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The White Man can Vote
Only rich, land-owning white men can vote at this time. -
States can Set Voting Requirements
States can now limit who votes and set restrictions. -
Naturalization Act of 1790
White men born outside of the United States can now become citizens. This act didn't automatically grant the right to vote to these men. -
The Free Black Man Loses his Right to Vote
Free black males lost the right to vote in several Northern states including Pennsylvania and in New Jersey. 1792 - 1838 -
Abolition of Property Qualification for the White Man
White men without property can now vote without having to own land during the period of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy.
By the 1820s most states voted in favor of universal white men suffrage. -
The Fourteenth Amendment
Citizenship is guaranteed to all male persons born or naturalized in the United States in accordance with the Fourteenth Amendment. -
The Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color or previous condition of servitude." Former Confederate states passed Jim Crow laws and amendments to effectively disfranchise black and poor white voters through poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses. -
Granted Citizenship to Native Americans
Native Americans willing to disassociate themselves from their tribe by the Dawes Act are granted citizenship (technically allowing them to vote). -
The Seventeenth Amendment
Direct election of Senators gave voters rather than state legislatures the right to elect senators. -
The Nineteenth Amendment
Women are guaranteed the right to vote. -
Citizenship for Native Americans
All Native Americans are given the right to citizenship and the right to vote, regardless of tribal affiliation. -
Magnuson Act
Chinese immigrants are given the right to citizenship and the right to vote. -
The Twenty-Third Amendment
Residents of Washington, D.C. are granted the right to vote in U.S. Presidential Elections. -
Twenty-Fourth Amendment
Poll tax payment is a prohibited condition for voting in federal elections. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Protection of voter registration and voting for racial minorities, later applied to language minorities, is established. This has been applied to correcting discriminatory voting machines. -
Harper v. Virginia Board of Election
Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court. -
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment
Adults aged 18 through 21 are granted the right to vote. -
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
The United States Military and Uniformed Services, Merchant Marines, other citizens overseas, living on bases in the United States, abroad, or aboard ship are granted the right to vote. -
Felon Voting Right
Twenty-Eight US states changed their laws on felon voting rights, mostly to restore rights or to simplify the process of restoration.
1996 - 2008 -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 Extended
George W. Bush extends for the fourth time for a second extension of 25 years. -
State Laws on Felony Disenfranchisement
State laws on felony disenfranchisement have since continued to shift, both curtailing and restoring voter rights, sometimes over short periods of time withing the same US state. -
Voting Rights Act is Unconstitutional
Supreme Court Rules in 5-4 decision that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Section 4(b) says that is a state or a local government wants to change their voting laws, then they must appeal to the Attorney General. -
Bernie Sanders and a Felon's Right to Vote
Part of presidential candidate Bernie Sander's campaign goals is to give convicted felons in prison the right to vote, causing massive backlash.