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The history of voting rights essay
History of voting rights in the usa short essay
History of voting rights in the usa short essay
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Evolution of Voting Laws
Greek and roman cultures were considered to be the first great civilizations. They allowed different voting laws for the betterment of their culture and eventually let the elite women of the culture have some sway in laws; even voting in different elections. This happened around two thousand years ago. Then European and the American civilizations today only allowed women to vote after hundreds of years after they were formed. There are many factors on why this happened including past events, history and what was happening at the time, like the populace and the times. The evolution and changes of laws around voting changed because the need for them to change was demanded.
The Greek and Romans had a very sophisticated
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society. They had to have many forms of governments and politics so that they could effectively run their empires. Greeks were the first big civilization to have democracy. It was invented by a Greek Athenian leader named Cleisthenes. In the year 507 B.C., Cleisthenes, a leader in Athens, introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people” (Ancient Greek Democracy, History.com). This system was made of three separate institutions: the ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy; the boule, a council of representatives from the ten tribes in Athens; and the dikasteria, the popular courts where citizens argued cases before a group of jurors that were selected by a lottery. Although the Athenian democracy created here would only survive for two centuries, the invention of Cleisthenes was one of ancient Greece’s longest lasting contributions for the modern world. The Greeks made a political concept which would last to modern time but only allowed certain people to vote. The slaves could not vote, neither could men under the age of eighteen and women at all. The only thing women could do was sway the views of men in charge to what they wanted. Then men who just turned eighteen could then vote in other elections (Ancient Greek Democracy, History.com). The people could only vote on who would write the laws and intervene when the was a conflict around a law and give a ruling on it. The Ancient Greeks were fascinating but eventually taken over by the roman empire. The powerful and rich people of ancient Rome were patricians.
Patricians were the richer people in the world at the time and owned a considerably large amounts of lands. Since they had large amounts of land, which allowed them to gain power, they were deemed patricians, They were the ones who governed the city from the Senate. The Senate was the empire’s governing body during the republic and were voted into office annually by a large group of citizens and also the equites, or men who had property. Equites were people lower in ranking under the patricians (Ancient Roman Politics, Crystalinks). All the social and political power was mostly in the hands of ancient families who are: the Cornelii family, the family of the Caesars, and the Aemilii. The Senate’s power and all other things were lost under the emperors, but the patrician families still held public opinion. The Roman’s sons were sent to be great soldiers so after they became Roman citizens, they were enlisted on their first military campaign. On their return from service in the military, the son of a patrician usually always entered into politics, and sometimes the sons of equites did the same. The young man first stood for election as an aedile, also known as a city councilor. The aediles looked after the corn supply and public amusements. They were basically there just to run the fruitless jobs that were needed. Then the next office that could be achieved was that of the quaestor, also known as the secretary of the …show more content…
treasury. Next step would then be to be elected praetor, also known as a judge. After that, if they were lucky, some men might be lucky enough to be offered a province to govern, during the days of the Empire, or stand for consulship. Under the republic, consuls were magistrates who had the most power in Rome and could do the most in politics other than the emperor’s. The voting laws here were a little more strict than in Greek culture. Here, the women could still only affect laws by swaying the government officials by doing anything they could do (Ancient Roman Politics, Crystalinks). Also unlike ancient greece, they would not allow the young men to vote until after they served in the military. Then in the time of the emperor’s, they could only change laws if they got on the emperor’s good side. The Senate and ran the small and trivial things. Now since that is ancient history, we have learned many things from those two cultures and have affected the American government. In American government, the first voting laws that were in place were in 1867 and 1869 that gave the right to citizenship for native born americans. It also gave african american men the right to vote. Then ratified or approved and written into law on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote. When the U.S. was founded, its female citizens did not have all of the same rights as men, such as the right to vote. In 1848, the movement for women’s rights was launched nationally by a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, organized by abolitionists, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Following the convention, the demand for the vote was the main goal of the women’s rights movement. Stanton, Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, and other activists formed organizations that raised the public awareness of the debate and lobbied the government to grant voting rights to women. After a 70-year battle, these groups finally got what they wanted with the passage of the 19th Amendment. Politics in the greek and roman cultures were started in polis’s.
Polis’s are small urban communities that numbered in the thousands during the time of ancient greece. they had a small government system that allowed them all to vote and be involved in their democracy. These small city states made up the great empires of the Greek and Roman cultures. They could not have been governed better with the concept of democracy. With all the city state's governing themselves then when the bigger political decisions came around that is when the central government, or head of all the other city states, was given the power to decide what would happen to these polises. That is how the founding fathers of the United States of America created their government that lasts even today. They modeled it after two great
civilizations. Women’s Suffrage was a big win for political activists. Then when the Vietnam War rolled around these activists wanted the same right for young men. They also stated that a lot of the young men, that were mostly college students and some older men, that were being drafted or enlisted in the Vietnam War were too inexperienced to have a voice in electing the politicians who were shipping them out to fight. Next state legislations had decreased the voting age, the most noteworthy being Hawaii, Georgia and Kentucky, had already allowed voting to start at an age younger than twenty-one. Then it finally happened, the Twenty-sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified in the year 1971. It stated that it is a requirement that all states must a voting age limit no higher than eighteen. No other state legislature has voted for a younger age, though some of the state’s governments have discussed the topic. Other states, however, allow citizens who will become 18 on or before general elections to vote for or in the caucuses and primary elections (Voting rights in the United States, Wikipedia). This also changed later the abilities of people fighting for what is right. Later came the Civil Rights movement that in the end allowed black people to not be segregated ant to be able to vote without poll taxes and literacy tests. Greek and Roman cultures were considered to be the first great civilizations and allowed different voting laws for the betterment of their cultures. They eventually let the elite women of the culture have some sway in laws, and even voting in different elections. This happened around two thousand years ago. Then European and the American civilizations today only allowed women to vote after hundreds of years after they were formed. There are many factors on why this happened including past events, history and what was happening at the time, like the populace and the times. So the evolution of the voting laws just depended on the times, the events that had happened and the way the population acts.
The roman republic constitution was a set of guidelines and principles passed down through precedent, the roman republic instead of creating a democracy such as that the Athenians created, a monarchy which was previously being used by previous roman rulers and an aristocracy which Sparta used, the Constitution combined elements of all three of these governments to create a combined government known as “Senatus populusque que romanus” (S.P.Q.R) this meant “the senate and the roman people”. The Roman magistrates were elected officials during the period of the Roman kingdom, the ‘king’ (although the Romans preferred not to be called a king and instead a rex) of Rome was the principal executive magistrate, his power was absolute similar to that of a tsar
In the early second century BC, the Roman Senate accrued a powerful ruling over the city’s civil government. Rome’s elite members lived at the heart of Rome and gave power to the members of the Senate. These elite citizens gained nobility through prior ancestors whom held consulships. With the prior influential heritage, they pushed the decisions of the Senate in order to gain more wealth and land. This often meant bribes, threats, and posturing to sway leaders to vote for laws that were favorable. This period did not last for long as for in the latter half of the second century growth in the cities occurred and meant change for the patrician nobility. Tribunes, such as Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus used this change to enforce social policies that were in favor of the plebeians, but also their eventual downfall.
It used to be that the only people who were able to vote in our democracy were white men who owned land. According to the article “The Nineteenth Amendment Grants Women Full Suffrage: August 18,1920” it states, “It was widely assumed that, among married couples, wives would share the views of their husbands and one vote by the husband in effect expressed both spouses’ views” (2). The argument against allowing women to vote was that your husband or father would tell you who to vote for any way so why vote and secondly, women had limited rights on their own. Women were known as second class citizens. A numerous amount of people who were religious opposed the idea of giving women the right to vote. They believed that according to the Bible, women have to listen to what their husbands say. The article also includes that many liquor industries were afraid that if women were granted suffrage they would make alcoholic beverages illegal due to the fact they were big supporters of the
The senate was a collective of the state’s best people, by tradition chosen from the aristocracy. Their role was to advise the elected magistrates. In practice, they came to be the collective of former magistrates. Their authority lay in their advice became like orders to serving magistrates. Their authority lay in their prestige and their experience. The roman senate was basically the governing body of men in Rome. It consisted of few hundred members, all who had to have property or money.
Philosopher A: In the Republic, the Senate was the primary branch of the Roman government and held the majority of the political power. It controlled funds, administration and foreign policy, and had significant influence of the everyday life of the Roman people. When Augustus came to power, he kept the Senate and they retained their legal position. The Emperor’s rule was legitimized by the senate as he needed the senators experience to serve as administrators, diplomats and generals. Although technically the most authoritative individual in Rome, Augustus strived to embody Republican values. He wanted to relate and connect to all parts of society including Plebeians. Through generosity and less extravagance, Augustus achieved a connection with the common people.
A democracy is a system in which the people have all the power who rule through freely elected representatives or directly. A community that was a great example of a democracy, was the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic had great qualities of government, elections, and legislation in their democracy. They did have the right layout and standards of a democracy, but it needed to improve in their voting structure.
The polis emerged out of the scattered villages of early Greece, as a way of building unified states, and centralising government. The establishment of the Greek poleis was a significant political innovation throughout history because it gave rise to new government systems which have become models to the modern state structure. It was characterised by its ability to unite citizens, and through this, resulted in the growth of larger states such as Athens and Spart. Within the poleis there were constitutions, which were developed in conjunction with the purpose to achieve a unified system of government for each state. In addition, this new form of government allowed for citizens to greater participate in political and social matters, which had not been the case in previous ruling powers. Thus, both the development of the constitution and the introduction of a new political structure have both influenced and changed the nature of the state.
In order to completely understand how far society has come and the amount of work that still must be done, in regards to being able to exercise our voting rights, we must first understand some of the voting barriers that minorities had to face in the past. It was not until 1870 that the 15th amendment was passed, declaring it unconstitutional for an individual to be denied the right to vote based on their color, race or previous condition of servitude. However, the 15th amendment only applied to male individuals, it did not guarantee the right for women to vote. Instead female voters had to wait an additional fifty years until they were granted the privilege to vote. In 1920, the 19th amendment was finally passed, stating that regardless of gender every American citizen had the right to vote.
This new Republican government, which was administered by the consuls, was not the easiest to transform. Because of the expansion in Italy, the government began to initiate political institutions. These institutions enforced laws and provided authority which were very similar to imperium. “The Romans had a clear concept of executive authority, embodied in their word imperium, or “the right to command” (Spielvogel 117). Since the Romans were very sensible in their actions, they made and implemented them only as needed. The most essential positions held were the few elected magistrates and the two consuls who were “chosen annually, administered the government and led the Roman army into battle” (Spielvogel 117). If the consul was otherwise occupied, either a dictator or praetor would assume responsibility for the time being.
Much like the US, the Roman Republic had three branches of government: the Consuls, the Senate, and the Assemblies. The Roman government had three elements, each of them possessing independent powers. The Consuls were the “supreme leaders” of the government, and they were the wealthy magistrates of Rome. The Senate proposed laws, just as the Senate in the US government does. Now the part left to the people, the Assemblies. The people could vote for who got into the Assemblies, where they had the final say in the making of a law. This clearly shows how similar the Roman Republic’s government is to the US’s, each of them elements having checks and balances and the people choosing who
Aristotle points out that throughout the process the type of governing was always monarchical from the household all the way up to the polis. The polis though is not a monarchy or oligarchy because of the natural maturi...
From the very early days of the Republic, Rome’s governing leading institutions constitute in magistracies, Senate, and the popular assembly. They had two consuls and these people were the most powerful magistrates and senior military commanders in times of war (Morey, 1901). These consuls were the leading lawmakers, policymakers, and judges and they can only serve for one year. The Senate was composed of three hundred members and members were part of the aristocracy of Rome. The third element in the government of Rome was the assembly. The assembly constitutes in free adult male Romans, which fulfilled three different functions. Their functions involved in electing the magistrates, approving laws, and deciding major legal cases.
Women’s suffrage unlike most believe didn’t start in the united states. The first country to grant national-level voting rights to women was the self-governing British colony of New Zealand, which passed the Electoral Bill in September 1893. The British colony of South Australia granted full suffrage in 1894, giving women the right to vote and to stand for parliament. Australia federated in 1901 and country-wide women’s suffrage followed quickly in 1902. The rest of the would follow suit years after in the 1920’s.
Legend has it that Rome was founded Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. Left to drown in a basket on the Tiber River and rescued by a she-wolf. They found their own city on the river’s banks in 753 B.C. Romulus killed his brother and then became the first king of Rome, which is named for him. (History.com). Early Rome was governed by kings, but only after seven kings, the Romans took power of their city and ruled themselves. They created a council known as the senate which ruled over them, the Roman Republic. Roman-Empire.net states that “The word 'Republic' itself comes from the Latin (the language of the Romans) words 'res publica' which mean 'public matters' or 'matters of state'” (http://www.roman-empire.net/children/history.html) The senate would appoint a consul who ruled over Rome like a king, but for only a year. These consuls would always rule carefully and not as tyrants because they knew that once they served their year, they could be punished by the next consul. Rome had four social classes as stated by Roman-Empire.net that were called “Slaves, Plebeians, Equestrians and Patricia...
The word politics comes from the Greek word "polis", meaning the state or community as a whole. The concept of the "polis" was an ideal state and came from the writings of great political thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle. In his novel "The Republic", Plato describes the ideal state and the means to achieve it. Hence, the word politics originally has connotations in the ways in which to create the ideal society.