The original Constitution left voting rules to the states (Article I, Section 2), and in 1789 most states limited voting mainly to white men who owned property or paid taxes. Since the Civil War, six amendments have widened the vote or changed how officials are chosen. They build on the civil rights laws you just studied, and the laws on them.
| Amendment | Ratified | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Fifteenth | 1870 | The vote may not be denied "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." |
| Seventeenth | 1913 | Senators are elected directly by the voters, not by state legislatures. |
| Nineteenth | 1920 | The vote may not be denied "on account of sex." |
| Twenty-third | 1961 | The District of Columbia gets electors for President (three). |
| Twenty-fourth | 1964 | No poll tax in federal elections. |
| Twenty-sixth | 1971 | Citizens 18 and older may not be denied the vote "on account of age." |
Why it works
Read the wording closely: most of these say the vote "shall not be denied or abridged... on account of" something. They forbid certain reasons for keeping people from voting; they do not list everyone who may vote. States still set most rules within those limits: registration, residence, voting places, ballot design. That is why the Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, did not stop poll taxes, literacy tests and violence from shutting most Black citizens out of voting in much of the South for nearly a century, until the Twenty-fourth Amendment, the Voting Rights Act (1965) and Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966), which struck down poll taxes in state elections, 6 to 3. The Seventeenth and Twenty-third change how officials are chosen rather than who may vote.
Key idea
15th (1870): race. 17th (1913): direct election of senators. 19th (1920): sex. 23rd (1961): D.C. electors. 24th (1964): no poll tax in federal elections. 26th (1971): age 18. Each forbids a reason for denial; states set the other rules.
Worked example: Which amendment?
In 1962 a state charges a fee to vote for President. Which amendment, ratified two years later, ended that?
- A fee to vote is a poll tax.
- The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) banned poll taxes in federal elections.
- State elections followed with Harper (1966).
Answer: The Twenty-fourth.
Worked example: Counting the years
How many years passed between the Fifteenth and the Nineteenth Amendments?
- Fifteenth: 1870. Nineteenth: 1920.
- 1920 − 1870 = 50.
Answer: 50 years.
Common mistake
Thinking the Constitution gives everyone a right to vote in so many words. The amendments forbid denying the vote on account of race, sex, a poll tax or age (18 and over); states set most voting rules within those limits. Check the wording: "shall not be denied... on account of."