Vocabulary Suffrage the right to vote Franchise the right to vote Electorate all the people entitled to vote in a given election Disenfranchised denied the right to vote Poll tax a special tax demanded by States as a condition of voting ID: 1002282
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1. Chapter 6 Section 1The Right to Vote
2. VocabularySuffrage- the right to voteFranchise- the right to voteElectorate- all the people entitled to vote in a given electionDisenfranchised- denied the right to votePoll tax- a special tax demanded by States as a condition of voting
3. The History of Voting Rights The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualification to each state. Suffrage means the right to vote.Franchise is a synonym for the right to vote.
4. Expansion of the ElectorateWhen the Constitution went into effect, the only people who could vote were white, male, property owners (1789). Today, the size of the electorate is more than 230 million people. This number only came to be after 200 years of fighting for suffrage for varieties of groups.
5. Expansion of the Electorate Two long term-trends allowed for the growth of voters:Elimination of several restrictionsWhat was originally the states’ right to determine who can vote went to the federal government.
6. Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages There are five stages of the growth of the American electorate: 1st: Early 1800s, elimination of religious qualifications, property ownership, and tax payment qualification.
7. 2nd: Following the Civil War, the 15th amendment, ratified in 1870, protected any citizen from being denied the right to vote based on color or race. At this time African Americans were the largest group of disenfranchised citizens.
8. 3rd: The 19th Amendment prohibited the right to vote because of sex. It was ratified in 1920. Some states already passed similar laws much earlier.
9. 4th: Occurred in the 1960s, federal courts and legislation focused on securing African Americans a full role in the electoral process in all states. With the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, racial equality became fact in polling booths The 23rd Amendment, passed in 1961, added the voters of the District of Columbia. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll tax.
10. 5th: Occurred in 1971 with the adoption of the 26th Amendment that set the voting age to 18 years old.
11. The Power to Set Voting QualificationsThe Constitution places five restrictions on the ability of the States to determine qualifications for voting rights.
12. 1: If voters are allowed to vote for one election, they must be allowed to vote for all elections.
13. 2: No state can deprive any person the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
14. 3: No state can deprive the right to vote based on sex.
15. 4: No State can require payment of any tax in order to vote.
16. 5: No State can deprive any person who is at least 18 years of age the right to vote because of age.
17. Assignment QUICK WRITE!Students will choose a significant event in the history of suffrage such as the coming of women’s suffrage or the abolition of the poll tax. You may want to do preliminary research online. Write a paragraph summarizing the event and its importance. Include details such as who, what, when, where, and why.