Question

Question 20 (Essay Worth 5 points)

(MC)

Read this text from the Constitution:

AMENDMENT XXVI
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.

Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment.

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

This amendment is the last of three voting rights amendments. Write a short essay of 5 to 7 sentences explaining how this and the other voting rights amendments expanded voting rights in the United States.

Answer 1

First, we must define the original definition for who is allowed to vote to be able to understand what exactly is expanded upon. At the conceiving of this nation, the white male, land-owning, 21-year old and older were allowed to vote. Meaning, females, people of other skin-color (or even mixed), and non-land owning entities were not allowed to vote. The first change to the right to vote occurred in 1860, and African Americans gained the right to vote 10 years later when the amendment was passed. Following this, Women were allowed to vote in 1920, which saw the rise of support for women (and Native Americans), as they were essentially citizens, and to deny citizens their basic rights was against the natural rights espoused to all when they were born. Of course, with the right to vote comes the responsibility of such a vote. A person is expected to vote for such people in which they believe are aligned to their personal beliefs, as well as what is "better" for the nation. On top of that there would be responsibilities espoused to citizens, such as jury service, etc.

However, while the rights of who and what for voting has expanded, restrictions has also occurred, such as non-citizens (obviously), as well as criminals and felons.

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