Democrats scramble to find a path forward on federal legislation on voting rights as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott calls new special session

Explores the constitutionality of voting laws.

In this lesson, developed by and included with the permission the LBJ Presidential Library, students will examine primary source documents associated with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A vote is the best way of getting the kind of country and the kind of world you want. –HARRY S. TRUMAN The history of the amendments to the Constitution is, in one sense, a history of the expansion of certain political freedoms, including voting. At the Founding of the United States, many groups, including landless white men, slaves, free blacks, and women, could not vote.

As we approach this mid-term election, it’s important for students to keep in mind the responsibility they have as citizens to be informed and -- if they are old enough -- to vote for the candidate that they believe will best work on their behalf toward ensuring the common good. Elections can be a divisive time, but they are also a time where we come together to celebrate the beauty of democracy and to express our opinions through the vote. Voting is an expression of individual liberty and ought to happen freely, without coercion or intimidation. Sadly that has not always been the case in the United States. This lesson walks students through how individual liberty has been more fully realized through the expansion of the franchise.