Keyssar, Alexander. The right to vote; the contested history of democracy in the United States.Basic Books. 479p. notes. index. c2000. 0465-02969-8. $18.00. A YAs are not the primary audience for this 500-page tome. It is filled with page after page of fine print, only occasionally interrupted by b/w charts. Some sentences require a second (or third) reading for clarification. Readership within this age group will be limited to future political science majors and to serious student-researchers who are investigating voting-related topics. Although the discussions of enfranchisement The act of making free (as from Slavery); giving a franchise or freedom to; investiture with privileges or capacities of freedom, or municipal or political liberty. Conferring the privilege of voting upon classes of persons who have not previously possessed such. and disenfranchisement dis·en·fran·chise tr.v. dis·en·fran·chised, dis·en·fran·chis·ing, dis·en·fran·chis·es To disfranchise. dis through the centuries are informative and interesting, few will read it cover-to-cover. Still, it will be a valuable reference tool. The extensive index makes it easy to locate specific topics and the 40 pages of notes indicate the thoroughness of the author's research. The author goes far beyond the familiar battle for women's suffrage The term women's suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. The movement's origins are usually traced to the United States in the 1820s. and the struggle for minority voting and includes other groups not frequently considered in the electoral process. Keyssar takes a chronological approach. The reader will find that the original voters were white male property owners and that attempting to widen the electorate to include other groups was frequently a struggle. There was a gradual, often inconsistent, widening of the electorate to the universal suffrage Noun 1. universal suffrage - suffrage for all adults who are not disqualified by the laws of the country right to vote, suffrage, vote - a legal right guaranteed by the 15th amendment to the US Constitution; guaranteed to women by the 19th amendment; "American enjoyed today. Blacks in the South, working class immigrants, and women were the major groups in the battle for enfranchised/disenfranchised. Native Americans, Irish Catholics Irish Catholics is a term used to describe people of Roman Catholic background who are Irish or of Irish descent. The term is of note due to Irish immigration to many countries of the English speaking world, particularly as a result of the Irish Famine in the 1840s - 1850s, , felons, paupers, and other groups experienced difficulty along the way to universal suffrage. Grandfather clauses grandfather clause, provision in constitutions (adopted 1895–1910) of seven post–Reconstruction Southern states that exempted those persons who had been eligible to vote on Jan. , literacy tests, secret organizations, and poll taxes were among the other problems various groups faced. A complete historical perspective. Prof. John E. Boyd, Jenkintown, PA |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion