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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.)
are now displayed on one page. Definition of GRANDFATHER CLAUSE
: a clause creating an exemption based on circumstances
previously existing; especially: a provision in several southern
state constitutions designed to enfranchise poor whites and
disenfranchise blacks by waiving high voting requirements for
descendants of men voting before 1867 Constitutional provision
enacted by seven Southern U.S. states (1895–1910) to deny
suffrage to African American men. It exempted descendants of men
who voted before 1867 from meeting new literacy and property
requirements. Since African American men were not granted voting
rights until passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870, this clause
effectively prevented them, and many impoverished and illiterate
whites, from voting. The U.S. Supreme Court declared such
clauses unconstitutional in 1915.