Suffrage for Veterans?

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Discussion of postbellum suffrage is usually about African-Americans. But what about veterans?

Many men, North and especially South, served in the military below the age of 21. Yet the voting age was not lowered to 18 by any state until the mid-20th century. Was there any debate or lobbying to change this in the 1860s or was it for some reason just taken as granite?

 

[Old Soldier]

Convention. The age of 21 was pretty universal in the West as the age of majority. Suffrage was a different matter, as often suffrage was based on property ownership of a certain value as well in many areas of the US and Europe, including Britain, and, of course, being male. Women were excluded. It was hardly Universal Suffrage. Other minimum ages were 20 and 25, again men only and some also stipulated AFTER national military service and tax-payers .

 

[Drew]

Discussion of postbellum suffrage is usually about African-Americans. But what about veterans?

Well, Tennessee Governor Parson Brownlow disenfranchised Confederate veterans after the war. That brilliant political stroke gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan, which we are still living with.

Some people need to take a hard look in a mirror.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

The age of 21 was pretty universal in the West as the age of majority.

Why was that? Why not 20?

18 would later be tied to average high school graduation age which makes sense, but back then high school was rare.

 

[Old Soldier]

Why was that? Why not 20?

18 would later be tied to average high school graduation age which makes sense, but back then high school was rare.

Why? Because it was. The Romans put the age of majority at 25 and in Mediaeval times it was based on the ability of KNIGHTS to be capable of being effective on the battlefield which was considered to be 21 after training and physical development. (The peasants and pikemen had no vote and were not considered 'real people')

As for education, at this time, you left elementary school at the age of 10 and followed in your dad's footsteps. Why? Because you couldn't afford any more education. There were mouths to be fed and the rent to pay. Dad wouldn't be voting in any case as he did not own any land, never mind the required amount of land. The idea was that 'workers' did not have enough about them to know who to vote for - or why. Only those in the influential areas of society could vote and that few men under the age of 21 would own any land.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Dad wouldn't be voting in any case as he did not own any land, never mind the required amount of land. The idea was that 'workers' did not have enough about them to know who to vote for - or why. Only those in the influential areas of society could vote and that few men under the age of 21 would own any land.

Hadn't property ownership requirements been dropped in most states by the 1860s?