Achieving Equality Lesson

Voting is the foundation of a democracy. Abraham Lincoln described democracy as "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." A government that is "by the people" requires that the people decide who shall be their leaders. Without free and fair elections, there can be no democracy. Who shall have the right to vote has been a question throughout American history.   

According to this passage what is the most important aspect of a democracy?

• Freedom of speech

• Right to vote

• Right to bear arms

• Right to overthrow the government

Colonial Americans believed that the vote ought to only be given to men that owned property. In the Jacksonian Era, the property requirement was removed. The civil war led to suffrage for African American men. Expanding the right to vote to different groups has been hard fought and has not been easy.

During the Colonial Era, what determined if you could vote?

• Your age

• Your ancestry

• Gender (male only) and property ownership

• Citizenship

The first real call for women’s suffrage was at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. During the Progressive Era, the movement grew and people called for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

After World War I, many believed that the government could not send Americans to fight and die in a war “to save democracy” while denying democracy to half the population at home. President Wilson, who at one time was against a women’s suffrage amendment, now supported it. Congress approved a constitutional amendment in 1919. The 19^th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1920.

What was the first real organized call for women to gain the right to vote?

• World War I

• The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848

• After the passage of the 19th Amendment

The first real call for women’s suffrage was at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. During the Progressive Era, the movement grew and people called for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

After World War I, many believed that the government could not send Americans to fight and die in a war “to save democracy” while denying democracy to half the population at home. President Wilson, who at one time was against a women’s suffrage amendment, now supported it. Congress approved a constitutional amendment in 1919. The 19^th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1920.

Women were finally granted suffrage through:

• An Executive Order by President WIlson

• A constitutional amendment

• A Supreme Court ruling

• A bill passed by each state Senate

What event enouraged more people to support women's suffrage?

• The Great Depression

• The Civil War

• World War I

• The Vietnam War

Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924 which gave citizenship to all Native Americans born within the United States. Even so, the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, was often denied to Native Americans. Until 1957, some states banned Native Americans from voting.

The ______________extended 14th amendment rights to Native Americans in the United States.

During the 1950s and 1960s leaders of the civil rights movement attacked racial discrimination through court cases and legislation. The results included the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 that abolished the poll tax (which required people to pay a tax for the right to vote and therefore kept many poor people, especially African Americans, from voting) and the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law not only banned practices that kept African Americans from voting, but gave the federal government the power to enforce the law.

 

What was the purpose of the 24th Amendment?

• To get rid of literacy tests required to vote

• To lower the voting age to 18

• To abolish poll tax that was required to vote

• To give federal govt. permission to oversee elections

During the 1950s and 1960s leaders of the civil rights movement attacked racial discrimination through court cases and legislation. The results included the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 that abolished the poll tax (which required people to pay a tax for the right to vote and therefore kept many poor people, especially African Americans, from voting) and the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law not only banned practices that kept African Americans from voting, but gave the federal government the power to enforce the law.

 

What were two things that were used to keep African Americans from voting that mentioned in the reading?

During the 1950s and 1960s leaders of the civil rights movement attacked racial discrimination through court cases and legislation. The results included the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 that abolished the poll tax (which required people to pay a tax for the right to vote and therefore kept many poor people, especially African Americans, from voting) and the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law not only banned practices that kept African Americans from voting, but gave the federal government the power to enforce the law.

__________ outlawed literacy tests that were used to disenfrancise African Americans.

 

The debate over whether to lower the voting age in America from 21 to 18 increased during the Vietnam War, when young men were drafted to fight for their country but could not vote. Congress passed the 26^th Amendment in 1971. The states promptly ratified it, and President Nixon signed it. This amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

What event caused Congress to pass the 26th Amendment?

• President Nixon signed an executive order to gain popularity

• The Vietnam War because young men were being drafted but could not vote

• The Korean War because young men were being drafted but could not vote.

• World War 2 because young men were being drafted but could not vote.