The extension of the suffrage during this period is closely associated with the development of the West. Whereas the eastern states removed property and religious qualifications only after a struggle, many western states imposed few or no restrictions upon the suffrage, but from the start were committed to the principle of equality at the polls. The doctrine that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed was popular in the West; indeed, it was here that the doctrine was first applied to the problem of suffrage in a definite and practical manner. In the more sparsely settled portions of the country, able-bodied men were more important than social distinctions and religious ties, so much so, in fact, that some of the western states attracted settlers by giving the vote to aliens who had announced their intention of becoming citizens. After the Civil War some of the southern states made similar advances to European immigrants.
After the Civil War the suffrage movement was profoundly affected by the Negro question. The Thirteenth Amendment, adopted in 1865, had merely abolished slavery. In the subsequent discussion over the status of the Negro, some white men held that the theory of natural rights entitled the freed Negroes to the suffrage. This view was opposed by many, particularly in the South. Nevertheless, in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution provided that any state denying any of its male adult citizens the right to vote might suffer a reduction in its congressional representation. Two years later (1870) the Fifteenth Amendment went a step further, and declared that the right of citizens of the United States to vote might not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
The nineteenth century also witnessed an increased interest in woman suffrage. The proposition was not unknown even in colonial times, but the earlier state constitutions and statutes had almost invariably excluded women from the vote. After the middle of the century the woman suffrage movement grew rapidly, stimulated, to a considerable extent, by the movement for abolition and Negro suffrage. In 1852 Susan B. Anthony assumed leadership of the woman suffrage movement, and in 1875 she drafted a proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution which would provide for woman suffrage throughout the country. The territory of Wyoming had extended women full suffrage in 1869, and a decade later the right to vote in school elections had been extended the women of Michigan, Minnesota, and several other States. By 1896 Colorado, Idaho, and Utah had extended full suffrage to women.
413. DECLINE OF THE NATURAL RIGHTS THEORY.—During the latter half of the nineteenth century the doctrine of natural rights was of declining importance as a basis of the suffrage. The doctrine was illogical, for not even its most ardent advocates would go so far as to maintain that paupers and mental defectives had an inherent right to vote. Nor did anyone claim that persons under twenty-one years of age had such a right.
As time went on, the connection between the suffrage and the doctrine of natural rights seemed more and more remote. Men came gradually to believe that the suffrage was not a right but a privilege, and that the capacity of the individual to use the vote in the public interest was the factor which should determine whether or not he should enjoy the suffrage. This changed viewpoint reflected itself in several important shifts in the suffrage movement.
414. SHIFTS IN THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT.—To a considerable extent the decline of the doctrine of natural rights was accompanied by increased restrictions upon the right to vote. We have noted that many western and a few southern states formerly made a practice of extending the vote to aliens who had announced their intention of becoming citizens. After the seventies there was a tendency for such states to withdraw this privilege, and to make citizenship a prerequisite to voting. One reason for this changed attitude was that as time went on immigrant labor was less in demand in the West and South. Still another factor, however, was the abuse of the ballot among unassimilated immigrant groups in our cities.
After the middle of the nineteenth century, there was a growing feeling, originating in New England and spreading westward, that illiterate voters were a menace to sound government. Accordingly, educational tests were imposed in a number of states. These tests generally require voters to be able to read and write.
The enfranchisement of the Negro was followed by reaction. The exercise of the suffrage by ignorant Negroes suddenly admitted to full suffrage, resulted in gross abuses of political power. As a result many southern states eventually passed laws which virtually deny the vote to the larger part of the possible Negro electorate. In some cases white election officials administer the educational test so strictly as to exclude most Negroes. In other cases a property or poll tax qualification has been used to exclude large groups of shiftless Negroes. In still other cases a "grandfather clause" in the state constitution exempts from the educational test all who are descendants of persons voting before the Civil War. This allows white illiterates to vote, but excludes illiterate Negroes.
On the other hand, the cause of woman suffrage was greatly stimulated by the decline of the doctrine of natural rights and the rise of the theory that civic capacity should determine the suffrage. Particularly after 1900 did the agitation take on national importance. A national Woman Suffrage Association was organized, and powerful pressure was brought to bear upon persons of political influence. Between 1910 and 1912 Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona were won to the cause of woman suffrage. Finally in August, 1920, the amendment which Miss Anthony had drafted in 1875 was ratified and declared in force. Women are now allowed the vote on the same terms as men.
415. PRESENT RESTRICTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO VOTE.—The suffrage in the several states at the present time may be summarized as follows: