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In the Colonies, only Protestant men who owned property were allowed to vote. This is significant because it excluded people of different races, religions, or lower classes.
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The Constitution left the decision of who could vote up to the states, who had property and resident requirements. Some states, such as New Jersey, would allow widowed or unmarried women who owned property, or African American men who owned property to vote until 1807 when women were disenfranchised and 1844 when African Americans were disenfranchised.
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In the early 1800s, many states got rid of property requirements that were necessary for white men to vote.
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African Americans are officially disenfranchised, despite any state requirements granting them suffrage.
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By this point, no states except Rhode Island require a man to own property in order to vote. This continues to show the shift in Americans thinking of voting in an aristocratic way as they move towards a more democratic mindset.
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Women are officially disenfranchised throughout the United States, despite any state requirements that may grant them suffrage.
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After the recent Spanish American War, the United States allowed many Mexican people to become citizens and have the right to vote. However, this was not accepted well, and many hispanic people were subjected to poll taxes and literacy tests in order to vote.
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Hundreds of women came to Seneca Falls for a convention fighting for women's suffrage. Franklin Douglas, an African Amercian civil rights activist spoke, which is an excellent example of how the African American's and Women's fight for suffrage were so closely linked.
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Wyoming was a territory that allowed women to vote, and therefore, when they entered the United States, women were allowed to vote in that state. Slowly many other states began to give women the right to vote.
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This Amendment gave all African American men the right to vote. This was not accepted well, especially in Southern States, where African Americans were subjected to literacy tests, grandfather clauses, adn threats of physical violence if they pursued their right to vote.
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Several women went to the polls and claimed that because they were American citizens they have the right to vote. This turned into the Supreme Court case Minor vs. Happersett, where it was ruled that being a citizen does not automatically give you the right to vote.
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Rhode Island becomes the last state to do away with property requirements necessary to vote.
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Because of grandfather clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests, threats of physical violence, and social pressure, by 1910, less than 20% of African Americans voted.
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During World War I, there was a lot of pressure for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. There were many factors iin this, including the fact that so many women had entered the work force during the war. Finally Wilson gave in and proposed the 19th Amendment.
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This amendment prohibited poll taxes.
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This act banned literacy tests.
