The 14th amendment was one of the many things implemented under this plan. Among other things, this amendment forbade ex-Confederate leaders from holding political office, and gave freedmen their citizenship. The Southern rejection of this amendment, largely as a result of the actions of their former Confederate leaders then in state office, paved the way for the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This dismantled all Southern governments and established military control over the South. It guaranteed freedmen the right to vote under new state constitutions, and required the Southern states to ratify the 14th amendment. With the inclusion of African-American votes in southern elections, and with the help of Northerners known as "Carpet Baggers" and other white Southerners known as "Scalawags," the Republican Party gained almost complete control over the American South. During this time, the status of freedman was significantly increased, and by 1868 many state legislatures had African-American delegates. In 1870 the 15th amendment was passed, forbidding the states from denying the right to vote to any person "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Although giving ethnic groups such as African-Americans the right to vote, this amendment was deliberately left open to interpretation by the states, who continued to deny suffrage to such groups as women and illiterate people. .
Many Southern states, starting with Georgia in 1877, took advantage of this by introducing a series of laws. Georgia (soon followed by many other Southern states) put a tax on voting. A few years later in 1890 the Mississippi plan was established. This plan required voters to pay a poll tax eight months before the election, and to prove that they were literate and could understand their state constitution. This in turn prompted Louisiana to enact the first "Grand Father Clause." This clause established voting and property qualifications by not allowing those whose grandfathers were ineligible to vote before 1867.