Opinions Throughout History: Voters' Rights provides readers with an in-depth exploration of not only the topic of voter suppression, but how public opinion influenced action on voters' rights, from the founding of the country, when most states limited the right to vote to property-owning males, to the establishment in 2017 of the Presidential Advisory Commission of Election Integrity, and beyond, to how voter suppression efforts affected the 2018 elections.

Table of Contents

• Publisher's Note
• Introduction
• Historical Timeline
• 1. The Right of Ownership: The First Elections in the Colonies (1584-1655)
• 2. Establishing American Theocracy: Disenfranchisement Begins in the Colonies with Catholics (1640s-1840s)
• 3. Outliers: Early Suffrage for Persons of Color and Women (1640s-1790s)
• 4. America Is Not a Direct Democracy: The Electoral College and the Popular Vote (1788-1840s)
• 5. Owning the Vote: Origins of the Voting Debate (1700s-1800s)
• 6. Engendering Citizenship: Prefeminism Feminists (1590s-1870s)
• 7. A Hierarchy of Race: Ending Slavery (1750s-1850s)
• 8. Voting Rights for People of Color: The Fifteenth Amendment (1869-1900)
• 9. Serpents of Massachusetts: Gerrymandering Explained (1800s-Present)
• 10. Women's Work: Voting from Suffragettes to Hillary Clinton (1840s-2016)
• 11. Indigenous Rights: The Native American Vote (1800s-Present)
• 12. The Statistics Race: Political Polling and the Vote (1820s-Present)
• 13. Paying to Vote: Introduction of the Poll Tax (1600s-present)
• 14. Civil Rights and Voting Rights: Voting Rights Act (1965-present)
• 15. Age of Citizenship: Voting Rights Act Amendment (1970)
• 16. Reading the Fine Print: Literacy Testing (1865-1965)
• 17. The Fight for Access: The Elderly and the Physically Handicapped (1700s-present)
• 18. Voting at Home: Residency Requirements (1970s-2000s)
• 19. Losing the Right to Vote: Voting and the Incarcerated (1729-2015)
• 20. The Voting State of Mind: Voting and Mental Competency (1700s-present)
• 21. A Citizen's Right: Resident Aliens and the Right to Vote (1700s-present)
• 22. The Unpopular Vote: The Ongoing Debate about the Electoral College (2000s-present)
• 23. Identity and the Right to Vote: The Battle over Voter ID Laws (1950s-present)
• 24. The Right to Change: Felon Disenfranchisement and Race (1960s-present)
• 25. Interference and Ideology: Foreign Influence in the American Electoral Process (1700-present)
• 26. The Specter of Fraud: Public Opinion about Voter Fraud (1888-present)
• 27. Modernizing the Vote: Voting in the Digital Age (2010s-present)
• 28. Getting Out the Vote: Voter Participation, Past and Future (1700s-present)
• 29. Conclusion: The Importance of the Vote
• Primary & Secondary Sources
• Glossary
• Historical Snapshots
• Bibliography
• About the Author