03-04-2017, 01:35 PM
The intent behind the creation of the legal Grandfather Clause was shameful. When black citizens got the right to vote, new laws requiring a fee, a tax, and a literacy test were invoked by some southern states to suppress that voter right. Since there were also plenty of broke and illiterate white citizens, those southern states waived the testing requirements for veterans and citizens whose grandfathers had the right to vote before the Civil War -- which excluded almost all black citizens and exempted a good portion of white citizens in those states.
That voter suppression was eventually ruled unconstitutional, but the term lived on and is now applied to measures that exempt people and businesses (at least in the short term) from new regulations and laws.
I'm neutral on the issues of grandfather clauses; depends on the issue. For the most part, I think they're often necessary from a logistical, administrative, and political perspective.
That voter suppression was eventually ruled unconstitutional, but the term lived on and is now applied to measures that exempt people and businesses (at least in the short term) from new regulations and laws.
I'm neutral on the issues of grandfather clauses; depends on the issue. For the most part, I think they're often necessary from a logistical, administrative, and political perspective.