24th Amendment is signed, outlawing the poll tax

In 2012, the voter eligibility debate is over new state-issued rules that require strict forms of identification at the polls. Voter ID supporters say the laws will stop election fraud; opponents say voter ID laws impose burdens on poor, elderly, and disabled voters.

Occasionally, the words “poll tax” are tossed into the debate by voter ID opponents, including recent statements from Attorney General Eric Holder. But how many current voters even know what the poll tax meant, or how long it took for a massive expansion of our electorate?

In September 1787, the constitutional framers left the details about voting to the states. They did establish a framework to elect the president and Congress, using indirect elections for the chief executive and the Senate. But voting rights aren’t part of the original, unamended Constitution.

By some estimates, only 10 percent to 16 percent of Americans were eligible to vote in early elections, because states limited voting rights to white, adult males who owned property (and in some cases, who could pass religious tests).

Compare that to 2008, when 65 percent of eligible people in the United States were registered to vote.

Until the Civil War, the fight over voters’ rights was about how many white male adult voters each state would allow to cast ballots and if they had to own property.

Then in the aftermath of the Civil War, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1870, saying the right to vote—at least in theory—could 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

In practice, states had tools like literacy tests and the poll tax to keep blacks and other voters from the polls. Literacy tests were actually developed in the North before the Civil War to bar Irish immigrants from voting.

The poll tax was used as part of a set of Jim Crow state laws that targeted blacks. States used “grandfathered” clauses to allow poorer white votes to skip the tax.

The 15th Amendment also didn’t apply to women or Native Americans, and it took more than two generations to change that.

In the wake of Prohibition, the 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote, and in 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act extended voting rights in federal elections to all Native Americans.

In 1943, Congress repealed an act that barred Chinese immigrants the right to vote and become citizens.

Still, the battle raged on as civil rights advocates sought realistic voting rights for minorities, particularly in the South.

The passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1957 set up a federal commission to investigate voter discrimination. In 1964, the 24th Amendment was passed to prohibit poll taxes. The landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 expanded efforts to protect minority voters.

In 1966, the Supreme Court, in the case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, effectively eliminated poll taxes in state elections, expanding the ban on poll taxes in federal elections established by the 24th Amendment.

It took nearly another decade for the courts to end literacy tests.

Also, in 1971 the 26th Amendment extended voting rights to people who are at least 18 years of age.

Another key landmark was the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, which requires polling places to offer access for disabled voters.

The debate today is centered on a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld Indiana’s voter ID law.

In the case of Crawford v. Marion County, the Court said Indiana had the right to require government-issued photo IDs at the polls, and that the state had a right to take efforts to prevent voter fraud.

The court also rejected the idea that a burden was placed on voters who needed to gather documents to get a free photo ID.

The current voter ID cases involve lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Texas, and a voter referendum in Minnesota in November.

The Pennsylvania ruling was the latest in a string of legal victories for the supporters of voter ID.

Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

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On Saturday, we celebrate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment (ratified August 18, 1920). Here’s what you need to know:

WHAT IT DOES

The 19th Amendment guarantees women the right to vote.

WHY IT WAS ADDED

Although women were active participants in America’s fight for independence, in the abolition and temperance movements, and in many aspects of political life throughout history, they they did not achieve a guaranteed right to vote until almost 150 years after the nation’s founding. By 1920, “We the People” included women at last.

The deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment was cast by a young Tennessee assembly member named Harry Burn, whose mother encouraged him to “be a good boy” and vote for suffrage.

WORD-FOR-WORD

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Celebrate the 225th anniversary of the Constitution and civic holidays and milestones throughout the year! Download a hi-res PDF for the National Constitution Center’s 2012 civic calendar from our Education page.

Holly Munson is a programs coordinator at the National Constitution Center and the assistant editor of Constitution Daily.

"Abigail Adams" by Gilbert Stuart.

On March 31, 1776, exactly 236 years ago today, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams:

“I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. … If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

The rebellion envisioned by Abigail has unfolded again and again throughout American history—in the 1860s, the 1920s, and the 1970s, for example. But before those important moments of “rebellion” in women’s history, women played an important role in that famous American rebellion, the American Revolution. As we remember Abigail’s prescient observations and conclude the celebration of Women’s History Month, we can also “remember the ladies” who contributed to the revolutionary cause. Here’s a look at some of them.

Abigail Adams

Of the Revolutionary women we remember, Abigail Adams is the most likely to come to mind. Her husband, John, was frequently described as a curmudgeon. That alone may qualify her as a patriot. But let’s not forget that when John was away, she raised their children, ran the family farm, and oversaw real estate transactions. And this wasn’t for a month or two, it was for many years; she once observed that during their first 12 years of marriage, she and John only lived together for six years.

Margaret Cochran Corbin

Margaret Cochran Corbin rolled up her belongings in a blanket and accompanied her husband to war. When her husband was killed on November 16, 1776, during the defense of Fort Washington, she took over his artillery station, continued the fight and sustained three disabling wounds. In recognition of her patriotic service, the Continental Congress awarded her a half pension, and when she later petitioned Congress, she won a full pension. She is the first woman to be awarded a military pension. Today, she is buried at West Point and is one of only two Revolutionary veterans so honored.

Deborah Sampson

Some women believed so strongly in the cause of freedom that they donned men’s clothing and joined the battle. The most famous of these was Deborah Sampson, who served three years as “Robert Shurtliff” and was twice wounded. Later, when she became sick, her commanding officer sent her to the field doctor, who discovered the truth. The doctor ordered “Robert” to Washington’s headquarters. When she met Washington and the truth was revealed, the general was left speechless. Later, she was invited to Congress and in her presence, was voted a pension in recognition of her patriotic service.

Nancy Hart

Nancy Hart of Georgia may not have fought on an actual battlefield, but she contributed to the war effort in a memorable way. A neighbor was being held by British loyalists, and Hart helped him to escape. When British troops later confronted her, she shot a number of them and held the rest at gunpoint. When patriot reinforcements arrived later, she took the British soldiers outside and hung them. She taught British loyalists and troops not to mess with a patriotic “Southern belle.”

Esther Reed

Esther Reed was head of the Relief Association in Philadelphia and raised money in the form of subscriptions. She wrote Washington and told him that their subscriptions had raised $7,000. The money was used to purchase linen for the army. Reed and her group sewed more than 2,000 shirts for soldiers using the linen.

Prudence Cummings Wright

In April 1775, a group of women headed by Prudence Cummings Wright armed themselves with muskets, pitchforks, and other weapons and formed a patrol on what is now Jewett’s Bridge, between Pepperell and Groton, Massachusetts. They intercepted a rider, then unhorsed and searched him and discovered he was a British spy with information hidden in his boots. They detained him and turned him over to the authorities.

Donald Applestein is a retired attorney and an experience guide in the National Constitution Center’s Public Programs Department.

Ana Harvey (right) and Tina Tchen address Vision 2020 Delegates and supporters at a March 27 White House briefing.

While the Supreme Court was hearing history-making arguments on the Affordable Care Act, delegates and supporters of Vision 2020 made organizational history in Washington as 150 women and men attended a White House briefing Tuesday on domestic policy issues.

At the briefing, Tina Tchen, Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, made a compelling argument that changing rigid work schedules and policies and bringing flexible options to the workplace would make it more possible for women to contribute and benefit themselves, their families, and the nation.

Will a more flexible workplace solve the “leaky pipeline” of educated women gradually leaving the workforce when forced to choose between personal and professional responsibilities?

This issue resonates with our membership. One of our goals is to increase the percentage of women in leadership positions. Despite education gains, progress of women attaining leadership positions is slow, stalled and in some cases has slipped. For example, women make up 50 percent of law school class enrollments and just 17 percent of partners in firms.

Cecilia Muñoz Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, reminded us that the first bill President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. But Congress failed to pass the subsequent Paycheck Fairness Act that would have addressed pay equity issues.

To help women compete in the workforce, Sara Manzano-Díaz, director of the Women’s Bureau in the Labor Dept., mentioned an innovative solution.

Her department launched in January a national competition to develop software applications that leverage public data to promote equal pay for men and women.

“Equal Pay App Challenge” is intended to produce an app to educate users about the pay gap and provide tools to combat it. The winner of the challenge will be announced next month.

One of the tools, said Manzano-Díaz, will help women negotiate asking for a raise.

We invited our delegates from 50 states and our national allies and supporters to attend the briefing. Their response was overwhelmingly positive. Delegates traveled from CA, AZ, NM and LA as well as nearby states to attend.

Catherine Ormerod is Director, Vision 2020, Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, Drexel University College of Medicine.

 Starting a movement

Women's suffragists, 1913. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Arguably the birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 in upstate New York played a pivotal role in bringing to public consciousness the right of women to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott gathered together other, like-minded men and women to discuss female inequality in social and political spheres. Despite the recognition by this group of the need for women’s voting rights, it took another 72 years for their goal to become a reality.

Gaining steam

Historians Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil call it “the most successful mass movement for the expansion of political democracy in American history.” On the long road to enfranchisement, the tactics and tone of the suffrage movement changed as American society became more urban and industrialized.

Transforming from a largely white, middle-class movement, wealthy and working-class women joined, encompassing all socioeconomic levels. Women with experience in other Progressive-era reform movements added suffrage as another worthwhile cause as did young, college-educated women, another new demographic in the crusade.

State-by-state approach

In 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed from two competing suffrage groups, led first by Susan B. Anthony and then Carrie Chapman Catt. While helping to consolidate efforts and reduce rivalry within the movement, suffrage activism still focused on individual states to pass laws allowing women full voting rights.

Prior to 1910, four states–Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah–allowed women full voting rights. By 1914, seven more states west of the Mississippi River joined them. The massive effort, cost, and time to mount state campaigns led to the decision to instead aim for a Constitutional amendment.

National spotlight

In 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, young and energetic reformers, organized a parade promoting votes for women. National media attention focused on the 5,000 participating women and brought the issue in front of the country en masse—exactly what a strategy for federal legislation needed.

Paul and Burns formed the Congressional Union, later the National Woman’s Party, a group whose mission was to get Congress to pass a women’s voting bill. They tried (and failed) in the 1916 elections to leverage the voting power of women in western states that already had female enfranchisement.

The suffrage movement was not without opposition or problems. Indeed, part of the explanation for the length of time it took was that male politicians were against giving women the vote—and men were the ones in Congress to vote on legislation. Additionally, suffrage groups were racially segregated, despite the shared vision of all women being able to vote. NAWSA excluded African American women, which created the opportunity for journalist Ida B. Wells to form the first all-black suffrage club in 1913.

“

American citizens could no longer be denied the right to vote because of their sex.”

In 1919, the necessary votes in the Senate finally solidified. The next and final obstacle: getting three-fourths of the states to ratify the amendment. By mid-1920, thirty-five states had approved and just one more was needed. Young Tennessee Republican Harry Burn played a crucial role, as Jenna Winterle points out today in an accompanying post on Constitution Daily.

Tennessee’s ratification ensured that the 19^th Amendment was added to the Constitution, ensuring that American citizens could no longer be denied the right to vote because of their sex.

The takeaway message for those of us in 2011 then might be to remember that the ability to go to the polls, to cast a vote for candidates and issues that matter in our communities and our nation, was not a guarantee originally made for all Americans. Gaining the vote made women a politically-valuable voting bloc, one that politicians and policymakers would (and still) need to court and listen to their interests—or risk alienating half of their constituents.

 Paige Scofield is the Programs & Communications Coordinator at the National Constitution Center. She concentrated on twentieth century women’s and gender history as a graduate student.

Suffrage parade, New York City, May 6, 1912. Photo From Wikimedia Commons

These somewhat intrusive but ultimately benign motherly pieces of advice usually help us all become better, more productive members of society.  And hey, you never know – occasional reminders to “be good” may even have the power to change history…

Ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment

The summer of 1920 was a pivotal time in America.  An amendment granting women the right to vote had been passed by Congress and ratified by thirty-five states, one state shy of the three quarters that were required to add the amendment to the Constitution.

The next state to consider the Amendment was Tennessee.  The amendment had already passed in the state’s Senate by the time it reached the Tennessee House of Representatives on August 18, 1920.  The House was bitterly divided on the issue and several anti-suffragists attempted to delay (and, in essence kill) the vote on ratification.  Twice the vote to delay resulted in a 48-48 tie, so the House was forced to cut to the chase and vote on the amendment itself.  A similar deadlock was expected, but to everyone’s astonishment, when the results came in there were forty-nine votes in favor of the amendment, and only forty-seven votes opposed.

This Pro-Suffrage Christmas Stocking is on periodic display at the Center. It is on loan from the Museum of American Political Life, University of Hartford, Hartford, CT

That historic swing vote belonged to a young member of the Assembly named Harry T. Burn.  Burn had voted with the anti-suffragists in favor of the delay, and everyone was expecting him to also vote against the amendment itself.  He might have too, had it not been for a letter that he had recently received.  Any guesses who that letter was from?

Yep, Harry’s mother, Mrs. Febb Burn, wrote to her son encouraging him to support women’s suffrage.  In her letter she also reminded him to “be a good boy.”  After receiving his mother’s advice, Burn only really had one option.  When his turn came he didn’t hesitate to vote “yes” on women’s suffrage, breaking the tie.   It was a slim victory, but it was indeed a victory.  With Tennessee’s ratification, the 19th amendment was added to the Constitution and women across the country were granted the right to vote!

Today, to celebrate the anniversary of the 19^th Amendment’s ratification, take some time to remember Mrs. Febb Burn, her son Harry and all the extraordinary people who worked for the Women’s Suffrage Movement….your mother would be proud!

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Jenna Winterle is the Public Programs Coordinator at the National Constitution Center.  She has proudly voted in every election since she turned eighteen and she thanks all of the great American suffragists for that incredible opportunity.

1. Women in Colonial Philadelphia

These thimbles, fabric pins and other household objects once belonged to the women who lived in the bustling colonial neighborhood where the Center now stands. Imagine the difficulties they faced running a household before modern conveniences.

2. The American National Tree

At interactive touch screens, discover the remarkable stories of inspirational American women. Among our favorites is Dr. Mary E. Walker, the only woman in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

3. Votes for Women!

Thanks to the work of Susan B. Anthony and her fellow suffragists, no woman can be denied voting rights because of her gender. Take a closer look at a letter written by Anthony, and discover the other political goals she hoped to accomplish.

4. Justice O’Connor’s Robe

Sandra Day O’Connor broke the glass ceiling when she became the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Check out her judicial robe and see how she added her own style to this traditionally male outfit.

5. From the Absence of Many to the Presence of All…The Unfinished Business of Women’s Equality

Women have taken great steps towards equality since the passage of the 19^th Amendment 90 years ago. Explore this special exhibition that celebrates the many extraordinary moments in women’s history while looking ahead to what the future will bring.

6. Art of the American Soldier

Hear stories from one of our featured artists, Lt. Heather Englehart, currently serving with the Louisiana Army National Guard. Additional stories from Vietnam War nurse Marsha Four can be heard on the exhibition’s audio tour.

By all accounts, voters will use the midterm elections to vent their anger against Democrats. Ninety years ago, exercising their rights for the first time under the Nineteenth Amendment, newly enfranchised females, too, planned to send a signal to politicians. But things haven’t turned out quite the way they hoped.

The suffragists believed that passage of the amendment would usher in a harmonious new era in which the influence of women would cleanse politics of corruption and promote family-friendly legislation and world peace. To their disappointment, however, women initially voted much like men and in smaller numbers. This fact was not lost on elected officials, who quickly abandoned efforts to please their newly empowered female constituents.

But the feminist revolution of the 1960s (learn more at The Center’s new Vision 20/20 exhibit), combined with women’s growing economic clout and rising education levels, prompted women to take a keener interest in politics. Beginning in 1980 and in every election since, more women have voted than men, and by an ever growing margin. In 2008, ten million more women than men voted.

This year, 298 women sought nominations to the House and Senate, setting a record. But just 153 survived the primaries. November 2nd will determine the fate of nine Democratic women and six Republican women running for the Senate, and 91 Democrats and 47 Republicans for the House. With 17 women now in the Senate and 73 in the House, the United States ranks 84th in percentage among countries in the number of females in its legislative branch.

Given prospects of a Republican victory this year, it is likely that the number of women in Congress will shrink for the first time in three decades. As many as 10 female incumbents could lose their seats. That setback probably would not happen if women voted exclusively for women. But as always, they vote their convictions.

In her new book from Palgrave Macmillan, A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot, Mary Walton chronicles the final years of the suffrage movement, when women picketed the White House, were jailed, went on hunger strikes and were force fed. Even after the Nineteenth Amendment was passed by the U.S. Senate on June 4, 1919, ratification by the requisite 36 states was by no means ensured. Read an except here.