The 26th Amendment

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The Draft

In the United States, the federal government can authorize a military draft that randomly selects men aged 18 to 25 and requires that they serve in the military.

During the World War II draft, these men were sent thousands of miles away by people they did not have the right to vote for.

Even though hundreds of thousands of these young Americans gave their lives this way, discontent over this injustice quickly subsided because the war was considered of grave importance and ended with an unequivocal victory for the Allies.

The discontent returned, however, during the Vietnam War.

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. once again drafted young men into the military, causing college-age students to take up the protest slogan first used during WWII.

Old enough to fight, Old enough to vote!

Just like during WWII, young people did not believe politicians should be allowed to send them to war if they were not allowed to be included in the political process by voting.

• What made the protests during the Vietnam War different?

Unlike World War II, many people saw this war as useless and unwinnable. It did not evoke the same sort of patriotism as previous wars had.

Voting Rights Act

During the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was also a powerful force in the country.

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was created to protect African Americans' right to vote. It also included an additional clause that lowered the voting age for federal elections to 18.

• What did that mean?

Citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 were able to vote for the president and Congress members but could not vote in local or state elections.

That was until 1970 when Richard Nixon tried to make the states lower their voting ages without using a constitutional amendment.

Watch the video below to see how both levels of government have their authority and power.

Federalism means that the federal government can only force the states to do something if the U.S. Constitution is changed because 3/4 of all states must approve an amendment to ratify it.

Despite this, Nixon extended the Voting Rights Act to state that all states must lower their voting age to 18 for all elections, not just national ones.

• Do you see how this could be seen as unconstitutional?

The state of Oregon almost immediately challenged this extension in the Supreme Court case Oregon v. Mitchell in 1970.

.For a quick summary, watch the following video

The Supreme Court ruled that, while the president was well within his right to lower the federal voting age, he could do nothing about the voting age in state elections.

26th Amendment

The President and Congress rapidly went to work to amend the Constitution to make 18 the voting age for every election nationwide.

Oregon v. Mitchell was decided in December of 1970. By March 1971, the proposed 26th Amendment had already been approved by both the House and the Senate.

From this point, it went to the States. It only took another four months for 3/4 of the states to ratify it, and the amendment became the law of the land.

The 26th Amendment holds the record for being ratified the fastest from law proposal.

• Why do you think states approved it so quickly?

Move to the Got It? section to explore why this amendment was so rapidly approved, why it was challenged, and why politicians thought it was a good idea.