Constitution Day and Voter Registration: Universal Suffrage
15th Amendment – Suffrage for All Men (1870)
- Black Voting Rights: The Creation of the 15th AmendmentThis website, published by HarpWeek, includes primary source material from Harper’s Weekly (such as editorials, cartoons, and feature stories), an annotated timeline, biographical sketches, and commentary by modern historians.
- 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting RightsThis image from the National Archives shows the House joint resolution proposing the 15th amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of race.
- 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American HistoryThis guide from the Library of Congress includes items from their own collections, newspaper articles, online exhibitions, links to other websites, and a selected bibliography, all on the topic of the 15th Amendment.
- Black Americans in Congress – The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and BloodWhen Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi – the first African American to serve in Congress – toured the United States in 1871, he was introduced as the “Fifteenth Amendment in flesh and blood.” This website from the House of Representatives gives the history of Black Americans in Congress.
- Reconstruction and CitizenshipThis lecture by Columbia University historian Eric Foner explains how the incorporation of former slaves into American citizens helped define citizenship in the United States.
Available in the Library
These books, plus many more, can all be found in the Reference section of our library. Search the Library Online Catalog to find additional resources.
My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
Call Number:
E 449 .D738 2003
The Politics of Reconstruction, 1863-1867 by David Donald
Call Number:
E 668 .D67 1982
19th Amendment – Women’s Suffrage (1920)
“Votes for Women” Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920
This website from the Library of Congress has portraits, photographs, cartoons, and engravings from the Women’s Suffrage Movement.Votes for Women: National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921
This collection from the Library of Congress consists of 167 books, pamphlets and other artifacts documenting the women’s suffrage campaign.Jailed for Freedom by Doris Stevens
First published in 1920, this book available full-text online through Project Gutenberg, offers Stevens’s firsthand account of the women who endured the indifference of Congress and President Woodrow Wilson, the abuse by the press and the police, beatings at the hands of mobs and forced feedings in foul workhouses to force passage of the 19th Amendment.Marching for the Vote: Remembering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913
This website from the Library of Congress tells the story of the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 in Washington, DC.- This document from the Library of Congress lists many of the women who were arrested and imprisoned during their protests for women’s suffrage.
Votes for Women – Guides, Reference Aids, and Finding Aids
This website has selected images from the collections of the Library of Congress of the struggle for Women’s Suffrage.
Available in the Library
These books, plus many more, can all be found in the Reference section of our library. Search the Library Online Catalog to find additional resources.
In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Elisabeth Griffith
Call Number:
HQ 1413 .S67 G74 1984
Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America by Sara M. Evans
Call Number:
HQ 1410 .E83 1989
26th Amendment – Suffrage for Young People (1971)
26th Amendment to the Constitution
This image from the National Archives shows the joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens eighteen years of age or older.Richard Nixon: Statement About Ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution
This website has Richard Nixon’s statement about the ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution on June 30, 1971.Twenty-sixth Amendment Certification Ceremony
This video from Richard Nixon’s Presidential Library shows the 26th Amendment Certification Ceremony.Barry McGuire – Eve of Destruction
This song was one of the ones that protested the fact that 18-year old could get sent to Vietnam, but couldn’t vote for the leaders who sent them there, with the lyrics “You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’.” This recording was from 1965.- This song by The Who is another example of a song lamenting the fact that young people couldn’t vote, with the lyrics, “I went to my congressman and he said Quote: ‘I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote.'”
Twenty-five Years of 18-Year-Old Voting
This CNN article, published in 1996, looks back 25 years after the passage of the 26th Amendment.Presidential Proclamation – 40th Anniversary of the 26th Amendment
Here is the full-text of President Obama’s 2011 proclamation celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 26th Amendment.
Available in the Library
These books, plus many more, can all be found in the Reference section of our library. Search the Library Online Catalog to find additional resources.
Is Voting for Young People?: With a Postscript on Citizen Engagement 1st Ed. With Postscript. By Martin P. Wattenberg
Call Number:
HQ 799 .P6 .W35 2008
The Next Generation: Young Elected Officials and their Impact on American Politics by John R. D. Celock
Call Number:
JK 1726 .C38 2011