What history and events led to its ratification?
During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the minimum age requirement to join the military. The minimum voting age at this time has historically been 21.
“Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” has been a popular slogan for youth voting right activists.
On 1943, Georgia becomes the first state to lower the legal state and local election age from 20 to 18.
Dwight D Eisenhower becomes the first U.S. president to publicly voice his support for the 26th amendment in his 1954 State of the Union address.
In the late 1960’s, youth voting rights activists held marches to draw attention.
On 1970, the bill, Voting Rights Act, was passed by congress. It would lower the federal, state,
US senate lowers voting age to 18 On March 10th, 1971, U.S senate lowered the voting age to 18. Richard Nixon was the senate who made a law on lowering the voting age to 18. He also made the 26th amendment stating, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” Georgia was the first state to lower their voting age. A lot of teenagers started voting after this change was made.
The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, but there was a grapple for its ratification that went on until about two decades after the ratification. Members of Congress believed that the first government of the United States or the Articles of Confederation, needed to be adjusted while others did not want anything to change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central government, because it reminded them too much of what they were trying to escape from. Under the Articles, each state had their own laws, and the need for a new Constitution was desired by many. The Constitution of 1787 created huge debates, arguments and splits in the nation that lasted for several year after its ratification between people who
After the Constitution was written by the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, all the individual states of America had to be convinced for its ratification. But, opponents, named "Anti-Federalists" opposed against the Constitution's ratification for multiple reasons: some thought that the Constitution would "take away the power from individual states", others desired "an even more centralized government with a single popularly elected government" and finally, some seeked for a Bill of Rights to "protect individuals liberties", in fear of undermining "the claims of slaveholders or other property owners". James Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison therefore wrote the Federalist Papers, eighty-five anonymous essays , in order to reduce the fears of Anti-Federalists and promote the Constitution's ratification. These papers described the importance
1. The Constitution’s ratification process included arguments for and against ratification by Federalists and Anti-Federalists, respectively. Describe and evaluate the arguments expressed by both of these groups. The arguments the Federalists used in support of the ratification of the Constitution include a decrease in strength and authority of the federal government under the currently designated Articles of Confederation (Bardes, Shelly, Schimdt, 2015, pp.
This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting, also in those years, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, very few African Americans were registered voters, and they had very little, if any, political power, either locally or nationally.
Reason being, it not only brought the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, but it brought the Civil Rights movement. It also brought a new anti-Jim Crow attitude in federal government. The U.S Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, in 1964. This act was a law that ended segregation in many public accommodations, outlawed employment discrimination, and anticipated further major civil rights legislation (Journal of Pan African). The year after, 1965, Congress passed the first Voting Rights Act.
What arguments were made opposing the ratification of the US Constitution? Ratification—the official way to confirm something, usually by vote. It is the formal validation of a proposed law. US Constitution— the supreme law of the United States of America
. Even if the American people had rejected the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and 1788, the ratification process would have forged a closer union. The debate over ratification, carried out in thirteen state conventions and in newspapers and pamphlets, was the first national public debate in America. The decision for independence had been made in closed session by Congress in 1776; Americans in the individual states and towns then decided to affirm it, but gradually. In contrast, the decision to ratify the Constitution was made in public conventions, and both supporters and opponents of ratification made their case with appeals to public opinion.
In 1787, as a debate over ratification of the Constitution evoke a lot of controversy, American citizens were advised not to rely on anyone’s opinions and to trust their own judgment. Additionally, Philadelphian Samuel Bryan published his first essay under the name “Centinel,” claiming that it would “not be difficult to prove” that only an authoritarianism could “bind so great a country under one government,” and that whatever structure men could formulate to oversee conclusively would develop into a dictatorship. The chosen officials of the government would be “devoid of all responsibility or accountability to the great body of the people, and that so far from being a regular balanced government, it would be in practice a permanent ARISTOCRACY.”
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.[7][8] It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.[7] Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured voting rights for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.[9] The Act contains numerous
This article is about the process in which the Articles of Confederation were formed. In 1776, John Dickinson led 13 members to write a constitution for a country that would break away and gain it's independence from Great Britain. After several changes and revisions on the first draft, the final draft was completed in 1777. However, even so, the ratification of the Articles of Confederation were not completed until 1781. It was also stated in the article that the Articles of Confederation were purposely made weak so that Great Britain had.
The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the
I fully support the ratification of the Constitution. Although there are a few things I would change, I would say that it could be beneficial to our country. It brings me pleasure to know that in the Senate, we will have equal representation. However, the House of Representatives will get voted determined by the population of your state which I believe is unnecessary. The power of slave trade will go to the National Government, this wouldn’t be my top choice, but it has already been settled.
To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”
People always want to demand their essential rights from government’s restriction by passing new laws. There was a period when people demanded their rights in the 1900s. Within the United States, most African Americans’ rights were denied by state governments. Hence, in the 1960s, they took a stand on requiring their rights through the Civil Rights movement around the country. During this movement, the Voting Rights Act was significant and for the reason is that this act gave African Americans a chance to participate in US politics by their votes.