Voting Rights Act of 1965

¶ … Voting Rights Act of 1965

The struggle for civil rights in America was marked throughout its history by numerous important events which in the end achieved the equality that the U.S. Constitution defined in the 18th century. However, it was an uphill battle which demanded sacrifice and continuous activism. In order to have a more comprehensive view on the actual impact of the Voting Act of 1965 it is important to consider some theoretical aspects of the vote, the historical background of the issue, the steps that led to the signing of the Act, the controversies surrounding the issue, as well as its immediate consequences.

Theoretical aspects of the vote

In a democratically ruled country, the right to vote for every citizen is essential. It represents the individual manifestation of his will and the only means available to influence and decide upon the future of his country. The vote is considered to be the essential link between the people and the governing authorities.

There have been various forms of systems of government throughout history starting which included tyranny, the rule of the elites, and ending with democracy. While the first two did not consider the mechanism established by the vote as being a useful tool in the conduct of politics, democracy is opposed to such a view. As theorists of democracy have argued, pluralism is the means to reject the institution of the absolute power (Dunleavy and O'Leary, 1987). In this sense, the existence of different centers of power gives equilibrium to the society and to the conduct of politics. Moreover, it ensures that tyranny takes hold of the state apparatus. The theory in itself came as a rejection of the inequality created by the monarchical systems existing in Europe in the 18th century. Therefore, a pluralistic point-of-view on the conduct of politics takes into account the existence of a political system with more sources of authority, rather than only one which was embodied in the authority of the monarch. The U.S. Constitution was designed with this aim (Dunleavy and O'Leary, 1987).

Despite the fact that during the first experiences related to the practice of voting, not only in the U.S. But also in Europe were received with an increased interest from the part of the political elites, the population did not manifest such a strong commitment to the actual process. This can be justified through the fact that, on the one hand, the people had little if no ideas about the actual conduct of politics, and, on the other hand, the system of representation was discriminatory (Dunleavy and O'Leary, 1987). However, these two aspects are linked together in an interdependent connection. In this sense, it is impossible to cultivate a sense of political responsibility at the level of the society in the conditions in which an important segment of its structure is deprived of the right to vote.

This was the case in the U.S. For much of its early history. Both women and slaves were not given the right to vote and to express their political choices. Therefore, the voting results did not meet an essential criterion: representativeness. Without a proper representation, it cannot be said that the result of the vote and the ones elected are legitimized by the entire population, an issue Rousseau considered to be at the basis of the "social contract" (Noone, 1970). Indeed, there were various forces that militated for the inclusion of these segments to be included in the process of voting. However, this took time and constant debates over the morality, legality, and need of the right of all citizens to vote.

Historical background

In the early days of the American democracy, there were various conditions one had to meet in order to be eligible for voting. In this sense, "one had to be white (except in a few Northern states), male (except in New Jersey, where women voted until 1807), and a landowner (nearly everywhere)" (Olson, 2006). Taking into account these elements that distinguished the members of the American society, it can now be said that they did not uphold the basic concept of the U.S. Constitution which defines "all men (as being) equal." Hence, it was clear even at that time that there was an obvious discrimination between men, women, and black slaves, especially in the South. Still, the evolution of the emancipation movement was a slow one, with remarkable steps nonetheless.

The situation after the Constitutional rule was established appeared relatively grim. Although there were voices and black people petitioned for their right to express their opinions and beliefs, little had achieved. For instance, "in 1780, seven blacks in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, petitioned the legislature for the right to vote, linking taxation to representation: we apprehend ourselves to be Agreeved in that while we are not allowed the privilege of freemen of the state having no vote or influence in the Elections of those that tax us yet many of our Colour (as is well-known) have cheerfully entered the field of battle in the defense of the Common Cause and that (as we conceive) against a similar exertion of power (in regard to taxation) too well-known to need a recital in this place" (Zinn, 2003). Despite the fact that such petitions did not receive the proper attention at the time, they represented the struggle of the disfranchised to abtain their Constitutional given right.

The vote" is a human right. It is seen as an American right. In a democracy there is nothing more fundamental than having the right to vote." (Jackson, 2006) These are some of the words which express nowadays the commitment of the U.S. democracy for equality and human justice in terms of right, privileges and social duties. In trying to achieve this, women began to militate for their own rights to vote as citizens and as equals to men. By 1848 therefore, Wisconsin adopted one of the most liberal practices in terms of the voting system, allowing people who have been living in the state for a year and who had the intention of staying to vote. Even so, women were still not allowed to vote (the history of voting, 2008). Notwithstanding this possibility, people of different social backgrounds and races were still prevented from voting through different other conditions related to the ability to read and write.

1866 represented a turning point in the history of the voting process in America. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution stating that all males from the age of 21 have the right to vote and no state is permitted to deny such right, was considered the first major step in the direction of universal suffrage (14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 2006). In 1869, through the 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution the barrier of race, color or the former status of slavery was eliminated. Therefore, the right to vote was granted to all men; however, women were still not able to vote.

The end of the century and the beginning of the 20th century was marked by the start of a new trend in the rights of women, who slowly began to be given the right to vote. This was the result of numerous attempts to increase the application of the idea of equality that was stated in the Constitution. Even so, the tax poll restricted poor people to exercise their right to vote.

Women came to be the most disadvantaged segment of the society in terms of the rights and privileges they were given. Thus, by the late 1910s the issue of women suffrage became stringent in the conditions in which the political leadership wanted to give substance to the term equality among men. Thus, "that women are quite generally dependent on the other sex is true. So it is true that men are quite generally dependent on the other sex. It is by no means true that the dependence of either on the other affects the right to the suffrage" (History of Congressional Consideration, n.d.). Such attempts of convincing the Congress eventually paid off and by 1920 women received the right to vote.

The next step in the struggle for the right to vote was the 24th Amendment of the Constitution which came to regulate this issue and stated that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" (Twenty-Fourth Amendment, 1989). Therefore it can be said that the access to the voting system was indeed a hard endeavor and required great pressures on the legislative body and on the political scene. In this sense, the activists militating for human rights and civil rights played a major role in establishing a sense of equality among the citizens of the United States.

The steps and controversies of the Voting Rights Act from 1965

The signing of the Act came to some extent as a natural evolution of the situation in the U.S., given the increased pressures made on the political scene to include all citizens the right to express their political and social choices at the polls. Martin Luther King Jr. was in this sense one of the most important figures of the emancipation process because he constantly tried to advance the issue of the right of black people to vote and bring it to the attention of the public through peaceful manifestations and quiet marches. However, despite his efforts "when Congress wrote the act, many southern states were engaged in extraordinary efforts to deny black citizens their Fifteenth Amendment right to vote" (Ponnuru, 2006). From this point-of-view it was clear that certain modifications had to be made and interventions had to be imposed to states.

Accordingly, the Act tried to resolve a number of issues. Firstly, it tried to give the 14th Amendment a stronger and more important role in the issue of voting. In this sense it underlined the fact that "no voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color," thus pointing out the fact that there should be no obstacle imposed to citizens to exercise their right to vote (Bolick, 1995). It drew the attention thus on the tax poll issue which was indeed a matter of substantial consideration because it limited citizens to vote on account of their financial situation.

Secondly, it tried to solve an issue that had been a long standing affair in relation to the exercise of the right to vote. More precisely, up until that moment it was the federal or state courts legislation that interpreted previous laws and the issue of voting was established case by case. However, these proved to be ineffective, as the "Congress determined that the existing federal anti-discrimination laws were not sufficient to overcome the resistance by state officials to enforcement of the 15th Amendment. The legislative hearings showed that the Department of Justice's efforts to eliminate discriminatory election practices by litigation on a case-by-case basis had been unsuccessful in opening up the registration process; as soon as one discriminatory practice or procedure was proven to be unconstitutional and enjoined, a new one would be substituted in its place and litigation would have to commence anew" (United States Department of Justice, n.d.). Therefore, action had to be taken in order to advance the issue of the right to vote available for all the U.S. citizens in a manner which was more visible and coherent for the legislature of the states and the federal body as well.

Thirdly, the Voting Rights Act also tried to address the issue of the arbitrary determination of the law at the level of the state legislatures. Thus, before the Act was passed by the Congress, state legislature, dominated by the white population, tried to limit the access of black people to the polls by imposing different double standards such as the tax polls, the literacy tests, or the vouchers of good character. These were not practices used throughout the country. They were rather choices made at the local level, an element which draws the attention on the various political considerations in relation to the right to vote, to be elected and to be represented.

Finally, another important issue the Act tried to solve in the American society at the type was the reapportionment of the territory. In the early sixties there were certain practices which tried to influence the relationship between white and black voters. More precisely, in most cases it meant a redistribution of the territory so as to reduce the power of the minority groups and to negatively influence their vote. In this sense, "in many states malapportioned legislative districts had resulted in sparsely-populated rural counties having a much greater share of their state's political power than their state's population (and) certain types of apportionment might unconstitutionally dilute the voting strength of racial minorities" (United States Department of Justice, n.d.). Therefore, the attempt to reduce these practices was visible in the Voting Rights Act.

The major points of the piece of legislation included a series of provisions which tried to deal precisely with the problems facing the society at that particular moment. First and foremost, it legalized the right to vote for every citizen, without consideration to his skin color or race. This was indeed a major breakthrough taking into account the period under discussion when the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak through personalities such as Martin Luther Jing jr, or Malcolm X (Jenkins, 1997).