JAMES, Scott C.  <br/><br/>
The political economy of voting rights enforcement in America's Gilded Age :  electoral college competition, partisan commitment, and the Federal Election Law 

 - New York, NY :  Cambridge University Press,  March 1999 
<br/><br/> With the close of the Civil War, the radical wing of the Republican Party began a concerted drive to secure citizenship rights for African Americans, including the right to vote on terms extended to white males. This commitment to black political equality was a central impetus behind the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869. Between 1870 and 1872, five so-called Force Acts - enforcement legislation passed under the aegis of the black suffrage amendment - quickly followed suit. Collectively referred to as the Federal Election Law, this legislation asserted plenary authority to amend or repeal state laws touching federal elections. In addition, it established a system of national supervision over state-administered election laws, including the application of federal sanctions to state officials charged with their implementation. Finally, it created a host of new federal officers, including election commissioners, election supervisors, and thousands of special deputy marshals.