Strides in Voting Rights (1789-1971) By: Diane Jung

Since the Articles of Confederation did not include voting rights, state laws were followed. However, state laws prevented certain people from voting. The Constitution eventually replaced the Articles of Confederation, but they still did not extend voting rights to many groups of people.
(1789) Laws in certain states, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Georgia, and Vermont, allowed male taxpayers to vote. Some states allowed very few women to vote, and some free African Americans were allowed to vote. A qualification of voting was that males had to be 21 years of age.
(1870) Voting was officially extended to African American males through the 15th Amendment, which states, "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Poll taxes and literacy tests were activated, preventing African Americans from freely voting until 1965.
(1920) Women and Native Americans were granted the right to vote in the 1920s through the 19th Amendment. Women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton pushed the cause through events such as woman suffrage parades. In 1924, citizenship and voting rights were also granted to Native Americans
(1971) The issue of young people's right to vote arose during the Vietnam War, because of the controversy of drafting 18-year-olds who could not vote. The 26th Amendment allowed all citizens over the age of 18 to vote.