How the right to vote grew: the voting amendments and the Voting Rights Act

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A and B. Card A, a chart of six voting amendments, a summary in our words, written today. 15th Amendment, ratified 1870: barred denying the vote on account of race. 17th, 1913: voters elect their senators directly. 19th, 1920: barred denying the vote on account of sex. 23rd, 1961: gave Washington, D.C., electoral votes for President. 24th, 1964: banned poll taxes in federal elections. 26th, 1971: set the voting age at 18 for every election. Note: before the 26th Amendment, most states set the voting age at 21. Suffrage means the right to vote. Card B, a note from the sheet: the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a law passed by Congress, not an amendment. The chart lists only the six amendments, not every step that widened the vote.

2. 1.

   In 1965, a made-up state charges a $2 fee to vote for governor. Ari checks card A. Does an amendment on the chart end the fee?

   • Yes: the Voting Rights Act of 1965 removed fees, and the note on card B names it for that very purpose
   • Not the 24th: the chart says it banned poll taxes in federal elections only, and a governor's race is a state one
   • Yes: the 24th banned poll taxes, and a ban on the tax covers each election in each state of the nation
   • Yes: the 15th, since a fee that keeps some people from voting denies them the vote on account of race
3. 2.

   In 1969, a made-up 19-year-old works full time. Bo checks card A. Which row would change this person's right to vote, and when?

   • The 15th, in 1870, since it protected each adult from losing the vote for any reason
   • The 19th, in 1920, since it widened the vote to people who had been left out before that year
   • The 24th, in 1964, since the age of 21 was written into the ban on poll taxes of that year
   • The 26th, in 1971: before it, most states set the voting age at 21
4. 3.

   Jun says the 19th Amendment followed soon after the 15th. Using the years on card A, what fits?

   • Not soon: 1870 to 1920 is 50 years, and the 17th (1913) lies between them
   • Soon: both are about who may vote, so the second was the next step after the first one
   • Soon: 50 years is under a century, so it counts as the next step in the same long effort
   • Far apart: 50 years is the longest gap between any two neighboring rows of the chart
5. 4.

   Card A says the 15th barred denying the vote on account of race. Luz says every Black man could vote after 1870. What fits?

   • Meaningless: an amendment on race says nothing about who could actually vote in any given state
   • True: a ban on denying the vote because of race means that any man could vote from that year on
   • Overstated: the chart says denial on account of race was barred, not that every other barrier was gone
   • False: the 15th applied to elections for federal offices alone, so voting in the states was left alone
6. 5.

   Card A says the 17th had voters elect senators directly. Milo says that before 1913 senators were not chosen by anyone. What fits?

   • Shown: before 1913 the President chose senators, and the amendment took that power away from the President
   • Not shown: the chart says what changed in 1913, not how senators were chosen before
   • Not shown, since the chart is about voting rights and so cannot include a change about the Senate
   • Shown: 'directly' means that before 1913 no group chose senators and the seats were filled by default
7. 6.

   Noah says a Black woman could vote only after 1920 under the amendments on card A. What fits?

   • Not at any time, since the chart lists no amendment that names a Black woman or any other single group
   • From 1870, since the 15th covers each citizen's race and sex in one stroke of the pen
   • Not until 1920, since the 19th covers women as a group and the 15th was written to cover men alone
   • Race protection began in 1870 and sex protection in 1920, so each amendment covers one reason
8. 7.

   Card A lists six amendments between 1870 and 1971. Pia says voting rights widened at a steady pace. What do the gaps between neighboring years show?

   • Speeding up: each gap is shorter than the one before it, from 43 years down to 7
   • Steady: each gap is at least 3 years, so the changes did not come close together
   • Steady: six amendments in 101 years is about one per 17 years, which is a regular pace
   • Not steady: the gaps run 43, 7, 41, 3 and 7 years, so changes came in clusters and long pauses
9. 8.

   Ren reads card A. Which question can the chart answer?

   • Why Congress proposed the 26th Amendment in 1971 and who argued for it
   • In what order the amendments were ratified
   • How many people gained the vote when the 19th was ratified in the year 1920
   • Which states were the last to ratify each amendment on the chart
10. 9.

    Card A's note says most states set the voting age at 21 before the 26th. Tala says no state let people under 21 vote. What fits?

    • False: the note says that no state set the age at 21 before the year 1971
    • True: the chart sets 21 in 1971, so no state could have set a lower age before that
    • True: the 26th set 18 because each state had set the age at 21 before it was ratified
    • 'Most' is not all, so the note leaves room for states with a lower age
11. 10.

    Zee wants to know exactly what the 24th Amendment bans. Which source is best?

    • The Voting Rights Act, since it covers the same topic and is a stronger kind of law than the chart
    • The amendment's own text, since the chart only sums it up
    • Card A, since the chart was made from the amendment and so says everything the amendment says
    • The year 1964, since the date settles the meaning of the words that the amendment uses