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When the United States entered World War II Presient Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the draft age to start at 18 years old. This began the slowgan "Old enough to fight, Old enough to vote."
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Congressman From West Virgian, Jenning Randolh, introduced legisation to lower voting age. This is the first of the 11 times he would introduce such a bill.
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In President Eisenhower's State of the Union Address in 1954 he stated that he was for 18 year olds beging able to vote. He proved that with the lines "For years our citizens between the age 18 and 21 have, in times of peril, been summond to fight for America. They should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons." he put in his speech.
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With Vietnam War came the draft. This brought back the fact that they could fight but not vote.
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It the case Oregon v. Mitchell made the Supreme Court decside if Congress it was constitutional for them to regulate the minimum age to vote. The majority decison was that Congress could set the age for ferdal elections, but not state and local.
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Congressed added the provision the made the the voting age donw to 18 in state, local and ferdal ecletions. Nixon signed it but said he thought it was unconstitutional. That Congress shouldn't enact this that it should be a amendment to the constitution.
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Iowa ratified the 26th amendment. Iowa was the 11th state to ratify the amendment.
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On this date the Senate vote unanimously for the proposal of the 26th amendment. This vote made the amendment move one step closer to ratified.
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On this date the majority of the House voted for the prosal of the 26th amendment. This vote made the amendment move from the prosal phase to the ratifing phase and was sent to the states.
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On this date President Nixon signed the amendment into law. This made the amendment a real amendent and made it go into effect.
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Just four mounths after it passed proposal it had beden ratified by enought states to pass and be ratified. On July 1 North Carolina became the 38th state to ratify the amendment.
