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Despite the anti-discriminatory 14th and 15th Amendments placed in the Constitution, the Supreme Court rejected to govern against these new forms of discrimination. In proving their place right, they stated that to implement equal voting rights, the federal government should have been sent armed forces to the South to preserve polling areas infinitely - a move they did not want to make. Chapter 5 - American politics’ “The Progressive Era” experienced women gain voting rights. As the 20th century came closer, the surplusses of American capitalism and increasing inequality started to influence the political life of the country. The range of precautions applied to fight this crisis involving different social reforms such as income taxes caused the start of a time that has been called the Progressive Era. The struggle for women enfranchisement was a major issue at that time but when Woodrow Wilson was chosen as the president in 1912, he was the only nominee who was not considering voting rights for women positively out of the four on the voting paper. Therefore, activists approached to grab his attention. One day before the inauguration of Wilson, the famous suffragette Alice Paul, with the fellow activists, arranged an unparalleled women’s march in the city center of Washington, DC. The march came upon a staggering severity from crowds of males in the majority that congregated to object to the march. As the stories of this attack distributed quickly through the press, public turmoil ensued and mobilized support for women's suffrage across the country. Simultaneously, other strategies were being utilized. For example, in 1913, an application signed by 200,000 people was submitted to Congress, even though it was not discussed. Over the next two years, the application reached two million signatures and Congress was pushed to vote on a constitutional adjustment for providing women with voting rights. While this vote did not work, it was a direct endeavor that grabbed Wilson’s attention. In 1917, after the exit of Wilson from a gathering of famous suffragettes, the women made a protest by picketing the White House. Their protest continued for two years with 5,000 women participants at most. The team behind this named themselves the Silent Sentinels and their purpose was strengthened by the United States’ entry into World War I. When men went for the war to Europe, women were left to work. The bolstered economic power they cultivated, in addition to the protest of the Silent Sentinels, were the things that pushed Wilson to reconsider his opinions in 1918. Chapter 6 - The 1950s’ and 60s’ Civil Rights Movement obtained the implementation of tantamount voting rights. The United States fought bravely counter to white supremacy in Europe and obtained the victory. However, after the war, lots of Americans questioned the still-continuing racial persecution in their own country. Jim Crow law was still in force in the country and only three percent of black Americans of the South could register to vote - in other words, the same low rate as the beginning of the century. This ongoing deprivation of voting rights, paired with the widespread change of mind across the country, roused the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950s. It was thanks to this diachronic movement that a smart leader and strong talker pastor Martin Luther King Jr. arose. All through the 50s, King assisted in arranging a series of protests and marches, but it was not until the 1965 March on Selma that the movement caused a crucial change. The protestors at this march faced ruthless police severity and the occurrence was disseminated live on national TV; a severe disgrace followed as the country arranges itself with the marchers. Furthermore, this amazing national realization quickly united with a crucial legislative adjustment. Only after a week that the march is published on TV, President Lyndon Johnson made an ambitious talk before a collective sitting of Congress. Johnson announced that things should transform by defining how black Americans were being ignored the American dream. This talk, together with the march that accelerated it, availed entry of a new Voting Rights Act into Congress, which is made law by autumn. The main provision of the law obligated that the federal government to implement the 14th and 15th Amendments. With this federal voting control in the South, voting participation increased impressively. For example, in Mississippi, black voter registration rose strikingly from only 6.7 percent in 1964 to 59.3 percent in 1968 and 71 percent in 1998. Chapter 7 - The democracy of America has been taken back in the last 20 years. The 2000 presidential election is written in history not only since it was such a firmly competitive race, but also since the rigid legal fights that eventually determined the winner. Of course, this catastrophe caused a fervent controversy on voter fraud, by both Democrats and Republicans. It was in this replete environment that the Republican Party, the party that then in rule, pressed new limitations on voting rights. However, the truth was completely different from what they stated was happening. For example, countrywide research conducted in 2005 by Arizona State University discovered that, although there are thousands of assertions of voter fraud had been recorded, just 10 approved instances of fraud had happened over 12 years ago the publication date of the research. However, if the chaos was completely groundless, then why were the Republicans trying to force harsh limitations for voters? The reason is, the Republicans began to be anxious about the increasing number of black and Hispanic voters who are likely to support Democrats. Limitations for voters were a method to restrict the strength of this democratic change. Consider Indiana, which forced new limitations in 2004 that asserted to fight voter fraud. They required voters to provide photo identification to make ballot papers. Although this regulation looks like an unbiased one, it extremely impacted African-Americans, who were three times less probable to possess an ID with a picture. What is more, acquiring an ID can be challenging and pricey. In some states, to obtain an ID, one may even need to show a birth certificate whose replacement was priced up to $25. In conclusion, this law extremely impacted the right to vote for poor people. The thing that made these limitations more terrible was that they were enforced in a state with only two occurrences of voter fraud since 1868! Therefore, voter limitations rose under the Republican management, however since Barack Obama’s election in 2008, they have only got worse. 19 states have passed laws that make it difficult to vote since the 2010 midterm elections, where Republicans won both state and congressional elections. This inclination is specifically clear in 11 states that experienced high black participation in 2008. Chapter 8 - The fight for voting rights is not even close to completion. The anxious voter ID laws have been destructive for American democracy, however, they are not the only danger for this order of administration. Do not neglect the milestone Supreme Court decision from 2010 that allowed firms and wealthy people to expend more on the US elections. Although the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission began comparatively small, it rapidly obtained great importance. In general, this case was about deciding whether a movie made by Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit that criticized Hillary Clinton, should be let to be published before the 2008 elections. The case was carried to court initially since the FEC had earlier decided that the movie was categorized as a political advertisement and should thus be dependent on the rules directing campaign spendings. Eventually, the court decided in favor of Citizens United, stating the FEC had violated their right to freedom of expression. But the meanings of the case stretch way further of this straightforward problem; the Citizens United judgment enabled nonprofit organizations to expend unlimited sums of money in bolstering political nominees up, provided that these are not made directly in collaboration with formal political campaigns. In conclusion, from 2010 to 2015, $2 billion in total was collected from these “independent” communities, which have been named Super Political Action Committees or Super PACs, to bolster federal nominees up. This has stamped a huge rise compared to earlier grades of campaign expenditures. Still, there are some promising indicators for the renewal and future strengthening of democracy in America. For instance, early voting systems are being enhanced with big achievement; around one-third of the votes taken into account in the 2012 election of the US were given before election day. Furthermore, online enrollment became extremely widely-used. Overall, 25 states have applied this implementation since 2015, with huge rises in voter participation. However, with such shines of transformation, voters and activists of suffrage are encountering a challenging battle. While the poor and minorities are still ordinarily depriving of their voting rights, money is bribing politics. Considering this, there is a long way to go. The Fight to Vote by Michael Waldman Book Review There has been a battle for voting rights since the early days of independence of America, and today, this is still a key topic for the country. Substantial benefits have been obtained over generations, involving giving the right to vote for black Americans and women. However, currently, ID restrictions for voters and the bribing impact of money in politics introduce new struggles in the war to protect American democracy.