Constitution

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that the seemingly foundational aspects of universal suffrage, based on age, race and gender is often something many people in the United States take for granted as something that if not an innate semblance of the original Constitution, at least one that was worked out as a matter of coarse rather quickly in the history of the nation. The writer notes that this is clearly not the case as all the suffrage amendments to the Constitution were hard fought and hard won by the different groups that helped make them permanent additions to the laws of this land. In this work the 26th amendment is discussed, as the amendment that provided for universal suffrage based on the age of 18 it is often one that is ignored in the history books and among the people of the US.

From the Paper:

"This amendment was actually the fourth to the constitution that enlarged the voting pool, as the 15th amendment (1869) gave blacks the right to vote at least in a legal sense, the 19th (1920) gave the vote to women and the 23rd (1960) gave the right for District of Colombian citizens to vote for presidential candidates. It would seem strange that such a change took so long, as it was clear much earlier that legal issues of responsibility, such as the age of consent and other responsibility for actions issues were, on a state and federal level clearly leaning in the direction of 18 as the key age. Yet, prior to this time states independently determined the legal age to vote, as barring a constitutional statement to the contrary this was within the rights of the state."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cogan, Jacob Katz. "The Look Within: Property, Capacity, and Suffrage in Nineteenth-Century America." Yale Law Journal 107.2 (1997): 473-498.
• Cultice, Wendell W. Youth's Battle for the Ballot: A History of Voting Age in America. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.

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