SECTION IV.—­PUBLIC DEBT.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions, and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.  But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave, but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

This section needs little comment.  It means simply that any expense incurred on the part of government in suppressing rebellion shall be paid; and that debts incurred in aid of rebellion shall not be paid.  It applies not only to the late Civil War but to all future wars of the same kind.

ARTICLE XV.

SUFFRAGE.

The right of 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.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This amendment was intended to put negroes upon the same footing as white people in the matter of suffrage.

Each state, as has previously been stated, prescribes the qualifications of voters within its borders.  It may require that they be fifteen or twenty-five or twenty-one or any other number of years old; it may or may not require a property qualification; it may or may not require an educational qualification; it may include or exclude women as voters; it may draw the line at imbeciles and felons, but it cannot draw the color line.  A black citizen must be permitted to vote upon the same conditions as a white one.

Pertinent Questions.

What is meant by a state “repudiating” a debt?  What states have done so? 
What reason did each assign for doing so?  Can a city repudiate?  A county?

Were amendments XIII., XIV., and XV. constitutionally adopted? [Footnote: 
See Wright, 284; Andrews, 272; and Pomeroy, 76.]

How was slavery abolished in each of the states? [Footnote:  See page 343.] What does the emancipation proclamation say about slavery?  Can slavery exist in Alaska?  Why?

Are you a citizen of the United States?  How may an alien become a citizen?  May a person be a citizen of the United States without being a citizen of any state?  A citizen of a state without being a citizen of the United States? [Footnote:  See Wright, 287.] How does a citizen of the United States become a citizen of a certain state?  What are some of the “privileges and immunities” of a citizen of the United States? [Footnote:  See Wright, 287.] Can a Chinaman become a citizen?  An Indian?  Does this section give women the right to vote?