Isabella Carter
The original U.S. Constitution, which came into effect on March 9, 1789, did not define who was eligible to vote, leaving it to the states to determine eligibility. While a small number of free Blacks were among the voting citizens in some states, most restricted the right to vote to white male adult property owners. By 1856, white men were allowed to vote in all states, regardless of property ownership. However, women were largely prohibited from voting, and African Americans, Native Americans, and citizens aged 18 to 21 had to fight for their right to vote. Amendments to the Constitution, such as the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments, later extended voting rights to different groups of citizens, prohibiting restrictions based on race, colour, or previous conditions of servitude.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Property ownership | A requirement in some states, but not others. |
| Race | A factor in some states, with only white males allowed to vote. |
| Gender | Women were largely prohibited from voting. |
| Tax payment | A requirement in some states. |
| Citizenship | Only citizens could vote. |
| Age | Citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 were not allowed to vote. |
| Literacy | Some states required voters to be literate. |
| Residency | Some states required voters to have lived in the state or county for a certain period before voting. |
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What You'll Learn
The Constitution did not define eligibility, leaving it to the states
The Constitution of the United States did not originally define who was eligible to vote, leaving it to the states to determine eligibility. This meant that, in the early history of the U.S., voting eligibility varied across the states. While some states only allowed white male adult property owners to vote, others did not specify race or protected the rights of men of any race to vote. Women were largely prohibited from voting, except in New Jersey until 1807, and in some local jurisdictions in other northern states, provided they met property requirements.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1868, extended citizenship to all natural-born or naturalized Americans, regardless of race, and guaranteed that rights of citizenship, such as voting, could not be restricted by the states. However, this did not immediately translate into voting rights for African Americans, as they were still turned away from polling places in many states. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, further protected voting rights by prohibiting the restriction of the right to vote based on race. Despite these amendments, many states, particularly in the South, continued to use various barriers, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses, to deliberately suppress the vote of African Americans and other racial minorities.
In the late 19th century, a Populist-Republican coalition gained several governorships and congressional seats, prompting the Democratic Party to take action to disfranchise most blacks and many poor whites. From 1890 to 1908, ten of the eleven former Confederate states completed the political suppression and exclusion of these groups by ratifying new constitutions or amendments that made voter registration more difficult. It was not until the mid-20th century that these discriminatory laws were ruled unconstitutional.
While the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly mention a right to vote, almost all state constitutions do. The authority to protect voting rights stems from later amendments and legislation, such as the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, and the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which extended the right to vote to all citizens aged 18 and older.
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Initially, only white male property owners could vote
The United States Constitution came into effect on March 9, 1789, without defining who was eligible to vote. This allowed each state to determine voter eligibility, which generally limited the right to white male property owners. However, a small number of free Blacks and women were among the voting citizens in some states.
In the early 19th century, state legislatures began to relax property requirements for voting, and by 1856, white men could vote in all states regardless of property ownership. However, requirements for paying taxes remained in five states. This shift towards universal white male suffrage came at the expense of voting rights for people of colour. For example, in 1821, the state of New York removed property requirements for white male voters but imposed a $250 property ownership requirement for "persons of colour" to vote.
Women were largely prohibited from voting, except in a few jurisdictions in some northern states, such as New Jersey, until 1807. The campaign for women's suffrage gained momentum in 1848 with a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, leading to the approval of the 19th Amendment over 70 years later, which granted women the right to vote.
African Americans also faced significant barriers to voting, with states employing poll taxes, literacy tests, and other discriminatory requirements to suppress their vote. The 14th Amendment and 15th Amendment, passed in the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, granted citizenship and voting rights to African Americans, but these were often not enforced at the state level. It was not until the 1960s that the struggle for equal voting rights intensified, with protest marches and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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Some states allowed free Black men to vote
The original U.S. Constitution did not define voting rights for citizens, leaving it up to individual states to determine eligibility. As a result, when the Constitution came into effect in 1789, the voting rights of free Black men varied across the states. While some states only allowed white male adult property owners to vote, others did not specify race or actively protected the rights of men of any race to vote.
In the early 19th century, a small number of free Blacks were among the voting citizens (or "men of property") in some states. For example, in New Jersey, both women and free Blacks could vote provided they met the property requirement, which was purposely set quite low. However, beginning around 1790, individual states started to remove property ownership as a qualification for voting, replacing it with race and sex as criteria for enfranchisement. This led to most states disenfranchising women and non-white men, including free Black males.
Despite the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which granted African American men the right to vote, states continued to find ways to prevent Black men from voting. One method was through the use of ""grandfather clauses," which restricted voting rights to men who were allowed to vote, or whose male ancestors were allowed to vote, before a certain date (usually before 1866 or 1867). As most Black men were not allowed to vote before the Fifteenth Amendment, these clauses effectively denied them their voting rights. Other deterrents included poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation.
During the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which declared that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race. Despite this, in the late 19th century, the Democratic Party in the South took action to disenfranchise most Blacks and many poor whites outright. From 1890 to 1908, ten of the eleven former Confederate states completed the political suppression and exclusion of these groups by ratifying new constitutions or amendments that made voter registration more difficult.
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Women were largely prohibited from voting
The original U.S. Constitution, which came into effect on March 9, 1789, did not define the requirements for voting, leaving each state to determine voter eligibility. As a result, there was considerable variation in the nation's early years. While most states restricted voting to white male landowners, some states, like New Jersey, allowed free Black men and women of both races to vote, provided they met certain property or tax requirements.
However, women were largely prohibited from voting across the United States during this early period. In 1790, the Naturalization Law established that only "free white" immigrants could become citizens, further restricting voting rights for women and people of color. It wasn't until the mid-19th century that the women's suffrage movement began to gain momentum, with influential calls for women's suffrage coming from a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.
In the mid-to-late 19th century, some states began to expand voting rights to include women who owned property. For example, in New Jersey, unmarried and widowed women who owned property could vote until 1807. Wyoming granted women the right to vote in 1873 when it was still a territory, and this right continued after it became a state in 1890. However, women's voting rights in Wyoming were limited to state and local elections, not federal ones.
Despite these advancements, women's suffrage remained limited in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It wasn't until the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women were finally granted the right to vote nationwide. This amendment guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied or abridged based on gender, marking a significant milestone in the long struggle for women's suffrage in the United States.
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The 14th Amendment extended citizenship to all
The original requirements to vote in the US Constitution, which came into effect on March 9, 1789, were left to individual states to determine. In the early history of the US, some states allowed only white male adult property owners to vote, while others did not specify race or protected the rights of men of any race to vote. Women were largely prohibited from voting, except in New Jersey until 1807 and in some local jurisdictions in other northern states. Free Blacks could also vote in these jurisdictions, provided they could meet the property requirement.
The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 9, 1868, extended citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." This included African Americans, who had previously been denied citizenship and the privileges that came with it. The text of the Fourteenth Amendment states:
> All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Despite the Fourteenth Amendment granting African Americans citizenship, this did not translate into the ability to vote. Black voters were systematically turned away from state polling places. To protect the ability of freedmen to vote, the state governments under Reconstruction adopted new state constitutions or amendments. However, white resistance to black suffrage after the Civil War regularly erupted into violence, with secret vigilante groups like the Ku Klux Klan using intimidation and violence to suppress freedmen and reestablish white supremacy.
While the Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, declared that people could not be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, states still found ways to prevent African Americans from voting. Barriers such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and English-language requirements were used to deliberately reduce voting among African Americans and other minority groups.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution did not originally define who was eligible to vote, allowing each state to determine who was eligible. While most states restricted voting to white male landowners, some states, like New Jersey, allowed free Black men and women of both races to vote, provided they met the property or tax requirements.
The requirements changed over time, with the 14th Amendment in 1868 extending citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the US, regardless of race. The 15th Amendment in 1870 prohibited restricting the right to vote due to race. The 19th Amendment in 1920 extended voting rights to all women, and the 26th Amendment extended the right to vote to everyone 18 years or older.
The 24th Amendment explicitly banned poll taxes, which often prevented low-income citizens from voting. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted indigenous peoples citizenship and the right to vote. The Magnuson Act of 1943 gave Chinese immigrants citizenship and the right to vote, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 granted all Asian Americans the right to citizenship and to vote.
