EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  Voting rights far from universal in the colonial and early national periods  Franchise typically restricted to white, male property- owners over twenty-one  Why were others excluded?  The U.S. Constitution and voting rights

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  Expansion of democratic politics in first half of the 19 th century  Most property requirements for voting removed  Property requirements for office holding often remained  Some expansion of types of offices elected by “popular” vote Presidential electors  During the first half of the 19 th century, racial restrictions for voting made explicit

George Caleb Bingham, The County Election In many states, voting by voice replaced by printed ballot The secret ballot is a reform that is not widely adopted until the late 19 th century

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  THE 15 TH AMENDMENT: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Freedmen voting, SC, 1868

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  Black voting and political power during Reconstruction Hiram Revels

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  White backlash to the myth of “black rule”  Birth of a Nation (1915) Birth of a Nation (1915)  Disfranchisement  Residency requirements  Literacy test “Understanding clause”  “Negro crimes”  Poll tax  Williams v. Mississippi (1898)

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  Woman Suffrage and the 19 th Amendment Seneca Falls Convention, 1848

Women’s participation in World War I

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  17 th Amendment – Direct election of U.S. Senators  Part of Civil Rights Movement included the struggle to end legal disfranchisement of black voters in the South Attempting to register to vote in Forrest County, MS, 1964

EXPANSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS  Voting Rights Act of 1965