When did federal law regarding voting rights begin to change?
First, Congress enacted new amendments to the Constitution. Congress enacted the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 ( equality); the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 (prohibiting race discrimination); the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 (direct election of U.S. Senators); the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 (prohibiting sex discrimination); the Twenty-Third Amendment in 1961 (voting in Washington, D.C.); the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964 (prohibiting poll taxes); and the Twenty-Sixth Amendment in 1971 (lowering voting age to 18). Each Amendment extended voting rights to more Americans by eliminating obstacles on account of race, gender, poll taxes, or age. Second, Congress used its Enforcement Clause powers to adopt new federal statutes between 1870 and 1982 to provide federal protection against government actions denying or abridging the right to vote. Unfortunately, some people used government power to keep some citizens from voting. Also, some private groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized
