How Amendments have Extended Suffrage St. 6a

Extending Suffrage: Voting in the U.S., 1787-1869 Requirements on Voting From 1787 to 1869, voting was restricted to a certain kind of individual. To vote, one had to be White; A male, and own property. Beginning in the 1820s, most states began to drop property qualifications to vote. Yet, by 1861, only white men could vote in the U.S.

Extending Suffrage: 15th Amendment Historical Background In 1861, several southern states seceded (left) from the U.S. They seceded because a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, had been elected President. The Republican Party had been established in 1854 to abolish (get rid of) slavery. Lincoln was not an abolitionist, but did want to restrict slavery from expanding.

Extending Suffrage: 15th Amendment Historical Background Following the secession of the southern states, a civil war ensued between the U.S. (northern states) and the south. During the war, President Lincoln issued an emancipation proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation: Issued by Lincoln in 1863, it only freed slaves in the south. In 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified. 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery.

Extending Suffrage: 15th Amendment Historical Background The North won the Civil War in 1865. A period of reconstructing the south politically and physically began. The Republicans in Congress passed created a bill in 1866 to grant citizenship and voting rights to freed slaves. The bill passed by overriding a presidential veto. This concerned many Republicans. In 1866, the 14th Amendment was created. 14th Amendment: Granted citizenship to former slaves.

Extending Suffrage: 15th Amendment Historical Background Republicans felt like a constitutional guarantee of voting rights for freed slaves was necessary. The only way to do this was to amend the Constitution. Following the ratification of the 14th amendment, a bill was submitted to ban voter restriction on the “basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Both chambers of congress ratified, and the amendment went to the states. By February 1870, 3/4ths of the states ratified.

Extending Suffrage: 15th Amendment The 15th Amendment Bans voting restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Servitude: referring to slavery.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment Historical Background In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton became the first person to publicly advocate for women’s suffrage. Stanton was an abolitionist (someone who wanted slavery to end) as well as the major voice in the country at the time for women’s suffrage.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment Historical Background During the discussion on the 15th Amendment, Stanton advocated for women to be included. The 15th Amendment ultimately did not include women, along with black men, in granting suffrage. Despite this setback, Stanton wrote an amendment for women’s suffrage, which was almost a copy of the 15th Amendment.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment Historical Background On a train ride in 1872, Stanton met and befriended Aaron Sargent, a Senator from California. Sargent, a Republican, became an ardent women’s suffrage advocate. In 1878, Sargent formally introduced the bill for a vote. It was rejected by the Senate.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment Historical Background From 1878 to 1920, very little happened on the topic of women’s suffrage. Many states, especially in the west, passed bills allowing women to vote in state elections. In 1914, the bill was brought up in the Senate again, and rejected.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment Historical Background In 1917, the U.S. entered World War I. As jobs were left vacant by men who went to serve in the military, women came to fill these jobs. Women doing traditional male jobs became a major point in finally giving women suffrage. In 1918, the House of Representatives passed the bill. The Senate Once again rejected it.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment Historical Background President Woodrow Wilson, dismayed by the rejection of the bill, used his power as President to call a special session of Congress. In a special session, both Houses must meet. The House of Representatives approved the bill, and this time, so did the Senate. In 1920, enough states had ratified the bill to make it an amendment.

Extending Suffrage: 19th Amendment The 19th Amendment The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on the basis of sex.

Extending Suffrage: 23rd Amendment Historical Background As the capitol of government of the United States, the area of Washington D.C. is not a state. Because it is the seat of the U.S. government, Congress is in charge of the city of Washington D.C. For much of its history, the residents did not having voting rights in the Presidential election, because as Washington D.C. was not a state, it had no electors in the electoral college.

Extending Suffrage: 23rd Amendment Historical Background In 1890, a bill was introduced to give residents of Washington D.C. voting rights. The bill failed. For the next 70 years individuals lobbied for the bill.

Extending Suffrage: 23rd Amendment Historical Background In 1959, a senator from Tennessee introduced a bill to give residents of Washington D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections. The bill also proposed an end to the poll tax. Poll tax: A tax people paid prior to getting to vote. A bill giving residents of Washington D.C. the right to vote passed both Houses in 1960. The poll tax part of the bill was removed.

Extending Suffrage: 23rd Amendment Provides for the electing of electors for the election of President and Vice President in the District of Columbia (Washington D.C.)

Extending Suffrage: 24th Amendment Historical Background Following the passage of the 15th Amendment, southern states sought alternative ways to prevent African-Americans from voting. The poll tax was on highly effective tool that was used from 1868 to 1962 to do this. Poll Tax: A tax to be paid in order to vote in an election.

Extending Suffrage: 24th Amendment Historical Background Poll taxes in general were a part of the “Jim Crow” laws of the segregation era (1870- 1964) which sought to take away as many civil rights from African- Americans as possible. In 1937, the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes were constitutional.

Extending Suffrage: 24th Amendment Historical Background Beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, a civil rights movement began in 1954. The “Civil Rights Movement” as it came to be called, was led by Martin Luther King Jr. Following almost a decade of peaceful protests and speeches which culminated with King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”, the federal government finally changed the law on poll taxes.

Extending Suffrage: 24th Amendment The rights of citizens to vote in elections for President or Vice President will not be denied by reason of failure to pay a tax.

Extending Suffrage: 26th Amendment Extends the right to vote to citizens 18 years old