2. Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson you will be able to: 1.Summarize the history of voting rights in the United States. 2.Identify and explain constitutional restrictions on the States’ power to set voting qualifications.

3. Expansion of the Electorate When the Constitution went into effect in 1789, suffrage (the right to vote) was restricted to white male property owners. This was a very small portion of the American population. Today, the size of the American electorate (the potential voting population) is much larger. More than 230 million people, nearly all citizens who are at least 18 years of age, qualify to vote. This change in the number of people who are allowed to vote is the result of more than 200 years of disagreement, violence, and opposition.

4. History of American Suffrage since 1789 The history of suffrage in American can be marked by two long term trends: 1.Our nation gradually eliminated several restrictions on the right to vote. The following requirements were slowly taken away: Religious belief Property ownership Tax payment Race Gender 2.A significant share of what was originally the States’ power over the right to vote was taken over by the Federal Government.

5. Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages (pg 153) How have the voting rights changed over the course of American history? Stage 1 Early 1800s By the mid-1850s, almost all white adult males could vote in every state. Stage 2 1870 Followed the Civil War, even though African Americans were given the right to vote, they were systematically kept from the poles for another 50 years. Stage 3 1920 Stage 4 1960s Civil Rights Movement & Voting Rights Act of 1965 (23 rd & 24 th Amendments passed) Stage 5 1970s

6. The Power to Set Voting Qualifications Even though the power to set voter qualifications is reserved for the State governments, the Constitution places 5 restrictions on the ability of the States to use this power: 1.Each state must allow qualified voters to vote in every single election. 2.No State can deny a person the right to vote because of their race or ethnicity (15 th Amendment). 3.No State can deny a person the right to vote because of their gender(19 th Amendment). 4.No State can require a tax or payment in order to vote (24 th Amendment). 5.No State can deprive any person who is at least 18 years old tie right to vote (26 th Amendment).