necessitated.
15. (b) Evaluation
16. (b) Source A is a newspaper article written two months after the passage of the 15th Amendment. The author appears to have some doubts about the Amendment while agreeing with it in principle. The author’s view might be influenced by writing so soon after the Amendment’s passage.
17. (b) Source B is a political leaflet used as part of a bitter and highly divisive campaign. Such a source under these circumstances is unlikely to be an impartial and accurate document.
18. (b) Source C is from Susan Anthony to Charles Sumner, one year after the passage of the 15th Amendment. The author was very much a single-issue person, and likely to see all issues from a single, and narrow, perspective.
19. (b) Source D is a cartoon from a weekly newspaper which appeared in print just over a year following the passage of the 15th Amendment. The time which has passed since the passage of the Amendment perhaps offers some perspective.
20. (b) Accept any other valid responses.