Suffrage
Although the term is most often identified with the "women's suffrage movement," it simply means "the right to vote." Initially in the United States, property ownership was commonly required for voters in the early years of the United States. Andrew Jackson's election in 1829 marked the beginning of universal voting rights for white males and the end of the caucus system of nominating candidates. Jackson viewed himself a "man of the people." Since then, various constitutional amendments and acts have expanded the suffrage.
Fifteenth Amendment
In 1870, this amendment held that suffrage could not be denied "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Nineteenth Amendment
In 1920, this amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote. President Grover Cleveland said in a 1905 version of the Ladies' Home Journal, "Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours."
Twenty-fourth Amendment
Passed in 1964, the amendment prohib-ited the poll tax in federal elections, a tax once widely used in southern states to discourage blacks from voting. Two years later, a Supreme Court decision held that poll taxes were unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, further prohibiting the tax in all state and federal elections.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Arguably one of the most important civil rights legislation ever passed, this act extended voting rights to millions of once-excluded minorities. Further amended in 1970, 1975, and 1982, the act bans literacy tests and requires bilingual elections in some areas.
Twenty-sixth Amendment
In 1971, this amendment lowered the voting age to 18.