How did state political leaders use the constitution to achieve white supremacy during the 19th and 20th centuries?

• A. Through universal suffrage expansion
• B. Through disenfranchisement of Blacks and poor whites by tax payment requirements and vote suppression in urban areas
• C. By adopting a strict separation of powers
• D. By creating a federal-style system

Answer: (B)

State constitutions and election laws were used as tools to entrench white supremacy by restricting who could vote. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many states embedded barriers into constitutional provisions and related statutes that kept Black citizens and, often, poor whites from the polls. The most common devices were poll taxes—payments required to vote—and literacy or understanding tests designed to be easily passed by white voters but hard for Black voters to meet, along with residency or registration requirements that targeted urban areas where opposition to the status quo could organize. These measures rested on constitutional authority, giving leaders a legal facade to suppress Black political power while preserving white political dominance. Over time, some of these tactics were challenged or overturned, and federal actions eventually curtailed them, but the era’s pattern was clear: leveraging constitutional rules to deny the franchise to those deemed unfit, thereby maintaining white supremacy. Expanding suffrage would run counter to that aim, and governance structures like a strict separation of powers or a federal-style system describe ways of organizing government rather than methods of disenfranchisement.