26. Amendment to the United States Constitution
The 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America , Amendment XXVI , grants the right to vote to all citizens 18 years of age or older.
text
Section 1
"The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."
"The right to vote for citizens of the United States who are 18 years of age or older shall not be denied or restricted by the United States or any state on the basis of age."
Section 2
"The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
"Congress has the power to enforce this amendment by law."
Meaning and history
This amendment was proposed to Congress in 1941 by Jennings Randolph, a member of the State of West Virginia. Randolph argued that citizens old enough to fight and die for the country should also be given the right to vote. He was not re-elected in 1946 and had to leave Congress in 1947. In a by-election for the Senate due to the death of Matthew M. Neely , he ran in 1958, was successful again and represented West Virginia from November 1958 to 1985. From the beginning, he brought the addition to each new session, a total of eleven or . twelve times.
Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson wanted the right to vote for people over the age of 18 . A law similar to the proposed addition was passed in the 1960s. The Oregon government fought this in court ( Oregon v. Mitchell ), and the Supreme Court overturned the portions of the law that required states to register citizens over the age of 18 for state-level elections. At this point, five states had already given citizens under the age of 21 the right to vote: Georgia and Kentucky considered 18 years of age as the minimum possible age for elections (1955), Alaska 19 years (1959), Hawaii (1959), and New Hampshire 20 years. Many citizens would like all states to act in this way.
The congress and the legislatures of the individual states felt increasing pressure to introduce the constitutional amendment when many young men were obliged to fight and die for their country in the Vietnam War , but had no right to vote. Knowing this, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to introduce the addition in 1968. The amendment finally passed Congress when it was re-introduced by Randolph in 1971. Within a few months it was ratified by three-quarters of the states, faster than any other constitutional amendment. On July 1, 1971, the 26th Amendment was formally notarized by President Richard Nixon .
An incidentally intended consequence of this constitutional amendment was that many states thereby also granted their citizens other adult rights such as marriage and contracting without the consent of their parents at the age of 18. By the late 1980s, all states had implemented this. Mississippi was the last. Only one right followed an opposite trend. Since 1989, the sale of alcohol has consistently only been permitted to people over the age of 21. In the 1970s, around half of all states had considered reducing the age to a minimum age of mostly 18 years. However, that age has been raised after statistics showed that motorists between the ages of 18 and 20 were more likely to drive drunk.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e The 26th Amendment - Facts & Summary. In: history.com. Retrieved November 11, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e Lowering the Voting age and the 26th Amendment. In: historyforfree.com. July 8, 2013, accessed November 11, 2016 .
