Amendment 24 — Overview Of Twenty Fourth Amendment Abolition Of Poll Tax

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Ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964 marked the culmination of an endeavor begun in Congress in 1939 to eliminate the poll tax as a qualification for voting in federal elections. Property qualifications extend back to colonial days, but the poll tax itself as a qualification was instituted in eleven states of the South following the end of Reconstruction, although at the time of the ratification of this Amendment only five states still retained it.[1](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-24/overview-of-twenty-fourth-amendment-abolition-of-poll-tax#fn1amd24 " Harman v. Forssenius, 380 U.S. 528, 538–40, 543–44 (1965); United States v. Texas, 252 F. Supp. 234, 238–45 (W.D. Tex. 1966) (three-judge court), aff’d on other grounds, 384 U.S. 155 (1966). ") Congress viewed the qualification as “an obstacle to the proper exercise of a citizen’s franchise” and expected its removal to “provide a more direct approach to participation by more of the people in their government.” Congress similarly thought that a constitutional amendment was necessary,[2](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-24/overview-of-twenty-fourth-amendment-abolition-of-poll-tax#fn2amd24 " H.R. Rep. No. 1821, 87th Cong., 2d Sess. 3, 5 (1962). ") because the qualifications had previously survived constitutional challenges on several grounds.[3](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-24/overview-of-twenty-fourth-amendment-abolition-of-poll-tax#fn3amd24 " Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937); Saunders v. Wilkins, 152 F.2d 235 (4th Cir. 1945), cert. denied, 328 U.S. 870 (1946); Butler v. Thompson, 97 F. Supp. 17 (E.D. Va), aff’d, 341 U.S. 937 (1951). ")

Footnotes

1

Harman v. Forssenius, 380 U.S. 528 , 538–40, 543–44 (1965); United States v. Texas, 252 F. Supp. 234, 238–45 (W.D. Tex. 1966) (three-judge court), aff’d on other grounds, 384 U.S. 155 (1966) .

2

H.R. Rep. No. 1821 , 87th Cong., 2d Sess. 3, 5 (1962).

3

Breedlove v. Suttles, 302 U.S. 277 (1937) ; Saunders v. Wilkins, 152 F.2d 235 (4th Cir. 1945), cert. denied, 328 U.S. 870 (1946) ; Butler v. Thompson, 97 F. Supp. 17 (E.D. Va), aff’d, 341 U.S. 937 (1951) .