1828 Presidential Election Electoral College Map

Focus Question:

How did voting qualifications change between 1787 and 1820?

Cross-Links

Voting and Citizen Participation

Voting Rights and Voter Suppression

Electoral College and Ranked Choice Voting

What did American voting rights look like before the 19th century?

• 1787 - Each state is empowered by the federal government to create their own voting laws - voting is subsequently restricted to land-owning, white men.

• 1790 - Naturalization Act of 1790 - defines citizenship as "any alien, being a free white person" - limits voting to free white men - many states still require property qualifications--some states, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, remove free black voting rights around this period as well

• The End of Black Voting Rights in Pennsylvania

• Video about black women's suffrage in early America
• In the 1790s, some states began to expand suffrage starting with property requirements
• 1792: New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Delaware remove property-owning requirements for voting. 

 Click here to learn more about how political parties were formed. Click here for a crash course video explaining this also. 

 Primary Source: The Candidates -- a comedy satirizing voting culture in late 18th-century Virginia

• Historical background for The Candidates 

What changed in the 19th-century?

• 1807 - Barring women and Black Americans from the vote in New Jersey

•   New Jersey also allowed some women to vote until 1807 - Rethinking Women's Suffrage In New Jersey, 1776-1807

• Click here for more information regarding women's right to vote in New Jersey, beginning in the 1790s. It is important to note that when women were married to their husbands they were not able to vote as they were represented by their husbands vote. On the other hand, single women were allowed to vote as they did not have a husband.   

• Did You Know: Women and African Americans Could Vote in NJ before the 15th and 19th Amendments?

• 1820s - By this point, many states have removed the property qualifications for voting - still only white male suffrage

• More information about New York's changes to property qualifications 

• In 1828, Maryland allowed Jews to vote. It was the final state with laws barring certain religious groups from voting.
• Click here for more information on religion-based voting restrictions in the United States. 

• In 1856, North Carolina was the last state to get rid of property-ownership as a voting qualification, meaning all white men in America were allowed to vote.

Click here for an article that provides a timeline of voting rights expansion in the United States.

Click here for more information.

 *Despite some states extending voting rights to white men without property in the beginning of the 19th century, states like New Jersey took this time to restrict voting rights for women and Black Americans.

So should this time period really be remembered as an era of expanding suffrage?*

How do these voting rights compare to later periods of American history?

A brief overview of the evolution of voting in America
Ted-Ed video detailing the evolution of voting rights in America 
An additional timeline regarding the history of voting rights. 

Another video discussing the history voting rights in America

• 1870 - 15th Amendment:  Gave all non-White men the right to vote

• 15th Amendment to the Constitution

• Read about the loopholes of the 15th amendment

• In 1868 when the 14th amendment was ratified it was the first time the constitution used the word male. Significantly hindering the chance for women's suffrage through the 15th amendment. 

• 1920 - 19th Amendment:  Gave women the right to vote

• Watch to learn more about the Woman's Suffrage movement

• 1920 - Women are granted the right to vote in the US due to the 19th Amendment. 

 Click here for a map that displays in what states women could already vote before this amendment. 

• This animated map on YouTube created by the user EmperorTigerstar. The video shows a map of the United States and shows year-by-year developments in three categories: Minority Civil RIghts/Abolition, Women’s Civil Rights, and LGBTQ+ Civil Rights.

• 1924 - Indian Citizenship Act:  Granted citizenship and the right to vote to Native Americans

• The right to vote, however, was governed by state law; until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting. Maine was one of the last to allow native people to vote.

• 1961 - 23th Amendment:  Voting rights granted to residents of the District of Columbia

• 1964 - 24th Amendment:  Abolishing of poll taxes

• 1964 - Civil Rights Act. All men and women are given the right to vote.  

• 1971 - 26th Amendment:  Lowered the voting age of 18

Click here for an animated showing which states allowed voting for which groups throughout American history. 

Click here for a lesson plan that teaches students how the voting process works today. What major differences can you notice?

Click here for a crash course video for an overview of elections in the U.S. and how they are structured. 

Click here to learn who cannot vote in U.S. elections. Although granted citizenship, many Native Americans still face trouble voting due to using PO box addresses rather than a residential address. Click here to learn more. 

How do these voting rights compare to other nations in the 19th century?

Voting in England in the late 18th and early 19th century

Image below is a British satire showing Napoleon with his grenadiers driving the members of the Council of Five Hundred from the Orangery at St. Cloud at bayonet point.



Voting in France: and politics in Napoleon's time.

Napoleonic Code (1804) while declaring rights of all citizens severely restricted rights for women.

Why is suffrage so important?

Click here for a lesson plan from PBS that discusses the importance of voting.