Chapter 17
Section 2
Expanding Voting Rights
Mr. Young
American Government
History of Voting Video
 http://www.ownthevote.us/2012/09/a-
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
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiadX
_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, 19th
Amendment
“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
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvqnjwKW7gA
 “Night of Terror” (3 min)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOHPfsCtFo
Women’s Suffrage Parody
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQhR
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
 http://www.mrctv.org/node/76811
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
 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw5IsiRu
xKrEM1hTRnFFV0xDRE0/edit?pli=1
 http://kpearson.project.tcnj.edu/interactiv
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
24th Amendment in
1964
Video on African American
Suffrage
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D20e
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
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ2j8
zSxPgU
26th 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
26th Amendment Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re0BQ
zwvDsU