The Influence Of Voting Rights In The United States

In social settings, African Americans faced many challenges due to what the US had planned

Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.

Constitution place on state’s power to determine voter qualifications? Those limitations start with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act prohibits racial discrimination when voting in the local, state, and federal levels. “Section 2, which closely followed the language of the 15th amendment, applied a nationwide prohibition of the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color” (ourdocuments.gov). Not since the reconstruction period after the civil war had there been such a “significant statutory change in the relationship between the Federal and state governments” (ourdocuments.gov).

This is because Jim Crow laws, laws on voting intending to discriminate against freedmen were ratified. These laws included Poll Taxes which were taxes that were charged when a person went to go vote but since sharecropping was unsuccessful for freedmen they could not afford to pay the poll taxes thus not allowing them to vote. To insure that this law would not affect the poor white people, more Jim Crow laws were introduced. These included the Grandfather Clause and Literacy tests. The Grandfather clause states that if your grandfather or father could vote before the year of 1867, then you could vote.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in order to move forward towards equality in voting in the United States. The Amendments passed in 1982 included providing aid and instruction for any voters that needed extra assistance, for example someone disabled or illiterate. It also required there to be bilingual ballots and other voting materials in jurisdictions where there were large amounts of minority populations. This allowed many Spanish-speaking citizens to vote. The Amendment also “allowed jurisdictions that could provide evidence of maintaining a clean voting rights record for at least 10 years, to avoid preclearance coverage” to change any voting laws in that state, (“Constitutional Amendments”).

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

Have you ever asked yourself "how would the world be if there was no structure to allow people to vote for the person who is leading their country?". How about "Does my vote really count ?" or "does the opinion and choice of me, one person, really make a difference?". These questions aren't simply answered but should be seriously thought of by anybody who is a citizen of a country which has an established government and truly cares about the wellbeing and future of the country that they live in. I will be focused on the importance of voting for the president themselves is important. Individuals whom are over the age 18 and have a vailidated citisenship of the country they wish to vote on, have the opretunitiy to vote on several different ascepts of the government.

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.”

The tactics used civil rights movement of both the 1950’s and 1960’s were different helped them succeed in different ways. During the late 1950s the tactics that were used were political, while in the early in 1960s they used social and political tactics to get their goals achieved, but in the late 1960s the tactics that were used were primarily economic and social, In the 1950’s, the civil rights movement was very successful because activist showed the level of racism and segregation in the south. The tactics and resistance made in this time period helped achieve desegregation because and the resistance that the activists dealt with just made them become more aware in the media and hopefully spread nation wide.

The subject of voting behavior and campaign effects has been studied and expanded upon by political scientists for decades now, beginning in 1944 with a study by Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet. In the study, they sought to better understand voting behavior following public opinion in Ohio during the 1940 election. While it was not their original focus, they analyzed how media coverage and campaign events affected voters. They found that most voters indicated how they would vote based on political predispositions held in the spring before the campaign had begun and voted accordingly in the election. Their study concluded that few people changed their vote intentions during the campaign; instead, the campaign served to reinforce early-deciders’

The issue on voting rights of people who have committed a felony is very important one, because it has had a significant impact from voting turnout in recent elections. According to The Sentencing Project, approximatively 5.3 millions of people were unable to vote due to a felony conviction in the 2008 election. This number affects mostly minorities group such African American and Latino who make up more than 60 % of prison population despite being only 28% of US population (We The People, 330). Until this law is revere, this number will continue to growth with minorities unfairly excluded from voting at much higher rate. Consequently, these restrictions have had and will continue to impact the voting turnout in US at federal and local election.

Then the court case, Brown v. Board of Education, ended “separate but equal”, and started the integration process. The integration had started, but African Americans still could not vote, so Martin Luther King lead thousands in the Selma Marches. The voting rights act was signed, and everyone could easily vote. The marches were essential

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.

Many people were brutally beaten and there were also some that lost their lives, because of it. Lyndon B Johnson begins his speech his by convincing his listener that he will flight for what is owed to the Negros. That is the equal right to vote regardless of your race. The speech “We Shall Overcome”, speech gets to the core of the problem within the Legislation itself. He wants to see that everyone will abide by the 15th Amendment that gives Negros the right and the privilege to vote without any recourse, without worrying

“A vote is like a rifle, its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” - Theodore Roosevelt” Do we need uneducated, random, and altogether unconstitutional forced votes clogging up our ballot? Those rallying for compulsory voting boast better representation of the lower class. If compulsory voting is so grand then please do explain why so many countries (the majority even.)