Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of suffrage, or the right to vote, to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief or social status.

Expanding suffrage

The first movements toward universal suffrage (or manhood suffrage) occurred in the early 19th century, and focused on removing property requirements for voting. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the focus of universal suffrage became the removal of restrictions against women having the right to vote.

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Many societies in the past have denied people the right to vote on the basis of race or ethnicity. For example, non-whites could not vote in apartheid-era South Africa, until the system came to an end with the first free multi-party elections in 1994. In the pre-Civil Rights Era American South blacks often technically had the right to vote, but various means prevented many of them from exercising that right. The Ku Klux Klan formed after the American Civil War, largely to intimidate blacks and to prevent them from voting.

Related Topics:
Whites - Apartheid - South Africa - American - Black - Ku Klux Klan - American Civil War

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