Transcript Who Voted: The Gradual Expansion of Suffrage

Who Voted: The Gradual
Expansion of Suffrage
1789: Constitutional Era
Voting Rights in America
• All landowning, white,
males were allowed to
vote.
• 6% of the population was
allowed to vote.
• Founding Fathers
Neglected to Incorporate
Voting Rights into the
Consitution.
“Those who own the country
ought to govern it.”
Andrew Jackson (1820’s)
National Movement
• Political parties began to get
voters to vote.
• Qualification of land began to
be removed in many states.
• All White Males Can Vote
• Thomas Jefferson
– Supported the idea of elites
running the country.
• Andrew Jackson
– Wanted everyone to
participate in government.
Fought to open schools and
colleges to all citizens.
“ Common Man”
15th Amendment (1870)
• Article XV.
Section 1. 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—
Section 2. The Congress
shall have the power to enforce
this article by appropriate
legislation.
The First Colored Senator and
Representatives, in the 41st and
42nd Congress of the United States.
Washington: Currier & Ives, 1872.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5b.html
15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
African American’s Right to Vote
TOP: The photo of the doucment:
http://www.historicaldocuments.com/15thAmendmentlg.htm
LEFT: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_reconstruct.html
Intimidation and death
• After Reconstruction
white supremacist did
everything possible to
prevent Blacks from
voting.
Copyright 1997 State Historical Society of Wisconsin
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/tools_voting.html
Jim Crow, Intimidation and Fear
Segregation
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/php/scribble.php?pic=3
White Supremacy
17th Amendment (1913)
Provided for the Direct Election
of Senators by the Citizens.
Previous:
- Senators were selected by members of the
State legislatures.
19th Amendment (1920)
Women’s Suffrage
• Women gained the
right to vote in the
1920’s.
• 1917 NWP was
formed to help pass
the 19th Amendment.
(National Women’s
Party)
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
vSmbNN0C8K8&feature=related
Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
“Allowed” Native Americans to Become
Citizens of the United States
Voter Discrimination During Reconstruction
Poll Taxes
Literacy Test
Poll Taxes
• Poll Taxes
– Were a tax which
people had to pay in
order to vote.
• Purpose
– To discriminate against
African American
voters and make it
hard for them to vote
in elections.
Literacy Tests
• Whites were exempt
from literacy tests or
given easier alternate
tests.
• African Americans
had to pass tests
showing they could
read.
Removal of Poll Taxes and Literacy
Tests
• 24th Amendment
– Banned Poll Taxes
• Voting Rights Act of
1965
– Banned Literacy Tests
Introduction to Primaries
• What is a primary?
– An election in which voters determine their
political party’s nominee for an elective office.