How did 18 year olds get the right to vote?

How did 18 year olds get the right to vote?

An amendment to a bill extending the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (H.R. 4249) expanded the right to vote in national, state, and local elections to citizens 18 years and older. The proposed 26th Amendment passed the House and Senate in the spring of 1971 and was ratified by the states on July 1, 1971.

Why did the voting age change in 1971?

In the turmoil surrounding the unpopular Vietnam War, lowering the national voting age became a controversial topic. Responding to arguments that those old enough to be drafted for military service, should be able to exercise the right to vote, Congress lowered the voting age as part of the Voting Rights Act of 1970.

What happened to the Constitution in 1971?

The new constitution took effect in 1971. The amendments approved by the General Assembly and ratified by the people reorganized the executive branch, banned poll taxes, provided for new kinds of local taxes and borrowing by city and county governments, and simplified the state income tax.

When did African Americans get the right to vote?

1870
In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified to prohibit states from denying a male citizen the right to vote based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude.” “Black suffrage” in the United States in the aftermath of the American Civil War explicitly referred to the voting rights of only black men.

What Amendment is the right to vote at 18?

On July 1, 1971, our Nation ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the voting age to 18.

Who did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protect most?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 offered African Americans a way to get around the barriers at the state and local levels that had prevented them from exercising their 15th Amendment right to vote. After it was signed into law by LBJ, Congress amended it five more times to expand its scope and offer more protections.

What was passed in 1971?

Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution Passed by Congress March 23, 1971, and ratified July 1, 1971, the 26th amendment granted the right to vote to American citizens aged eighteen or older.

Who led the women’s right to vote?

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a young mother from upstate New York, and the Quaker abolitionist Lucretia Mott, about 300 people—most of whom were women—attended the Seneca Falls Convention to outline a direction for the women’s rights movement.

Why was the voting rights Act so important?

What was the National Voter Registration Act of 1986?

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 allowed members of the U.S. armed forces and overseas U.S. voters to register and vote by mail. The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 created new ways to register to vote.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1965 do?

The Civil Rights Acts created some of the earliest federal protections against discrimination in voting. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited voter discrimination based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group.

Who was the founder of the Swiss suffragettes?

Universal suffrage may have come late to Switzerland, but the country’s suffragettes were pioneers. In 1868, Marie Goegg-Pouchoulin, a middle-class daughter of a clockmaker from Geneva, created the Association Internationale des Femmes, the first international > women’s organisation.

What was the political climate in the 1970’s?

The start of the 1970s was a febrile time politically. Protests against the Vietnam War were in full swing; student revolts that had begun in France in 1968 had spread throughout the world as clamour for social change and political rights became louder and more insistent.