Rutherford B. Hayes is one of those presidents that can be hard to identify. Sure, most people know the name and perhaps know he falls somewhere on that foggy list between the more well-known Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Yet the election of Hayes marked a pivotal moment in the history of voting. Hayes was elected in 1876, and in order to secure southern votes, he promised to end Reconstruction. Hayes made good on this promise after taking office and all across the south, the nightmare of Jim Crow descended. Thousands of freed slaves who had just received the right to vote lost it due to the machinations of Jim Crow. It would take decades for African Americans to fully receive the franchise again.
When studying the history of voting, we see that even seemingly forgotten elections have a tremendous impact on the country. One election in 1876 meant decades of suffering for a large swath of people. The importance of voting history lies in the lessons that it teaches us; we see over and over how the path of history is dictated by the outcome of elections.
We do not need to journey far into our past to witness this significance. For decades, conservatives preached a pro-life doctrine and vowed to reverse the Roe v. Wade decision. For decades, that desire appeared to be unattainable and many felt Roe v. Wade had become written in stone. The election of 2016 exposed that belief as a fallacy. Roe v. Wade is no more.
My own exploration of voting history began in 2012. That year, the landmark Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder removed preclearance from the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act had done away with Jim Crow processes to deny African Americans and other minorities the vote in southern states. It made illegal the discriminatory practices of poll taxes and literacy tests. The Voting Rights Act required southern states to receive approval from the federal government, preclearance, to make any changes to their voting regulations. By removing preclearance, southern states could act on their own. Almost all of the southern states previously covered, including my state of North Carolina, began to change their voting laws to specifically target minority communities, making it more difficult to vote.
I wondered why, suddenly, North Carolina sought such aggressive, and in the minds of many, unnecessary reforms. The result of trying to answer that question is the book Drawing the Vote. I did years of research to write Drawing the Vote and discovered a multitude of valuable resources. As one of the most critical elections in decades quickly approaches, here is a list of books that cover various significant aspects of the history of voting in the United States.
The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States by Alexander Keyssar
We will begin with a comprehensive examination of voting. This book touches on all of the major eras of voting, the seismic transformations in voting, the laws passed to expand voting, and the struggle for so many groups to gain access to voting. The book is like a survey course of American voting history.
The Myth of Seneca Falls by Lisa Tetrault
Women’s suffragists have existed in America almost as long as the country itself. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was the beginning of a concerted, focused women’s suffrage movement. The Myth of Seneca Falls deftly covers women’s voting at this time, the different factions that came together in Seneca Falls, and the aftermath of the convention. Why did it still take another 70 years for women to gain the right to vote? This book explains why in gripping detail.
For Freedom’s Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Chana Kai Lee
Fannie Lou Hamer is often overlooked or given cursory attention when the history of voting is discussed. That is a travesty. One of the true giants of the fight for voter registration during the Civil Rights era, Hamer’s life story is full of tragedy and triumph. What this book makes clear, though, is that her spirit and her willingness to stand for voting rights never wavered. She lost her job, was arrested, beaten—all because she just wanted to register to vote. She created a movement and ultimately gave a memorable speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. “If I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I’m not backing off.”
The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution by Eric Foner
The Reconstruction era witnessed radical changes in America and its Constitution. Within a five year period, from 1865 to 1870, three amendments to the Constitution were ratified. The 13th Amendment ended slavery. The 14th Amendment solidified equal protection of the law for all citizens. Lastly, the 15th Amendment prohibited voting discrimination based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” These three amendments opened up life for a large swath of Americans and gave millions of people who previously could not vote, the franchise. This book expertly tells the intricate story, full of deals and counter deals, of how this all came about.
Federalist Paper 68 by Alexander Hamilton
Want to understand why some of our founding fathers preferred the Electoral College? This is your primary source. Hamilton wrote: “A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations.” Hamilton posits that knowledgeable and judicious men are needed from each state to select the president and only a few in number were qualified. While Hamilton argues the democratic principles of this proposal, one has to question some of the motives.
March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
This graphic novel series shows the courage of an American hero. At times reading this book you will be angry. At other times you will be moved to tears. During the dark days of the Civil Rights movement, Lewis fought for voting rights for African Americans. To call attention to how people of color were not allowed to register to vote, Lewis helped organize the March on Selma. He was instrumental in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The journey of John Lewis is one of uncommon determination.
Vanguard by Martha Jones
Too often the history of women’s suffrage in the United State is a history of white women’s suffrage. The great historian Martha Jones rectifies this injustice in Vanguard. African American women not only had to overcome sexism, they also dealt bravely with racism, often relying on only themselves to claw for their rights. This is an important and much-needed work that greatly expands our understanding of American history. Jones is a skilled and moving writer.
