Isabella Carter
Suffrage in the United States has been a long and contentious journey. The US Constitution, adopted in 1789, did not explicitly define the boundaries of suffrage, delegating voter qualifications to individual states. Over time, voting rights evolved, and the fight for suffrage, particularly for women and racial minorities, became a pivotal aspect of American democracy. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted Black men the right to vote, but it wasn't until the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women gained the legal right to vote nationwide. This amendment was the culmination of decades of tireless activism, lobbying, and civil disobedience by women's suffrage supporters, who faced strong opposition and considered their goal a radical change to the Constitution.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year the U.S. Constitution was adopted | 1789 |
| Voting rights at the time of adoption | Limited to a narrow subset of society: white male landowners |
| Suffrage boundaries | Undefined |
| Voter qualifications | Delegated to individual states |
| Suffrage in pre-revolutionary colonies | Women had the right to vote in several colonies |
| Suffrage after 1776 | All states, except New Jersey, adopted constitutions denying women the vote |
| New Jersey suffrage | Granted suffrage to property-holding residents, including women, until 1807 |
| Women's suffrage activism | Began in the mid-19th century |
| Women's suffrage tactics | Lecturing, writing, marching, lobbying, civil disobedience, picketing, silent vigils, hunger strikes, parades |
| Women's suffrage organizations | National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), National Woman's Party (NWP), Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, Women's Party |
| Women's suffrage leaders | Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Henry Brown Blackwell |
| Women's suffrage milestones | Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, 22 states granted suffrage by 1920, New York adopted suffrage in 1917, 19th Amendment passed in 1919, ratified in 1920 |
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What You'll Learn
The 19th Amendment: women's right to vote
When the US Constitution was first adopted, the right to vote was limited to white male landowners. Over time, voting rights expanded, and the 15th Amendment, passed during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, declared that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race. However, this amendment did not address gender-based voting restrictions.
The campaign for women's suffrage in the United States began in the mid-19th century, with women lecturing, writing, marching, lobbying, and practicing civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change to the Constitution. The demand for women's suffrage gained momentum in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for women's rights. In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, passed a resolution in favor of women's suffrage despite opposition from some of its organizers. The first national suffrage organizations were established in 1869, and the amendment for women's suffrage was first introduced in Congress in 1878.
The campaign for women's suffrage was long and challenging, with supporters employing various strategies to achieve their goal. Some pursued a state-by-state approach, with nine western states adopting women's suffrage legislation by 1912. Others challenged male-only voting laws in the courts, while some suffragists used more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. By 1916, most major suffrage organizations united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment.
The 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920. The amendment states: "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 sex." While the 19th Amendment was a significant milestone, it did not ensure full enfranchisement for all women. In practice, it primarily benefited white women, and African American, Indigenous, Asian American, and minority women continued to face discrimination and voter suppression for decades. It wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that voting rights were more comprehensively protected for all women, regardless of race, ethnicity, or disability status.
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Voting rights for African Americans
The United States Constitution, adopted in 1789, left the boundaries of suffrage undefined. The only directly elected body created under the original Constitution was the U.S. House of Representatives, for which voter qualifications were explicitly delegated to the individual states.
During the early 19th century, state legislatures began to limit the property requirement for voting. However, voting rights were initially only granted to white male landowners. Even as barriers to voting began receding in the ensuing decades, many Southern states erected new ones, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, aimed at keeping the vote out of the hands of African American men and other targeted groups.
The Fifteenth Amendment (ratified in 1870) extended voting rights to men of all races. Despite this, African Americans were still denied the right to vote by state constitutions and laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, the "grandfather clause," and outright intimidation. During the Reconstruction Era, African American men were not only granted voting rights but even won several seats in Congress. Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce became the first African Americans to be elected to the U.S. Senate, representing the state of Mississippi. However, when Reconstruction collapsed with the withdrawal of Federal troops from the former Confederate states in 1877, the white supremacist wing of the Democratic Party dominated the South.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment (ratified in 1964) partly addressed this injustice by prohibiting the use of poll taxes in federal elections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further secured voting rights for adult citizens of all races and genders in the form of federal laws that enforced the amendments. The Act provided federal enforcement to remove literacy tests and other tools used to prevent African Americans from voting. Under the law, federal officials were appointed to register voters and observe elections. It also prevented states from changing voting requirements or the boundaries of voting districts without federal review.
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Voting rights for Native Americans
When the US Constitution was first adopted, suffrage was determined by state legislatures, which restricted the right to vote to white male landowners. Over time, voting rights became a bipartisan priority, with people working to enact constitutional amendments and laws expanding access to the vote based on race and ethnicity, gender, disability, age, and other factors.
Despite the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granting Native Americans US citizenship, it did not automatically enforce the right to vote. Native Americans had to fight for nearly four decades to secure the right to vote nationwide. This was due to the Constitution leaving it up to the states to decide who is qualified to vote in state and federal elections, and some states continued to disenfranchise Native Americans using various justifications. For example, Arizona courts interpreted the state's constitution to deny the right to vote to Native Americans as "persons under guardianship". It was not until 1948 that the Arizona Supreme Court recognized the legal right of Native Americans to vote. In 1957, Utah became the last state to remove its laws denying Native Americans the right to vote.
Even after Native Americans secured the right to vote across the country, states continued to suppress their votes through discriminatory practices. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally provided a framework to enforce voters' rights, requiring states with a history of discriminatory voting policies to get federal approval for any changes to their voting rules. However, in 2013, the Supreme Court effectively gutted this preclearance, leading to new restrictive voting policies being enacted in several states. Native Americans continue to face obstacles at every turn in the electoral process, from registering to vote to having their votes counted. They have had to push back in courts and congresses against structural barriers and obstacles that seek to restrict their freedom to vote.
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Voting rights for immigrants
When the US Constitution was first adopted, voting rights were granted to a narrow subset of society—white male landowners. Early US states adopted constitutions that expressly denied women the right to vote, and this was rooted in traditional societal views and legal doctrines.
Over time, voting rights became a bipartisan priority, and people worked to enact constitutional amendments and laws expanding access to the vote based on race and ethnicity, gender, disability, age, and other factors. The Fifteenth Amendment, passed by Congress during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, declared that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race. However, many states, particularly in the South, used various barriers, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, to deliberately reduce voting among African Americans, immigrants, and other groups.
The right of women to vote, or women's suffrage, was established over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first in various states and localities, and then nationally in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution. This amendment states: "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 sex."
- 1776 to 1924: According to political scientist Ron Hayduk, certain non-citizens were permitted to vote in federal, state, and local elections in 33 states during this period. This was often used as an incentive to attract workers and families to populate new states and territories.
- Early 20th Century: States began changing their constitutions to prevent non-citizen voting. Between 1901 and 1926, several states, including Alabama, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Indiana, Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas, banned non-citizen voting.
- 1926: By this year, non-citizen voting had become extremely rare in the US, with Arkansas being the last state to restrict the voting rights of non-citizens.
- 1992: The City of Takoma Park, Maryland, became the first municipality in the country to restore non-citizen voting rights in local elections. They argued that Maryland's constitution gives municipalities the power to determine suffrage qualifications for municipal elections, and that citizenship was irrelevant when voting for local officials dealing with local responsibilities.
- 1995: The US government passed the "Motor Voter" law, which requires motor vehicle service offices to offer voting registration materials when people apply for a driver's license or an ID card. However, some states allow DMV clerks to ask about citizenship before providing registration cards.
- 1996: Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, such as presidential elections.
- 2016: Voters in San Francisco passed Proposition N, giving non-citizens the right to vote in the city's school board elections.
- 2016: The California governor eliminated legal punishment for non-citizens who inadvertently registered to vote via the DMV, ensuring they would not be punished for clerical errors.
Currently, undocumented immigrants do not have the right to vote anywhere in the US. However, some areas allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, and naturalized US citizens can gain the right to vote once they establish residency and apply for permanent citizenship.
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Voting rights for people with disabilities
Voting rights in the United States were initially granted to a narrow subset of society – white male landowners. Over time, voting rights expanded to include all male citizens, regardless of race, and eventually, women. However, people with disabilities have historically been excluded from this democratic process.
People with disabilities have faced significant barriers to voting, including inaccessible polling places, a lack of working accessible voting machines, and restrictions on absentee voting. In addition, people with intellectual or mental health disabilities have often been prevented from voting due to prejudicial assumptions about their capabilities. For example, people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids may not be able to enter a polling place to cast their ballot due to the absence of a ramp. Similarly, individuals who are blind or have low vision may be unable to cast their vote due to inaccessible ballots.
To address these issues, important federal civil rights laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Voting Rights Act (VRA), have been enacted. The ADA prohibits states from categorically disqualifying individuals with intellectual or mental health disabilities from registering to vote or from exercising their right to vote because of their disability or guardianship status. It also requires public entities to ensure that polling places are accessible and usable for people with disabilities. The VRA, on the other hand, includes provisions that require states with a history of suppressing voting rights based on race to obtain preclearance from the US Justice Department before making changes to their election laws.
Despite these protections, challenges to the voting rights of people with disabilities persist. In 2021, numerous anti-voter measures were introduced, many of which disproportionately impacted voters with disabilities. These measures included restricting access to absentee voting, eliminating Election Day registration, and criminalizing the act of assisting voters with disabilities.
It is important to note that while the Constitution grants States the power to set qualifications for voting, these qualifications must not be discriminatory and must comply with federal voting laws. The Federal Voting Rights Act specifically permits states to deny the right to vote based on "criminal conviction or mental incapacity." However, even in such cases, the ADA requires that individuals with disabilities be given the opportunity to demonstrate their capacity to vote, without subjecting them to higher standards than other voters.
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Frequently asked questions
When the US Constitution was adopted in 1789, only white male landowners could vote.
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1870, granted Black men the right to vote. However, many Southern states used tactics such as poll taxes and literacy tests to restrict voting among African Americans.
Women did not have the right to vote when the Constitution was first adopted. The 19th Amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920, granted women the right to vote. This was the result of decades of activism and advocacy by women's suffrage supporters.
