Chapter 17 Section 2
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Transcript Chapter 17 Section 2
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