The Real Story of the American Revolution 

Extending Liberty to Groups Originally Omitted

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On this page: Who Could Vote in 1783? | Extending Sufferage | Slaves | Women

Latest Changes: 07Mar10 - created / 07May10 - add Amendments on sufferage / 08Apr18 - add Benezet /

Who Could Vote in 1783?  The task of achieving independence was monumental and the risk and potential cost of failure were high. The patriots included many of the men who were best-educated and most experienced in governance in the colonies. The conversion from subservient colonies to inter-dependent states had to include safeguards against internal strife based on race, gender, religion, social status, and political philosophy as well as provisions to defend against external threats from European and Amerindian nations. Several major social/ethnic groups were barely mentioned in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Children, adult females, and adult male slaves and were included in the number used to establish the number of U.S. Representatives -- to be computed from enumerations of population as "the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a number of years" (thus including men, women, and children of any race), excluding "Indians who are not taxed", and including "three-fifths of [the number of] all other persons" (by which was meant slaves -- both men, women, and children). Women and children are not mentioned elsewhere. Slavery is implied only in the very obscure language of Article I Section 9(1), which -- in referring to the option to ban the slave trade in 1808 -- says The migration or importing of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress until 1808, after which Congress was free to consider and to ban the importation of slaves.

Amendments that Extended the Right to Vote  Since the Bill of Rights was passed the U.S. Constitution has been amended fewer than twenty times in the past 200 years. Several amendments to the U.S. Constitution eliminated criteria that at one time were acceptable (to many of the then-voting citizens) but later were considered an inappropriate basis for denying some classes of people the right to vote. 1870: Amendment 15: "the right of citizens ... to vote shall not be denied ... on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" 1920: Amendment 19: "the right of citizens ... to vote shall not be denied ... on account of sex." 1961: Amendment 23: is not easy to understand, but it allowed residents of the District of Columbia to participate in the election of the President and Vice President only -- adding to the Electoral College three electors from DC. 1964:Amendment 24: the right of citizens ... to vote shall not be denied ... by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax." 1971: Amendment 26: "the right of citizens ... who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied ... on account of age." However, people may be denied the right to vote for reasons other than those mentioned in the five Amendments above. For example, the right to vote is denied to people who have been convicted of a felony (a serious crime -- typically punishable by imprisonment for a year or more). Also, although Congress taxes the residents of the District of Columbia, these citizens are not allowed to elect any U.S. Senators or a voting Representative to Congress -- they have a non-voting Representative.

Adult Male Slaves Were Not Free and Could Not Vote 1783-1865  Origins of Abolition Anthony v was born in France to a Huguenot (French Protestant) family. Like many other Huguenots they fled to London in order to avoid persecution at the hands of French Catholics. When Anthony was 17 the Benezet family emmigrated to Philadelphia . There he joined the Society of Friends (Quakers) and began a career as an educator. Ref: Based on an article on www.history.com In 1750 he began teaching slave children in his home after regular school hours. In 1754 he established the first American school for girls. In 1758 he and fellow Quaker John Woolman persuaded the Philadelphia Quaker Yearly Meeting to state its opposition to slavery . In 1772 he wrote a tract, "Some Historical Account of Guinea", arguing for abolition. In 1773 he persuaded the Quakers to create the Negro School at Philadelphia. On April 14, 1775, he organized the first American society dedicated to the cause of abolition -- the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. In 1784 Anthony Benezet died, and the society's name was changed to the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage In 1787 Benjamin Franklin lent his prestige to the organization by serving as its president. Political tensions related to the continuance of slavery wracked the nation for ninety years before Emancipation, and although legal slavery was banned extensive racial discrimination and violence continued for more than a hundred years. "The American Revolution and Slavery", by Charles W. Miller, PhD, explores the nation's journey from a heritage of slavery to emancipation. Supplemental information to the above article.

Adult Women Could Not Vote 1783-1920  While they represented a much larger fraction of the population women were denied the right to vote or to hold office until 1920, about 130 years after the Bill of Rights was ratified. Two milestone along the long path to sufferage were A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) was the first great feminist treatise, arguing for the equal education of men and women. [link to text] The Declaration of Sentiments (1848), enumerated the rights that had been denied to women in the U.S.

Abraham Lincoln: on the Duty of Every Citizen On Jan 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln spoke to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield. His topic was "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions". In the first two paragraphs he spoke about our legacy and duty as citizens, saying that we inherited from our ancestors       a political edifice of liberty and equal rights, and that our only obligation is       to transmit these --       the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader;       the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation       -- to the latest generation.... He continued, refering to the patriots of 1776 in the triumphal phrasing of those times,       They were the pillars of the temple of liberty;       and now that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall,       unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars,       hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Full text [TeachingAmericanHistory.org]

The original Constitution was imperfect, but it is somewhat of a miracle that those who framed it were able to get it ratified. Later generations have modified the original structure as the people and their legislators engaged in social negotiation to adapt it (through laws and amendments) to continuing, competing, and changing needs. The challenge for citizens today is to respect its heritage, and -- if amendment seems desirable -- to ensure that any changes will respect individual rights while guarding against problems caused by human passions and follies.

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