Voting Rights

By Aimee and Nicky


American colonists declared independence from Great Britain in 1776. They were trying to create a representative government, but not all the U.S. citizens had the right to vote. The Articles of Confederation didn't address voting rights, and even after it was replaced by the new Constitution, many people still couldn't vote. However, more and more citizens gained the voting rights as the Constitution was amended over the years.

In 1789, male property owners or taxpayers who had reached the age of 21 were free to vote. Women weren't allowed to vote at that time. Some states allowed free African Americans to vote, but people who qualified to vote were generally white.

In 1870, The 15th Amendment was passed and that allowed African American males to vote. However, there was a lot of white opposition to this and some states made it impossible for black men to vote. For example, these states passed laws that stated that people had to take a literacy test in order to vote. Most black men weren't educated at that time, and therefore couldn't. Also, the people who gave the tests could pass or fail anybody they liked.

In 1920, women gained suffrage and could vote. In 1924, Native Americans were also given the right to vote.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment was passed. It lowered the requirement age for voting to 18 or older. This amendment was passed becuase there was controversy over the fact that young males were drafted to go to war during the Vietnam War but couldn't vote. It was deemed unfair, so the amendment was passed and the age was lowered.