Section 1
The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Ratification
The Fifteenth Amendment, the last of the three postbellum reconstruction amendments, was ratified on February 3, 1870. The specific purpose of the Fifteenth Amendment was to secure voting privileges for black men who were freed by the Thirteenth Amendment and who became United States citizens through the Fourteenth Amendment. All other male non-Caucasian citizens were also guaranteed the same voting privileges. Like the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth was ratified by dubious means:
At one point, the ratification count stood at 17 Republican states approving the amendment and four Democratic states rejecting it. Congress still needed 11 more states to ratify the amendment before it could become law. All eyes turned toward those Southern states which had yet to be readmitted to the Union. Acting quickly, Congress ruled that in order to be let into the Union, these states had to accept both the Fifteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to all people born in the United States, including former slaves. Left with no choice, the states ratified the amendments and were restored to statehood.1
The principal incentive behind this Amendment was political. The Republicans needed additional votes in order to establish their party in both the North and the South, and they believed the blacks would support them as the political party that had ended slavery.
...the Radical Republicans imposed a bold agenda of strict reforms upon the former Confederacy. Collectively, their push for African-American political rights surpassed any measure ever seen in the United States. The 38th Congress (1863-1865) quickly passed and submitted for ratification the 13th Amendment (13 Stat. 744-775) - outlawing slavery - in 1865. That same year, Congress established the Freedman's Bureau (13 Stat. 507-509), which was charged with preparing the newly freed slaves for civic life by providing social services and education. In 1866, the 39th Congress (1865-1867) passed the first Civil Rights Bill (14 Stat. 27-30), granting American citizenship to freed slaves, and then expanded upon the legislation by approving the 14th Amendment (14 Stat. 358-359), which enforced the equality of all citizens before the law.... All of the 19th-century black Congressmen were Republicans, recognizing and appreciating the role that the Republican Party played in obtaining their political rights and - for many - their emancipation.2
Because blacks were unlikely to vote Democrat, the Democrats, who controlled the Northern states, were determined to block the passage of this Amendment. Little genuine altruism toward the blacks, from either side of the political spectrum, motivated the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. The freed slaves were looked upon as political expedients:
The stimulus for the Fifteenth Amendment came from the election returns of 1868. Although Republican presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant won 73 percent of the electoral vote, he won only 52 percent of the popular vote. Without the southern black voter, Grant would have lost the popular, though not the electoral, vote. In state after state Grant and the Republicans won by precarious margins. Democrats also gained seats in Congress. And in the South during 1868, white Democrats resorted to violence and intimidation in order to prevent black Republicans from voting. Such disenfranchisement of blacks in the south, defeats in state referenda on suffrage throughout the North, and close calls in many elections convinced Republicans that something had to be done by the Fortieth Congress before Democrats arrived in force in the new Congress and in the statehouses.3
Gary North gets to the heart of the self-serving political agenda of those who ratified the Fifteenth Amendment: "The black slave became a tool in the statist plans of the North's Republican politicians."4
Full voting rights for all blacks did not occur until the mid-20th century:
Through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other means, southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans. It would take the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of African Americans in the south were registered to vote.5
This came, in part, as a result of President Lyndon B. Johnson's telling Congress on March 15, 1965, that "we cannot have government for all the people until we first make certain it is government of and by all the people."6 Although President Lincoln helped emancipate the slaves, he would not have agreed with President Johnson or with the Congress that passed the Voting Rights Act. Lincoln did not believe whites and blacks were equal, nor that they ever could be:
I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.7
Consequences
Most politically correct Americans (non-Christians and Christians8 alike) have been trained to believe the Fifteenth Amendment is a good thing. However, this is just another example of calling good evil and evil good. In addition to the fact that elections are unbiblical, unnecessary, and counterproductive (see Chapter Five "Article 2: Executive Usurpation."), the consequences of Amendment 15's ethnically blind voting privileges led to the participation of blacks and other non-Israelites in political affairs, which, in turn, led to non-Israelites unlawfully ruling over Israelites. (See Chapter Twenty-Three "Amendment 14: First-Birth vs. Second-Birth Citizenship" for a more thorough explanation of the ancient Israelites' genetic affinity with today's Celto-Saxons.)9 Some of the initial proposals for the Fifteenth Amendment included provisions for holding public office. The terminology that would have allowed blacks and other non-whites to occupy public office did not make it into the Amendment's final draft. Nevertheless, blacks soon began to rule over Caucasians. In several states, this happened in such numbers that blacks quickly dominated some legislatures:
The first African American to vote after the adoption of this amendment was Thomas Mundy Peterson, who cast his ballot in a school board election held in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on March 31, 1870. On per capita and absolute basis, more blacks were elected to public office during the period of 1865 to 1880 than at any other time in American history. Although no state elected a black governor during Reconstruction, a number of state legislatures were effectively under the control of a strong African American caucus.10
By 1877 about 2,000 black men had won local, state, and federal offices in the former Confederate states.11
The first African elected into Congress was Hiram Rhodes Revels:
When Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi - the first African American to serve in Congress - toured the United States in 1871, he was introduced as the "Fifteenth Amendment in flesh and blood."12
Revels was said to be the Fifteenth Amendment incarnate, not because he voted, but because he was the first black to be elected a congressman.
Black-majority districts were essential for electing African-American Representatives, especially in South Carolina, which elected relatively large numbers of black Members. Only one man served a district whose population was less than 50 percent black: James Rapier represented, for one term, a southeastern Alabama district whose population was 44 percent black. The rest served districts whose populations were typically at least 60 percent African-American. Reconstruction-Era Republican state legislatures gerrymandered (drew districts that maximized their voting populations) southern states to boost the party's national strength upon their return to the Union.13
The domino effect of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments led to non-Israelites unlawfully ruling over Israelites here in America. Instead of re-colonizing the blacks to Africa (as endorsed by Abraham Lincoln), the Thirteenth Amendment ensured their integration into American society, which led to making them American citizens with the Fourteenth Amendment, which paved the way for the Fifteenth Amendment's voting guarantee, which inevitably led to the election of blacks and other non-Caucasians (non-Israelites) into public office.
These [predominately black] legislatures brought in programs that are considered part of government's role now, but at the time were radical, such as universal public education. They also set all racially biased laws aside, including anti-miscegenation laws (laws prohibiting interracial marriage).14
Ruling Authority
Regarding the prohibition in Deuteronomy 23:1-3 against certain groups of people and lineages participating in the congregation of Yahweh,15 R.J. Rushdoony commented on the exclusiveness of Israel's authority:
Congregation has reference to the whole nation in its governmental function as God's covenant people. G. Ernest Wright defined it as "the whole organized commonwealth as it assembled officially for various purposes, particularly worship." The men of the legitimate blood line constituted the heads of houses and of tribes.... All the integrity and honesty required by the law was due to every "stranger" (Lev. 19:33, 34), and it was certainly not denied to a man's illegitimate child, nor to a eunuch, an Ammonite or a Moabite. The purpose of the commandment is here the protection of authority. Authority among God's people is holy; it does require a separateness. It does not belong to every man simply on the ground of his humanity.16
In his dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Justice John Marshall Harlan stated that "in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." The same is not true under Yahweh's law, Old and New Covenant alike. That the New Covenant was not made with all nations (although non-Israelites may become proselytes) but with a remnant of physical Israelites (Romans 9:27, 11:5, etc.) alone demonstrates a ruling class of citizens in Yahweh's kingdom:
Behold, the days come, saith YHWH,17 that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33)18
(See Chapter Twenty-Three "Amendment 14: First-Birth vs. Second-Birth Citizenship" for a more thorough explanation concerning the exclusive nature of the New Covenant with Israelites.)
Equal justice under Yahweh's law is not the same as equal status, particularly as it pertains to citizenship and ecclesiastical and civil leadership:
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom YHWH thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. (Deuteronomy 17:15)
And YHWH shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of YHWH thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them. (Deuteronomy 28:13)
Although some non-Israelites lived among the tribes, Moses appointed judges exclusively from the Israelites:
So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. (Deuteronomy 1:15-16)
Yahweh's law does not permit aliens to rule over Israelites. North equates "the very definition of citizenship" with "the exercise of civil rulership."19 On the other hand, he declares, "there can be no lawful discrimination by the State on the basis of differences in race, color, sex."20 Deuteronomy speaks for itself. Like so many modern Christians, North has fallen prey to the humanists' politically correct theology. This is, in part, a consequence of rejecting the pronouncement in Hebrews 8:8-9 that the New Covenant was made with physical Israelites. (See Chapter Twenty-Three "Amendment 14: First-Birth vs. Second-Birth Citizenship" for an explanation concerning the identity of today's Celto-Saxon Israelites.)21 It is nearly impossible to find a reformed pronomian theologian (such as North) who has directly addressed the transparent statements and tribal implications of Hebrews 8:8-9. Instead, they are found arbitrarily changing the recipients of this promise from Israelites to non-Israelites, the church, or generic man. North declares, "... the law is written in the hearts of men.... This work [Yahweh's law] is in every man's heart,"22 but Hebrews 8:10 clearly states the New Covenant is Yahweh's law written in the hearts of Israelites.
Most people would agree that Yahweh discriminated nationally and ethnically under the Old Covenant. But when the same standard is applied to the New Covenant, it is often met with accusations of racism. If it is racist under the New Covenant, it was racist under the Old Covenant, and if it was not racist under the Old Covenant, then it cannot be racist under the New Covenant. Otherwise, we would need a new commandment under the New Covenant (which we do not have), repudiating Yahweh's former discrimination. Yahweh's morality does not change like man's. Yahweh's laws, reflecting partiality and requiring segregation, are today identified as racist because of man's fickle "morality."
The true effect of race knowledge is not to feed our vanity or rouse our boastfulness; rather, it should arouse a profound sense of responsibility.... I lay it down as a rule that whenever the thought of race leads us to boastfulness or contempt, there is something false in it....
The Bible is not a history of the human race at large, but one distinct strain of people amongst the family of races. All the other races are considered with reference to it.... The Bible deals with one race [more properly nation] which flows like a gulf Stream through the ocean of humanity. As the actual gulf Stream touches two continents and blesses the nations, so this race, in its origin, history and destiny, was selected and equipped for the service of the [other] nations....
Of course, many people still have their own ideas about this, and that creates a difficulty. For when people get their own ideas about things, it always leads to confusion. A man will rise and demand, "By what right does God choose one race or people above another?" ...God's grading is always upward. If He raises up a nation, it is that other nations may be raised up through its ministry. If He exalts a great man, an apostle of liberty, or science, or faith, it is that He might raise a degraded people to a better condition. The Divine selection is not a prize, a compliment paid to the man or the race - it is a burden imposed. To appoint a chosen people is not a pandering to the racial vanity of a "superior people;" it is a yoke bound upon the necks of those who are chosen for a special service.23
Unfortunately, white supremacists (under many names) use such knowledge to their own profane ends. However, the truth regarding the people with whom the New Covenant was made cannot be abandoned because this knowledge is sometimes used for ungodly purposes.
Verse 9 in the following prophecy is referring to the Greater David, Jesus.24 This and other internal evidence reveals this is a New Covenant prophecy about Israelites. In this same prophecy, Jeremiah declares that during the New Covenant dispensation the Israelites' rulers were to be appointed from among their kindred:
Thus speaketh YHWH God of Israel, saying ... lo, the days come ... that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah.... For it shall come to pass in that day, saith YHWH of hosts, that ... they shall serve YHWH their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.... And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them.... And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Jeremiah 30:2-22)
Jeremiah 33:25-26 informs us that as long as day and night continue, Yahweh requires Israelites to be ruled by fellow Israelites. Nothing has changed since Deuteronomy 17:15. Under the New Covenant, Yahweh expects Israelites, with whom He made the New Covenant, to be ruled by Israelites. Anything to the contrary - such as Amendment 15 - is a violation of His law.
One of the curses for disobedience to Yahweh's law is that Yahweh's people will be ruled by foreigners (such as Barrack Obama):
The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. ...[H]e shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. (Deuteronomy 28:43-44)
This curse was specifically legislated and guaranteed by Article 6's prohibition of Biblical leadership stipulations, Amendment 1's provision for polytheism, Amendment 14's first-birth citizenship, and Amendment 15's non-Biblical and non-Israelite voting privileges. This eventually resulted in leadership positions for non-Israelites who often serve gods other than Yahweh. Jesus described what ultimately comes from such Biblical violations:
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. (Matthew 12:25)
America's house began to be divided with the ratification of the Constitution. It was completely severed with the addition of Amendment 14, which paved the way for non-Israelite leadership. Before 1868, Deuteronomy 17:15 was the rule. Now, the United States Constitutional Republic is led by a non-Christian black man. That Obama is neither an Israelite nor a Christian is much more consequential than his dubious United States citizenship.
Legislation reflecting the culture and ethics of non-Israelites often causes Yahweh's people to further rebel against Him and fall under judgment - the ultimate consequence of the Fifteenth Amendment. Yahweh intends Christian Israelites to rule according to His superior and magnanimous laws. Yahweh's laws, including Christian-Israelite rule, are not detrimental to non-Israelites, but rather are for their physical betterment and spiritual enlightenment.
When assessed logically and Biblically (essentially one and the same thing), the Fifteenth Amendment has not benefitted any of the races. Few people understand the importance of Christian leadership, let alone the necessity of kinsmen leadership. We have every reason to apply Deuteronomy 17:15 to the New Covenant in the same way we apply it to the Mosaic Covenant. This is reason enough to reject the Fifteenth Amendment.
Click Here to Read Chapter 25
Click to order the Bible Law vs. The United States Constitution CDs:
- The e-book (on CD) A Christian Perspective on the U.S. Constitution
- The audio CD The Bible vs. The U.S. Constitution (Pts. 1 & 2)
End Notes
1. "People & Events: Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment," American Experience, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_fifteenth.html.
2. "The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and Blood: The Symbolic Generation of Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1887," Black Americans in Congress, http://baic.house.gov/historical-essays/essay.html?intID=3.
3. "Amendment XV to the U.S. Constitution," West's Encyclopedia of American Law, http://www.answers.com/topic/amendment-xv-to-the-u-s-constitution.
4. Gary North, Tools of Dominion: The Case Laws of Exodus (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1990/1997) p. 224.
5. "15th Amendment to the Constitution," Primary Documents in American History, The Library of Congress Web Site, http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html.
6. Lyndon B. Johnson, quoted in "15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870)," 28 July 2010, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=44.
7. Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's Fourth Debate with Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, 18 September 1858, Primary Sources: Workshops in American History, http://www.learner.org/workshops/primarysources/emancipation/docs/fourthdebate.html.
8. Not everyone claiming to be a Christian has been properly instructed in the Biblical plan of salvation. Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:36-41, 22:1-16; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-13; and 1 Peter 3:21 should be studied to understand what is required to be covered by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of your sins. For a more thorough explanation concerning baptism and its relationship to salvation, the book Baptism: All You Wanted to Know and More may be requested from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for free.
9. For an even more thorough explanation of the ancient Israelites' genetic affinity with today's Celto-Saxons, The Mystery of the Gentiles: Who Are They and Where Are They Now? may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $10 donation.*
10. "Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution.
11. "The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and Blood: The Symbolic Generation of Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1887," Black Americans in Congress, http://baic.house.gov/historical-essays/essay.html?intID=3.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. "Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution.
15. YHWH (most often pronounced Yahweh) is the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible. For a more thorough explanation concerning the sacred names of God, "The Third Commandment" may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
16. Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1973) p. 85.
17. Where the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) - the four Hebrew characters that represent the personal name of God - has been unlawfully rendered the LORD or GOD in English translations, I have taken the liberty to correct this error by inserting YHWH where appropriate. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the names of God, "The Third Commandment" may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
18. All Scripture is quoted from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted. Portions of Scripture have been omitted for brevity. If you have questions regarding any passage, please study the text to ensure it has been properly used.
19. North, p. 834.
20. Ibid., p. 845.
21. For an even more thorough explanation of the identity of today's Celto-Saxon Israelites, The Mystery of the Gentiles: Who Are They and Where Are They Now? may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $10 donation.*
22. North, p. 971.
23. William John Cameron, lecture in Dearborn, Michigan (1933), quoted in The Covenant People (Merrimack, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1966) pp. 2-9.
24. Yeshua is the English transliteration of our Savior's given Hebrew name, with which He introduced Himself to the Apostle Paul in Acts 26:14-15. (Jesus is the English transliteration of the Greek Iesous, which is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua.) Because many people are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Yeshua, I have chosen to use the more familiar Jesus in this book in order to remove what might otherwise be a stumbling block. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the sacred names of God, "The Third Commandment" may be read online, or Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
*We are admonished in Matthew 10:8 "freely ye have received, freely give." Although we have a suggested a price for our books, we do not sell them. In keeping with 2 Corinthians 9:7, this ministry is supported by freewill offerings. If you cannot afford the suggested price, inform us of your situation, and we will be pleased to provide you with whatever you need for whatever you can send.
Click Here to Read Chapter 25
