What year did Universal suffrage for all citizens were fully achieved in the us?

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1201914

2026-07-14 08:46

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It occurred slowly, state by state. Originally, most states required some property ownership to vote. According to David Montgomery's Citizen Worker, "Between the 1770s and the 1840s" all states gave white male wage earners the right to vote. Rhode Island was the last to do so (p. 14). (I think that's probably the answer you're looking for.)

Even though most northern states were abolishing slavery at this same time, free black men were usually either barred from voting or required to own even more property than white voters. This situation lasted roughly until the Suffrage Amendment of 1870, which technically enfranchised all men regardless of race. The Southern states, of course, found various creative ways to keep blacks from the polls until the 1960s.

Even today, in most states, convicted felons are not allowed to vote. So, technically, we still don't have "universal manhood suffrage."

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