If you don't mind, I want to teach you a little something today because on this day, March 30th of

1870, exactly 150 years ago, the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted.

Now it had been ratified weeks earlier as the last of three of what we call the

reconstruction amendments, but on March 30th it was formally adopted and made law.

And on today's episode of the breakdown, I'm going to play our very first throwback episode

from nearly a year ago where I unpack and explain that the

15th Amendment was absolutely a huge deal but it doesn't quite give African Americans the right to vote like we so often say it does.

Let me explain.

This is Sean King and you are listening to the breakdown. I think what I'm about the breakdown.

The breakdown.

The breakdown.

The breakdown.

I think what I'm about to say is going to shock you. It shocked me to be honest.

We don't actually have the constitutional right to vote. We don't. The Constitution, it gives us a lot of

rights, but the right to vote is not one of them. Now this isn't me being crafty with my words.

Not a single constitutional amendment was ever authored that guarantees American citizens the right to vote.

In fact, according to our Constitution, our federal

right to own a gun is stronger than our federal right to vote. And I think we all fundamentally misunderstood this. I know I did. We just

don't have a constitutional right to vote. And over the past few days as people have raised questions about who should or should not be allowed to vote,

and presidential candidates have been asked whether or not they support people being able to vote while they're incarcerated. The one thing that stood

out most of me is that it appears most presidential candidates haven't even thought about

these things before.

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