Voting Rights Timeline

Voting Rights Timeline

1776: United States declares independence

1787–1788: Ratification of the U.S. Constitution

Adoption of the Constitution: Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution in 1787. New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify the Constitution in 1788, making its adoption official. Rhode Island was the last state to ratify it in 1790. The adoption of the Constitution radically altered elections and voting in the United States by creating new political offices and establishing new electoral processes. The Constitution delegated most responsibilities involving elections and voting to the states but gave Congress the right to override state election and voting laws as needed.

1789–1797: George Washington’s Presidency

The Early Republic: Under the Constitution, state governments had the authority to establish who could and could not vote in elections. The suffrage laws adopted were revolutionary for the time, when monarchy and aristocracy were the norm. To have a system in which a large portion of the population could vote and exercise self-governance was exceptional. While suffrage during the early republic was generally restricted to white male property owners, a majority of white males met the property qualifications in most areas. Moreover, multiple states adhered more closely to the principle of equality that sat at the heart of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War. For example, New Jersey granted property-owning women and free Blacks the right to vote, and Vermont did not have a property requirement.

During the early nineteenth century, there was a push across the country for states to remove property qualifications to vote. The result was universal white male suffrage. A few states allowed Black suffrage in the early nineteenth century, and one allowed female suffrage. However, disenfranchisement for both groups would soon come to an end. For example, in 1807, New Jersey passed a law that removed the property qualification to vote for white males but simultaneously disenfranchised both Black and female citizens.  

1861—1865: Civil War

Civil War, Reconstruction, and Progressive Movement: Following a long and bloody Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, which prohibited slavery in the country. However, Black Americans still faced racial discrimination, especially in the South. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified. It granted birthright citizenship to all Americans and was designed to protect Blacks from state governments violating their rights. A few years later, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified to strengthen voting rights, by explicitly protecting Black male suffrage. As a result, many Blacks voted in elections, and some were even elected to office. However, Southern states and local governments instituted grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and literacy tests to restrict Black suffrage severely.

During the late nineteenth century, the women’s suffrage movement was also gaining traction. In 1869, Wyoming became the first state since the early republic to grant women the vote. Over the following decades, twenty states followed suit. In 1920, women across the nation gained the right to vote with ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which stated, “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 sex.”

Progressivism gained traction during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of the goals of this movement was to increase democracy in the constitutional system. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified, which altered the election of United States senators. Rather than be appointed by state legislatures, the people voted directly for them. While this was designed to address issues of corruption within state governments, it had consequences by reducing the power of states within our system of federalism. The Progressives also pushed for the primary election system, the referendum, and the recall.

1939–1945: World War II

Postwar Voting Rights: While the Reconstruction amendments were initially successful in protecting the rights of Black Americans, by the 1870s, these rights were stripped away in the Jim Crow South. Whites there used violence and intimidation to prevent Blacks from voting and passed laws to keep them second-class citizens. Literacy tests and poll taxes were two of the most common tactics that Southern states used to keep Blacks from voting throughout the first half of the twentieth century. After World War II, the Civil Rights Movement worked to remove legal restrictions on Black suffrage. In 1964, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment outlawed poll taxes, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed literacy tests.

The most recent major expansion of suffrage occurred in 1971, with the passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. Young American males under the age of 21 were frustrated that they were being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War but could not vote to have a say in whether the country should be involved in the conflict. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment expanded suffrage to all Americans over the age of 18.

Today, the vast majority of Americans over 18 can vote. However, some restrictions on suffrage exist. Non-citizens cannot vote in federal and state elections. States generally bar felons in prison from voting, and some states strip suffrage for life after prison. In the American system of federalism, each state will continue to make decisions on whether restrictions should exist or not.

Analysis Prompts

• Name and summarize in your own words each constitutional amendment from the timeline that has directly affected voting rights.
• Describe how voting rights have expanded and constricted over time.
• Choose a virtue: responsibility, prudence, or justice. Explain how that virtue is tied to the fight for suffrage.
• Use the dates on the timeline to support or refute the statement: Voting rights are a key aspect of citizenship.