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
   • Yes: the 15th, since a fee that keeps some people from voting denies them the vote on account of race
   • Yes: the 24th banned poll taxes, and a ban on the tax covers each election in each state of the nation
   • Not the 24th: the chart says it banned poll taxes in federal elections only, and a governor's race is a state one
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 26th, in 1971: before it, most states set the voting age at 21
   • The 24th, in 1964, since the age of 21 was written into the ban on poll taxes of that year
   • The 19th, in 1920, since it widened the vote to people who had been left out before that year
4. 3.

   Esme asks what the 23rd Amendment changed for Washington, D.C. Using card A, what fits?

   • It gave D.C. electoral votes for President, which it did not have before the amendment
   • It let D.C. elect senators, since the 17th Amendment had voters elect senators directly
   • It gave D.C. a governor and a legislature, since electoral votes are cast by state governments
   • It let D.C. residents vote in each election, which they had not been able to do before 1961
5. 4.

   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: 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
   • Soon: both are about who may vote, so the second was the next step after the first one
6. 5.

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

   • Overstated: the chart says denial on account of race was barred, not that every other barrier was gone
   • 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
   • False: the 15th applied to elections for federal offices alone, so voting in the states was left alone
7. 6.

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

   • Shown: 'directly' means that before 1913 no group chose senators and the seats were filled by default
   • Not shown, since the chart is about voting rights and so cannot include a change about the Senate
   • 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
8. 7.

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

   • Race protection began in 1870 and sex protection in 1920, so each amendment covers one reason
   • 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
   • Not at any time, since the chart lists no amendment that names a Black woman or any other single group
9. 8.

   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: 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
   • Steady: each gap is at least 3 years, so the changes did not come close together
10. 9.

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

    • How many people gained the vote when the 19th was ratified in the year 1920
    • In what order the amendments were ratified
    • Why Congress proposed the 26th Amendment in 1971 and who argued for it
    • Which states were the last to ratify each amendment on the chart
11. 10.

    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?

    • 'Most' is not all, so the note leaves room for states with a lower age
    • 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
    • False: the note says that no state set the age at 21 before the year 1971