Yes I know I have not posted for two days. I havn't really gotten around to it. If any of you have been dissapointed, I am truefully sorry. Anyway, back to history. Since right now in class we finished studying the Progressive Era of the United States I want to post up something on U.S. history. As many of you probably know, perfect democracy didn't just magically appear when the Constitution was written. Proof, just look at all the amendments and Supreme Court cases. Each one deals with changing or clarifying the U.S. constitution. The road to today was long, painstaking, and sometimes stopped. Even today our democracy is far from perfect, you'd know that if you watched the news. In the beginning the only people allowed to vote were white, male, citizens who owned substantial property. This would be like farms and businesses. During the 1820's all white males could vote. Next, after the Civil War, African American men were supposedly allowed to vote, in the late tens of the 20th century women were finally given suffrage, and only a few decades ago any citizen 18 or older could vote. But if you think our only job with the government is voting, you're wrong. That's where our Progressive buddies helped us out. Remember the big California recall thing? That is only possible because of the efforts to give the average person a bigger say in government. The referendum and initiative also came from the Progressive Era.
I am running out of time right now, I'll be back tomorrow morning.
1 comment:
Be careful what you learn in school. Remember, textbooks are written by people with a point of view. In fact, the Constitution of the United States NEVER restricted the right to vote to white males who owned property. NEVER. Article I, Section 2 specifies that eligible electors (voters) are in fact determined by each state; one was eligible to vote in Congressional elections if one was eligible to vote for the "most numerous branch" of the state legislature. There was no "right" to vote for President AT ALL. Article II, Section 2 allows each state to appoint Presidential electors "in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct." A state could choose not to have a Presidential ballot at all, and to let the Governor or legislature appoint the electors (electors, as in "electoral votes").
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