where is "the right of the people to vote" in the constitution?

🗳️ The phrase “the right of the people to vote” doesn’t appear in the original text of the U.S. Constitution. Instead, voting rights are protected and defined through a series of constitutional amendments and federal laws. Here's where you'll find explicit protections:

📜 Key Constitutional Amendments on Voting Rights

• 15th Amendment (1870): Prohibits denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

• 19th Amendment (1920): Grants women the right to vote.

• 24th Amendment (1964): Prohibits poll taxes in federal elections.

• 26th Amendment (1971): Lowers the voting age to 18.

Each of these amendments uses the phrase “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied…”—which is the closest constitutional language to what you're asking about.

🏛️ Other Relevant Constitutional Clauses

• Article I, Section 4 (Elections Clause): Gives states the power to regulate the “Times, Places and Manner” of congressional elections, but allows Congress to override those regulations.

• Article I, Section 2: Ties eligibility to vote for the House of Representatives to eligibility for the largest chamber of a state’s legislature.

So while the Constitution doesn’t declare a universal “right to vote” in one sweeping clause, it protects voting rights through amendments and regulates elections through specific provisions. Let me know if you want to dive deeper into any of these!

who had "the right to vote" immediately after ratification of the constitution

🗳️ After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, the right to vote was not federally defined—it was left entirely to the states. As a result, voting rights varied, but here’s the general picture:

👤 Who Could Vote in 1789?

• White male property owners: Most states restricted voting to white men who owned property or paid taxes. This group represented roughly 6% of the population.

• Free Black men: A few states, such as New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, allowed free Black men to vote, though this was rare and often short-lived.

• Women: Surprisingly, New Jersey briefly allowed unmarried and widowed women who owned property to vote until 1807, when the law was changed to restrict voting to white men.

• Religious restrictions: Some states imposed religious tests, limiting voting to Christian men.

🗺️ State-by-State Variation

Because states had full control over voting qualifications, the rules differed widely:

• Vermont and Kentucky were more inclusive early on, allowing all free men to vote regardless of property ownership or race—though these rights were later rolled back.

• Southern states tended to be more restrictive, often limiting voting to wealthy landowners.

In short, voting in early America was a privilege of the elite, not a universal right. It would take nearly two centuries—and multiple constitutional amendments—for voting rights to become broadly accessible.