Amendment 26!!
Published on Nov 22, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Amendment 26!!
Photo by Denise Cross Photography
Amendment 26..
- Long debate over lowering voting age from 21 to 18.
- Occurred during WWI and intensified during Vietnam war.
- Young men were denied the right to vote/ fight for their country.
- This happened during the 1970s
Supreme Court Case..
- Oregon Vs. Mitchell ruled that congress had the right to lower age,
- This was not at the state or local levels
- Only allowed for federal elections
- President Richard M. Nixon signed and passed the law on that July
Photo by SEIU International
President Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to publicly state his support.
DWIGHT d eISENHOWER
Voting Rights Act...
- Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
- This was on On June 22, 1970
- Required the voting age to be 18 in all federal, state, and local elections
- Subsequently, Oregon and Texas challenged the law in court.
Oregon vs. Mitchell....
- H append in the 1970s
- The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the parts of the law
- By this time, four states had a minimum voting age below 21
- States would have separate voting rolls for voters between 18 and 20
Famous Quote:"Old enough to fight, old enough to vote,"
Background..
- Congress and the state legislatures came under pressure to lower voting age
- This was in large part due to the Vietnam War
- Young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to fight in the war
- Lacking means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives.
Adoption By Congress...
- On March 10, 1971, the Senate voted 94–0
- Guaranteeing that the voting age could not be higher than 18
- March 23, 1971, the House of Representatives voted 401–19
Untitled Slide
Ratification Of States..
- Twenty-sixth Amendment was sent to the state legislatures for their consideration
- Ratification was completed on July 1, 1971
- 26th amendment became part of constitution after 38 states were ratified
Surprisingly, No action has been taken on the amendment by the states of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah
On this date, the 26th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. In the turmoil surrounding the unpopular Vietnam War, lowering the national voting age became a controversial topic. Responding to arguments that those old enough to be drafted for military service, should be able to exercise the right to vote, Congress lowered the voting age as part of the Voting Rights Act of 1970. The Supreme Court upheld the legislation in a 5 to 4 vote in applying the lowered voting age to federal elections only. A constitutional amendment was required to uniformly reduce the age to 18. Endorsed by Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma, the amendment passed the House by a vote of 401 to 19, on March 23, 1971. The state legislatures in Ohio and North Carolina were the last to approve the amendment before official ratification took effect on July 1, 1972. With the 1972 elections looming, the 26th Amendment was ratified in record time. The Richard M. Nixon administration certified it four days later on July 5
The 26th Amendment was passed faster than any Constitutional amendment. Took-group of young activists from the National Education Association and their allies, to harness the energy of student activism in the 1960's and make the dream a reality.
SOURCES
- www.law.cornell.edu/.../amendmentxxvi Legal Information Institute
- www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment
