This is a timeline of voting rights in the United States, documenting when non white males in the country gained the right to vote or were disenfranchised.

1770s 1780s 1790s 1800s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1980sSee related Wikipedia pages References External links__NOTOC__

1700s 1780s 1789 The Constitution of the United States recognizes that the states have the power to set voting requirements. A few states allowed free Black men to vote, and New Jersey also included unmarried and widowed women who owned property. Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying White males (about 6% of the population). Georgia removes property requirement for voting.

1790s 1790 The Naturalization Act of 1790 allows free White persons born outside of the United States to become citizens. However, since each state set its own requirements for voting, this Act (and its successor Naturalization Act of 1795) did not automatically grant these naturalized citizens the right to vote. 1791 Vermont is admitted as a new state, giving the vote to all men regardless of color or property ownership. 1792 New Hampshire removes property ownership as requirement to vote. Kentucky is admitted as a new state, giving the vote to free men regardless of color or property ownership, although the vote would shortly be taken away from free Black people. Delaware removes property ownership as requirement to vote, but continues to require that voters pay taxes. 1798 Georgia removes tax requirement for voting.

1800s 1800 Only three states, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have universal white male suffrage.

1807 Voting rights are taken away from free black men and all women in New Jersey.

1819 Economic crisis stemming from the Panic of 1819 led to greater calls from propertyless men for the abolition of restrictions to voting; by 1830, the number of states with universal white male suffrage had risen to ten, although six still had property qualifications and eight had taxpaying qualifications. Territories on the frontier, eager to attract new settlers, also helped expand suffrage.

1821

In 1821, the state of New York held a constitutional convention which removed property requirements for white male voters, but required that "persons of colour" own $250 worth of property, "over and above all debts," in order to vote. White male voters were instead required to pay a tax, but this rule was abolished in an amendment of 1826. Requirements for persons of color were not affected by this amendment. Due to the state's policy of gradual emancipation, slavery persisted until 1827, but until then the proportion of African Americans who were free (and thus potential voters) steadily increased. Native Americans still controlled large territories in Upstate New York, and though typically excluded from citizenship altogether, the property requirement applied to any voter who was not white.

1828 The 1828 presidential election was the first in which non-property-holding white males could vote in the vast majority of states. By the end of the 1820s, attitudes and state laws had shifted in favor of universal white male suffrage. Maryland passes a law to allow Jews to vote. Maryland was the last state to remove religious restrictions for voting.

1830s 1837 Voting rights are taken away from free black men in Pennsylvania. 1838 Kentucky women are allowed to vote in school elections.

1840s 1840 Voter turnout soared during the 1830s, reaching about 80% of adult white male population in the 1840 presidential election.William G. Shade, "The Second Party System". in Paul Kleppner, et al. Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983) pp. 77–111 1841 The Dorr Rebellion takes place in Rhode Island because men who did not own land could not vote. 1843 Rhode Island drafts a new constitution extending voting rights to any free men regardless of whether they own property, provided they pay a $1 poll tax. Naturalized citizens are still not eligible to vote unless they own property. 1848 Mexicans living in US territories are declared citizens in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but are often discouraged from voting.

1850s 1856 The last state to abolish property qualification was North Carolina.

1860s 1860 Tax-paying qualifications remained in five states in 1860 – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware and North Carolina. They survived in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island until the 20th century. In addition, many poor whites were later disenfranchised. 1866 Wisconsin gives black men the right to vote after Ezekiel Gillespie fights for his right to vote. 1867

Congress passes the District of Columbia Suffrage Act over Andrew Johnson's veto, granting voting rights all free men living in the District, regardless of racial background.

1868 Citizenship is guaranteed to all male persons born or naturalized in the United States by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, setting the stage for future expansions to voting rights. November 3: The right of black men to vote in Iowa is approved through a voter referendum.

1869 Women in Wyoming get equal suffrage rights.

1870s 1870 The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era began soon after. Former Confederate states passed Jim Crow laws and amendments to effectively disfranchise black and poor white voters through poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and other restrictions, applied in a discriminatory manner. During this period, the Supreme Court generally upheld state efforts to discriminate against racial minorities; only later in the 20th century were these laws ruled unconstitutional. Black males in the Northern states could vote, but the majority of black males lived in the South. Women in Utah get the right to vote. 1875 Minor v. Happersett goes to the Supreme Court, where it is decided that suffrage is not a right of citizenship and women do not necessarily have the right to vote. 1876 Native Americans are ruled non-citizens and ineligible to vote by the Supreme Court of the United States. Virginia amends their state constitution to include paying a poll tax as a requirement to vote. Connecticut amends its constitution to remove the requirement of being white to vote.

1880s 1882 Chinese immigrants lose the right to become citizens and thus the ability to gain the right to vote through the Chinese Exclusion Act. Virginia amends their state constitution to eliminate paying the poll tax as a requirement to vote. 1883 Women in Washington Territory earn the right to vote. 1887 Citizenship is granted to Native Americans who are willing to disassociate themselves from their tribe by the Dawes Act, making those males technically eligible to vote, however they were not considered “white” in many southern states and were routinely turned away at voting booths as were many other ethnicities that modern people would not view as “non-white” such as Italians, Greeks, and Irish. Women in Washington lose the right to vote. Women in Utah lose the right to vote under the Edmunds–Tucker Act. Kansas women earn the right to vote in municipal elections. Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, and South Dakota grant partial suffrage to women.

1890s 1890 Native Americans can apply for citizenship through the Indian Naturalization Act. 1893 Colorado passes full women's suffrage. Women in Connecticut gain the right to vote for school officials. 1894

Kentucky women are granted school suffrage voting rights in Covington, Lexington, and Newport.

1896 Women in Utah regain the right to vote. Grandfather clauses are enacted in Louisiana in order to disenfranchise black voters. Women's suffrage is won in Idaho. 1899 The right to vote in the territory of Hawaii is restricted to English and Hawaiian speaking men and the territory is not allowed to make its own suffrage legislation.

1900s 1901

Alabama enacts a cumulative poll tax in their state constitution. This means that all taxes that should have been paid since an eligible voter turned 21 must be paid before voting.

1902

Virginia amends their state constitution to bring back the poll tax as a requirement to vote. Women's limited school suffrage voting rights in Kentucky is repealed.

1910s 1910 Washington state restores women's right to vote through the state constitution. 1911 California women are granted the right to vote following the passage of California Proposition 4. 1912 Women in Arizona and Kansas are granted the right to vote. Women in Oregon are granted the right to vote. 1913 Direct election of Senators, established by the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, gave voters rather than state legislatures the right to elect senators. White and African American women in the Territory of Alaska earn the right to vote. Women in Illinois are granted the right to vote in presidential elections. 1914 Nevada and Montana women are granted the right to vote. 1917 Women in Arkansas are granted the right to vote in primary elections. Women in Rhode Island are granted the right to vote in presidential elections. Women in Vermont are granted the right to vote for some elected positions at the city and town level. Women in New York, Oklahoma, and South Dakota earn equal suffrage through their state constitutions. 1918 Women in Texas are granted the right to vote in primary elections. Women in South Dakota earn the right to vote with the passage of the Citizenship Amendment.

1920s 1920 Women are guaranteed the right to vote by the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In practice, the same restrictions that hindered the ability of non-white men to vote now also applied to non-white women. 1923

Texas passes a white primary law.

1924 All Native Americans are granted citizenship and the right to vote through the Indian Citizenship Act, regardless of tribal affiliation. By this point, approximately two thirds of Native Americans were already citizens. Notwithstanding, some western states continued to bar Native Americans from voting until 1957. South Dakota refused to follow the law. 1925 Alaska passes a literacy test designed to disenfranchise Alaska Native voters. 1926

Georgia passes a cumulative poll tax rule.

1927

Nixon v. Herndon is heard by the Supreme Court, which rules that white primary laws are unconstitutional.

1930s 1932

Nixon v. Condon is heard by the Supreme Court which strikes down a Texas law to allow political parties to choose who can vote in their primary elections. 1933

November 7: Pennsylvania passes a state constitutional amendment that removes the requirement of voters to be "taxpayers," however, a poll tax continued to be collected.

1935

Grovey v. Townsend decides that the Democratic Party, as private organization, can determine who is allowed to join and therefore vote in the primaries. 1936

Women in the United States Virgin Islands are granted the right to vote after a Federal court issues a mandamus to add women to the list of qualified voter registrants.

1937

Breedlove v. Suttles was heard by the Supreme Court which decides that Georgia is allowed to impose a poll tax.

1940s 1943 Chinese immigrants are given the right to gain citizenship and thus the right to vote by the Magnuson Act. 1944

The decision in Grovey v. Townsend is overturned by the case, Smith v. Allwright heard before the Supreme Court. It is decided that primary elections are an "integral component of the electoral process" and discrimination in participation in the primaries was prohibited.

1948 Arizona and New Mexico are among the last states to extend full voting rights to Native Americans, which had been opposed by some western states in contravention of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.