Civics in Voting
From 1861 to 1865, our nation fought a Civil War over the central issue of slavery, that ended in the defeat of the Confederacy. An estimated 620,000 men died in the line of duty.[i]
1865 to 1877 saw a period of Reconstruction where newly enfranchised Black people finally gained a voice in government.[ii] During this period, there were three Amendments to the US Constitution:
- the 13th Amendment, 1865, abolished slavery.
- the 14th Amendment, 1868, granted formerly enslaved people the rights of citizenship.
- the 15th Amendment, 1870, guaranteed that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Reconstruction ended when Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, to become President, made a deal with Southern Democrats to remove armed federal troops from the former Confederate states, thereby rendering the Amendments moot and unenforceable.[iii] Jim Crow laws ran rampant suppressing the legal and social rights of Black Americans in Southern states, particularly the right to vote. Literacy tests and poll taxes were imposed.[iv]
After Reconstruction, almost 100 years later, Congress finally acted with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.[v] It was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that removed barriers preventing African Americans from voting. By 2020, the number of Black Americans eligible to vote for president reached 30 million, making up 12.5% of the US electorate.[vi]
Why is this important?
… because unless we act, history will repeat itself.
Why should we know this?
Essential to our democracy is the right to vote. The right to vote, and to have a say in government, is not only a civic right but a human right. Since the 2020 Presidential election, the right to vote has come under siege, and there seems to be no end in sight. By September 2021, at least 19 states enacted laws making it harder to vote.[vii] It is up to Congress to act again.
All votes should matter.
[i] https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties
[ii] https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction
[iii] https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction
[iv] https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/jim-crow-era
[v] https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act
[vi] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/21/key-facts-about-black-eligible-voters-in-2020-battleground-states/
[vii] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-october-2021?ms=gad_voting%20laws_554559194290_8626214133_132347551407&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhMOMBhDhARIsAPVml-Hzhph2b819g2Pq5AFX64tDGfrQUxmaYyRAW_CQ5tPAKnGxoThJbqgaAnj2EALw_wcB