The Right To Vote: The Contested History Of Democracy In The United StatesMost Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. is, in fact,the story of a struggle to achieve this right by our society's marginalized groups. In The Right to Vote, Duke historian Alexander Keyssar explores the evolution of suffrage over the course of the nation's history. Examining the many features of the history of the right to vote in the U.S.—class, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, and age—the book explores the conditions under which American democracy has expanded and contracted over the years.Keyssar presents convincing evidence that the history of the right to vote has not been one of a steady history of expansion and increasing inclusion, noting that voting rights contracted substantially in the U.S. between 1850 and 1920. Keyssar also presents a controversial thesis: that the primary factor promoting the expansion of the suffrage has been war and the primary factors promoting contraction or delaying expansion have been class tension and class conflict. |
Contents
PART I | 1 |
Democracy Ascendant | 26 |
Backsliding and Sideslipping | 53 |
Copyright | |
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30 days African Americans alien American Suffrage argument ballot California century citizenship civil rights Congress Constitutional Convention convicted of bribery days in county Debates decades decision declared Democracy Democrats discrimination disfranchisement district economic effect with statehood Election Laws electoral enfranchisement equal protection clause excluded felony Fifteenth Amendment Fourteenth Amendment franchise Freehold History of Suffrage Illinois immigrants Indians infamous crime issue January Jersey Justice labor legislation legislature literacy tests Massachusetts ment Michigan Mississippi months in county movement municipal Native Americans nineteenth North Carolina Ohio participation partisan Party pauper Pennsylvania political rights poll tax population precinct property requirements provisions racial reform representation Republicans residency requirements restrictions Rhode Island right of suffrage right to vote rules Senate social South southern suffragists Supreme Court Texas tion town turnout U.S. citizen United universal suffrage Virginia voters Voting Rights Act Washington Williamson Woman Suffrage women York