We’ve Voted From the First, a Widening Circle of People in Good Times or in Bad

“We, the People . . . . “

What has been called the first liberty, the precious right to vote, will once again be exercised by the American people. Tuesday, “we, the people” will say either “yes” or “no” to candidates George Bush and Michael S. Dukakis, and in the process validate the essence of American democracy--that the might and power of the government of the United States is vested in the people, that it is the people to whom the American government is periodically and fundamentally accountable.

The right to vote has its roots in early American history predating the Revolution of 1776. When George Washington ran for the House of Burgesses in colonial Virginia in 1757, he was elected by a majority of 391 voters, all “freeholders,” land-owning males whom he wooed, in part, by providing the following: 28 gallons of rum, 50 of rum punch, 34 of wine, 46 of beer, and 2 gallons of brandy called Cider Royal. The voters averaged a quart and a half per man. Washington wrote: “I hope no exceptions were taken to any that had voted against me, but that all were alike treated and all had enough.”

Today the process of candidates courting the citizenry continues on a scale and magnitude that would have seemed unbelievable to America’s Founding Fathers. It is estimated that more than $2 billion will have been spent by candidates in this presidential election year, and that more than 90 million people will vote. These figures are a measure of how vitally important the votes of the American people are to its governors, and also how much democracy has expanded since those early colonial days.

The first struggle for expanding the vote in America took place between 1790 and 1850 and focused on broadening suffrage for white adult males. The fight was against property qualifications that were progressively reduced in the various states. Frontier states like Kentucky and Tennessee were the first to lead the way, and among the original 13 states, Rhode Island was the last.

The next great battle involved the black people of America. After the Civil War their right to vote was proclaimed by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which stated that a citizen’s right to vote could not be abridged because of race, color or previous condition of servitude. Tragically, what was declared in principle was, in the Southern states, denied in practice. Through violence, coercion and fraud the suffrage rights of blacks were blocked or severely restricted, and it was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965--which suspended the poll tax, literacy tests, and similar subterfuges--that they saw the promise of the 15th Amendment fulfilled.

Sex and age were the last two barriers to fall. It was in the colony of Maryland that a woman made the first attempt in American history to get the vote. Her name was Margaret Brent and in 1648 she asked the General Assembly for suffrage but was unanimously turned down. Since then, as the saying goes, “you’ve come a long way, baby.” In 1889 Wyoming was the first state to confer on women the right to vote. In quick succession a number of Western states followed Wyoming’s example, and in 1920 the 19th Amendment established women’s right to vote as the law of the land. In 1971 the 26th Amendment extended the franchise even further by lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

This history stands in marked contrast to the actions of today’s totalitarian dictatorships that invoke the language of democracy while denying its principles and practices. Spokesmen for these despotisms are adept at rationalizing the denial of liberties, including the right to vote. To this fulminating demagogy Americans can proudly answer:

We voted at our creation despite political inexperience and immaturity. We voted when we were poor and underdeveloped. We voted during our great emergencies--the Civil War, the Great Depression and two world wars. We never denied freedom of choice. We never found reason to silence the voice of the people. And now, once again, we pass judgment on our leaders casting an electoral verdict which, to the question, “Who shapes your destiny?” provides the unalterable answer, “We, the people.”