LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS®
OF OREGON
Education Fund
The Road to Universal Suffrage
Directions and suggestions for Road to Universal Suffrage presentation and activity:

If your class has not yet studied the Constitution or U.S. government, we would
recommend you go over the basics of the definition of Constitution, suffrage,
voting and amendments. Definitions of these words have been provided.

Show the slide show presentation with narration, notes provided.

For the activity have all the children stand on one side of the room and pass out
the provided pieces of paper with various identities on them. Explain to the
children that as you read off different years in U.S. history they must decide if in
that year, based on their identity (piece of paper) they would be allowed to vote.
After they make that decision, have all those that can vote in the year described
move across to the other side of the room. Continue until all years have been read
and all children are on the other side of the room.

There is a hand out provided of a brief description of the years that each
additional group is allowed to vote. Make copies and give to students if necessary.

In slide 16 of the slide show presentation there is a list of all the dates that
allowed additional groups of people the ability to vote. With this slide on the
screen we would recommend you give an example of the activity that the children
are about to it. Using the identity, for example, of a Schoolteacher, female,
Caucasian, age 36 go through each of the dates and ask the children when this
woman would have been allowed to vote (Answer: after 1920, in activity date
described is 1926).

To emphasize the impacts of the right to vote consider giving a piece of candy to
each child who is able vote each round. Or, give each of them a sticker to wear to
visually show how they can vote.

After the activity have a discussion about how this activity made the students feel.
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Presentation Notes
Slide 2:
The basic principle of a representative democracy is “one person, one vote”
The U.S. Constitution began operating in 1789, but not every adult was represented
Women, slaves, and poor men were excluded
Only white, male, property owners, aged 21 or older could vote
Slide 3:
Those that were not allowed to vote in 1789
-Poor men who did not own land
-Slaves
-Women
-Native Americans
-People under 21 years old
Slide 4:
Slowly the United States became more democratic
Poor white men aged 21 or older gained the right to vote in 1830s
Slide 5:
In the early 1860s the Civil War took hold of the United States. After the Union forces
from the North won, new amendments were added to the Constitution granting
citizenship to all former slaves.
Slide 6:
Civil War Amendments
The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery
The 14th Amendment (1868) equal protection of the law
The 15th Amendment (1870) states couldn’t discriminate against voters on based on
race
Slide 7:
After Reconstruction Southern states developed discriminatory Jim Crow laws to
prevent African Americans from voting
Jim Crow laws came in a variety of forms
Next, are some examples
Slide 8:
Literacy tests required African-Americans to pass difficult tests to vote
The "Grandfather Clause" allowed people to vote if their grandfathers did, African
Americans couldn’t because their grandfathers were slaves
Poll taxes required money to vote
League of Women Voters of Oregon Education Fund
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The 24th Amendment (1964) prohibited states from making people pay to vote in
national elections
Slide 9:
The Ku Klux Klan scared many African Americans and as a result discouraged them
from attempting to vote
Slide 10:
In March 1965 Martin Luther King Jr. led a march from Selma to Montgomery,
Alabama to draw national attention to voting rights issues
President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the Voting Rights Act to Congress and it passed
Slide 11:
1848 Seneca Falls Convention in New York, women began demanding the right to
vote. Prominent leaders
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
Alice Paul (1885-1977)
Slide 12:
Support from Abroad
Women’s achieved the right to vote in New Zealand (1893) and Australia (1902)
Slide 13:
In Oregon, women gained the right to vote in 1912
In 1920, women across the United States finally achieved suffrage with passage of the
th
19 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Slide 14:
In 1924 President Coolidge signed a bill giving full citizenship to Native Americans
In New Mexico and Arizona they were denied the right to vote because they did not
pay property taxes
In 1947 a group successfully challenged the law in New Mexico and Arizona, saying
that because Native Americans paid other forms of taxes, they should be given the right
to vote
Slide 15:
During the Vietnam War young men of 18 were drafted into the armed forces
Many did not have any voice in government because voting was still restricted to age
21 or older
In 1971 the 26th Amendment granted 18-year-old citizens the right to vote
Slide 16:
1789 Only white men, over age 21, who were property owners
League of Women Voters of Oregon Education Fund
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1865 Former slaves could vote, but most were discriminate against and did not vote
1920 Women received the right to vote
1924 Native Americans could vote
1965 Voting Rights Act protected African Americans at the polls, allowing them to
vote
1971 All citizens 18 and older could vote
Slide 17 Conclusion
The United States has gone through a difficult history in granting each individual the
right to vote
Yet, now with fair practices and assistances all persons over the age of 18 are allowed
to vote
We now more truly can identify ourselves as a representative democracy
Photo References
U.S. Capitol paintings. Signing of the Declaration of Independence, painting
by John Trumbull in U.S. Capitol, detail II. Library of Congress, Prints and
Photographs Division, Theodore Horydczak Collection [Reproduction number,
LC-H824-0224
http://www.beyondbooks.com/ush82/index.asp
http://history.grandforks.k12.nd.us/ndhistory/LessonOverview.aspx?LessonID=20
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Three women casting their vote
in 1917 (Library of Congress).
http://www.tchevalier.com/fallingangels/bckgrnd/suffrage/
League of Women Voters of Oregon Education Fund
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http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/native_american8.html
www.crmvet.org
"Voters at the Voting Booths, ca. 1945." Courtesy of the NAACP, 1945.
African American Odyssey, Library of Congress.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9008232/page/2/
www.crmvet.org/crmpics/vote.jpg
http://daphne.palomar.edu/lmasten/
http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/vietnam/opposition.htm
League of Women Voters of Oregon Education Fund
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