Voting, Not What Our Founding Fathers Imagined - continued
Unlike a democracy in which every citizen could vote on issues of the day, a republic relies on
voters electing representatives to” represent” their interests in a legislative assembly. The logic is
that the “average” citizen was not possessed of the necessary competence to vote directly and
the threat of tyranny a likely result. The Founders’ solution was to vest the power of voting on
issues and policies in the hands of a few, capable men who would set aside their own self-interest
in favor of the public interest. The founders did not anticipate that more than 200 years later, the
United States Congress would have among its members career politicians.
Interestingly, the Constitution itself says nothing about voting eligibility or voting rights. The
Founders left that task to the states.
For decades, voting rights in the United States were limited almost exclusively to white,
landowning men. There were exceptions in some states: New Jersey, for example, permitted
women to vote if they met the property-owner criterion. By the middle of the 19th century, the
franchise had been extended to most white men whether or not they owned property.
From 1789 to 1870, most voting in the United States was exercised by white men.
Until 1913, United States Senators were elected by state legislatures, when the 17th Amendment
to the Constitution was ratified and U.S. Senators were elected directly by the voters.
Could access to the benefits of a democracy be fully realized if the franchise was limited to white
men?
In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, a post-U.S. Civil War Amendment, was ratified
which afforded African-American males the right to vote. The promise of this amendment was not
fully realized until 1965 when President Lyndon B Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. Successful
attempts to undermine and weaken that legislation are ongoing.
The women’s suffrage movement begun with the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and
Resolutions articulated during the July 1848 Woman's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New
York. In order to achieve the rights enumerated in the Sentiment and Resolutions, the writers and
participants knew that the right to suffrage was imperative. So began the journey that lasted for
decades, led by Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Grace Wilbur Trout, Carrie
Chapman Catt and countless others, until August 18, 1920 when Tennessee became the 36th state
to ratify. Mississippi was the last to ratify the 19th Amendment on March 22, 1984.
The Amendment was adopted on August 26, 1920 when then Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby,
proclaimed it so.
The voting age changed from 21 to 18 in 1971 with the ratification of the 27th Amendment to the
Constitution, due in part to the refrain “you can send me to Vietnam when I’m 18, I should be
able to vote when I am 18.”
The 27th Amendment took three months from introduction to ratification. By contrast, the 19th
Amendment, first introduced into Congress in 1878, took 42 years until final ratification.
Voting is serious business and the struggle to achieve it for large segments of citizens of the
United States is one of the reasons it is serious business. The League of Women Voters, direct
beneficiaries of the suffrage movement, believes that voting is a fundamental citizen right that
must be guaranteed and protected.
(It would be interesting to know how those attending the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 would
react if they were told then that 168 years later, the first woman to be the candidate of a major
political party was about to be nominated for election.)
White male landowners
African American men
15th Amendment
Women
19 Amendment
18
year
olds
27th
Ame
ndm
ent
1789
1870
1870
1920
1920
–
1971
1971
th
For the first 81 years of American History white males had the franchise until African American men achieved it in 1870.
It would be another 50 years before women gained suffrage and another 51 when the voting age changed from 21 to 18.