[FONT=Palatino,Book Antiqua]American Voting Rights Timeline[/FONT]
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1776 White men with property can vote. Free black men can vote in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
1789 Establishment of the American democracy. White
men with property can vote. Poor people cannot vote. Women, Native Americans, and enslaved African-Americans cannot vote.
1790 Between 1770 and 1790, each state handles its own naturalization laws. In 1790 the US passes its first law that grants citizenship to white men and some women. The right to vote is only for whites who have lived in the country for two years. In 1798 the law is changed so that white immigrants must live in the US for 14 years before they can become citizens. This changed to 5 years in 1902.
1820 The property laws are taken off the books and whites can vote even if they do not own property. But they must pay a poll tax or be able to read and, in some places, they must pass religious tests to vote.
1840 Poll taxes, literacy taxes, and religion tests are taken off the books. Only white men can vote.
1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War. The treaty guarantees citizenship to Mexicans living in the newly acquired territories of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada. Voting rights are denied -- Mexican-Americans are not allowed to vote despite having US citizenship. Property laws, language and literacy requirements keep people from voting. "Night Riders" use intimidation and violence.
1860 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts allow free black men to vote.
1866 The Civil War ends in 1865. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 grants citizenship to native-born Americans but excludes Native Americans.
1870 The 15th Amendment establishes the right of African-American men to vote. In the South especially, poll taxes, reading requirements, physical violence, property destruction, hiding the polls, and economic pressures keep most African-Americans from voting.
1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act bars people of Chinese ancestry from becoming citizens. They cannot vote.
1887 The Dawes Act gives citizenship only to Native Americans who give up their tribal affiliations.
1890 The Indian Naturalization Act grants citizenship to Native Americans in an application process similar to immigrant naturalization.
1901 Congress grants citizenship to Native Americans living in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
1920 White and African-American women gain the right to vote. (Prior to 1920, some parts of the country let some women vote. For what or for whom they could vote depended on where they were. Some could vote only in school elections.)
1921 The Sons of America organize to fight for equality and the rights of Mexican-American citizens, including the right to vote. It will be 1975 before the right to vote is available to all Mexican-Americans.
1922 In the case of Takao v. United States the US Supreme Court upholds the 1790 Naturalization Act that barred Asian-Americans from becoming citizens. This enforces the policy of no voting rights for Asian immigrants.
1923 The court ruling in the case Bhagat Sing Thind v. The US rules that Asian Indians are eligible for citizenship. Technically it means that they can vote because they are now citizens. However, almost all immigrants who are people of color continue to be denied the right to vote.
1924 The service of Native Americans during World War I helps bring about the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. The Act grants Native Americans citizenship, but many western states refuse to allow them to vote.
1943 Chinese Exclusion Act is repealed, making immigrants of Chinese ancestry eligible for citizenship.
1946 Filipinos are now allowed to become citizens.
1952 The McCarran-Walter Act repeals the racial restrictions of the 1790 Naturalization Law. First-generation Japanese can now become citizens.
1965 In direct response to the Civil Rights movement, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is enacted. It bans literacy tests and provides federal enforcement of black voter registration and voting rights.
1970 The 1970 Voting Rights Act bans literacy tests in 20 states including New York, Illinois, California, and Texas.
1971 The 26th Amendment gives full voting rights to 18-year-olds. This is a response to demonstrations demanding the vote for men under the age of 21 who were being drafted and sent to Vietnam.
1975 The Voting Rights Act is amended to include language assistance to minority voters. Language requirements have been used routinely to keep the vote from US-born citizens who speak other languages. It is now that the Voting Rights Act has some real impact and enforcement in the Southwest.
1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act requires access to the polls and to the ballot.
