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Constitution Created
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America, originally comprising seven articles, it outlines the national frame of our government. Since the Constitution came into place in 1789, it has been amended 27 times. The first 10 amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights can be seen as addressing three major concerns: individual rights, federal courts and the Federal government’s relationships with the states. -
White male property owners only
When the Constitution was written, only white male property owners had the right to vote. The number was equal to roughly 10 to 16 percent of the nation's current population. This quickly led to an uproar of movements to give more rights to the entirety of the population, including those for women, blacks and those citizens excluded from the votes. -
Abolition movement to end slavery begins
The goal of the abolitionist movement was the immediate emancipation of all slaves and the end of racial discrimination and segregation. The white abolitionist movement in the North was led by social reformers, especially William Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Many female abolitionists, including, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott went on to become prominent figures in the women's rights movement. -
Women's Suffrage movement
In 1848, Lucy Stone and a group of women met together to organize the National Women's Rights Convention. This national convention brought together for the first time many of those who had been working individually for women's rights. The convention met with strong oppostion, even upper class women who thought they had a behind-the-scenes voice often opposed suffrage because it would dilute their influence -
Asian immigration rises
In addition to massive emigration from the eastern US, the California gold rush triggered a global emigration of ambitious fortune-seekers.The number of Chinese gold-seekers was particularly large, the influx of Chinese and other foreign laborers led to ethnic tensions in California. In 1850, the California legislature enacted the Foreign Miners Tax. The tax, which levied a monthly $20 tax on each foreign miner compelled many Chinese to stop prospecting for gold. -
Civil War
Seven Southern slave states individually declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. Four years of bloody combat left over 600,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure. The Confederacy collapsed and slavery was abolished by the end of the war. -
Emancipation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not itself outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves citizens. -
15th Ammendment
The 15th Ammendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws. It wasn't until almost a year later, after the ammendment had been submitted, that it had been ratified, and were finally able to vote. -
19th Ammendment
The 19th Ammendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton drafted the amendment and first introduced it in 1878; it was forty-one years later, in 1919, when the Congress submitted the amendment to the states for ratification. A year later, it was ratified by the requisite number of states. -
26th Ammendment
The 26th Ammendment prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age. The urge to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s. Driven in large by the broader student activism movement protesting the Vietnam War.
