Definition Of Suffrage Essay

Suffrage is defined as the right to vote. Ambrose Bierce once said, “Suffrage, noun. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man 's choice, and is highly prized.” In Ambrose Bierce lifetime, he saw two different amendments passed; the fifteenth, which stated: citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or previous condition of servitude in 1870, and the seventeenth, which allowed for the direct election of senators by the voters instead of their election by state legislatures in 1913, amendments. These were not the only amendments though. All together, there is six amendments, the fifteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth, twenty- third, twenty- fourth and twenty-sixth. The fifteenth amendment was passed in 1870 and stated that citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or previous condition of servitude. The seventeenth amendment was passed in 1913 and allowed for the direct election of senators by the voters instead of their election by state

Then it eventually went to were African American males could vote if they were willing to jump through several hoops. But in the same year, African Americans and women were allowed to legally vote. The first amendment played a crucial role in the epic struggles of the modern civil rights movement that started on December 1, 1955 by Rosa Parks to when it ended on April 4, 1968 by James Earl Ray when he assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others engaged in protest, marches and others demonstration to force social change. The first amendment paved the way for the civil right activist to protest on the streets of Birmingham and