Chapter 17 Section 2 Expanding Voting Rights Mr. Young American Government

History of Voting Video  history-of-voting/ history-of-voting/  3:35 min

Early Limitations on Voting  Voting is not a privilege, it is a right  Suffrage- right to vote, foundation of American democracy  Right to vote is not absolute, it is subject to rules and regulations

Early limitations Cont.  Only white, property owning males who paid their taxes could vote  This resulted in about 5% to 6% of total adult population  Universal male suffrage would not come until the mid 1800’s

Early Limitations Cont.  Educated men of the time did not believe in mass democracy  Voting best left to wealthy, white, property-owning males.  John Jay, “The people who own the country ought to govern it.”

Women Suffrage History Video  _0J8eA&feature=related _0J8eA&feature=related  2 min

Woman Suffrage  By 1914, women had the right to vote in 11 states  Not until after WW1, in 1920, were women given the right to vote, 19 th Amendment

Susan B. Anth ony and Eliza beth Stan ton “I will never pay a dollar for your unjust fine.” Susan B. Anthony refused to pay a $100 fine for voting in the 1872 Presidential Election.

Women’s Suffrage in front of White House

Alice Paul: Leader of Women’s Suffrage Movement

Video on Women’s Suffrage  Clips from Iron Jawed Angels Clips from Iron Jawed Angels   “Night of Terror” (3 min) 

Women’s Suffrage Parody  Cs9IHM Cs9IHM  5 min

African American Suffrage  15th Amendment (1870)- Gave African Americans the right to vote  Also first time national government had set rules for voting, a power only the states had previously exercised

African American Suffrage Video 

Grandfather Clause  Provided that only voters whose grandfather had voted before 1867 were eligible to vote without paying a poll tax or passing a literacy test.  Supreme court declared it unconstitutional in 1915

Literacy Test  Many states required you to pass a literacy test to vote  White men only needed to sign their name, African Americans had to interpret complicated parts of literature

Literacy Tests  xKrEM1hTRnFFV0xDRE0/edit?pli=1 xKrEM1hTRnFFV0xDRE0/edit?pli=1  e/imm_files/test.html e/imm_files/test.html

Poll Taxes  Amount of money that had to be paid before a person could vote  Had to be paid in advance, and paid for previous unpaid years, and had to keep track of receipt showing you paid  Eventually outlawed by 24 th Amendment in 1964

Video on African American Suffrage  xT32bQ&feature=relmfu xT32bQ&feature=relmfu

Voting Rights Acts  Passed in 1965, one of most effective suffrage laws ever passed  Federal government could register voters if it seemed they were being discriminated against  Provided poll watchers, literacy tests abolished, ballots were to be printed in different languages  African Americans could now play a more important role in Southern political life

Voting Rights Act Video  zSxPgU zSxPgU

26 th Amendment  Vietnam War, if 18 years olds could be drafted and fight for our country, they should be able to vote  Passed in 1971  Gave around 10 million more citizens the right to vote  GA and KY first two states to lower their voting age to 18

26 th Amendment Video  zwvDsU zwvDsU