The 5 Stages of Extending Suffrage in the United States: From Religious and Property Qualifications to the Enfranchisement of African Americans, Women, and 18-Year-Olds.

What were the 5 stages of extending suffrage? Which amendments played a role, and how?

[a] (Early 1800s) Elimination of literacy tests[b] (1865-70) 15th Amendment – granted African American men the right to vote[c] (1920) 19th Amendment – prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.[d] (1960s) Civil Rights era, Voting Rights Act of 1965, 23rd Amendment, 24th Amendment[e] (1971) 26th Amendment

The 5 stages of extending suffrage in the United States include:

1. Religious qualifications for voting were eliminated: In most states, only men who belonged to certain religious denominations were allowed to vote. In the early 1800s, many states eliminated religious qualifications for voting.

2. Property qualifications for voting were eliminated: Many states also required that voters own a certain amount of property. This practice was gradually eliminated in the first half of the 19th century.

3. Enfranchisement of African American men: The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1870, gave African American men the right to vote. This amendment overturned many state laws that had restricted African American suffrage.

4. Enfranchisement of women: The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women the right to vote. This amendment overturned many state laws that had restricted women from voting.

5. Enfranchisement of 18-year-olds: The Twenty-Sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. This amendment was in response to the argument that if 18-year-olds were old enough to fight in the Vietnam War, they were old enough to vote.

The Fifteenth Amendment played a role in extending suffrage to African American men, while the Nineteenth Amendment extended suffrage to women. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment extended suffrage to 18-year-olds.

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