Voting Rights on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws, and Documents

by Charles L. Zelden

Overview

The debate over who can and cannot vote has been "on trial" since the American revolution. Throughout U.S. history, the franchise has been awarded or denied on the basis of wealth, status, gender, ethnicity, and race. Featuring a unique mix of analysis and documentation, Voting Rights on Trial illuminates the long, slow, and convoluted path by which vote denial and dilution were first addressed, and then defeated, in the courts. Four narrative chapters survey voting rights from colonial times to the 2000 presidential election, focus on key court cases, and examine the current voting climate. The volume includes analysis of voting rights in the new century and their implications for future electoral contests.

A special reference section contains court transcripts, relevant statutes and amendments, and other primary sources; an A-Z listing of important people, events, and concepts; a chronology; and a table of cases cited. An annotated bibliography and comprehensive index make this handbook an invaluable tool for scholars and students of political science, law, gender and ethnic studies, and civil rights. Voting Rights on Trial is part of ABC-CLIO's On Trial series. In this hot-topic series, scholars explore the various ways (good and bad, effective and ineffective, complex and simple) that litigation in the courts has shaped the evolution of a particular legal controversy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780872207417
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2004
Series:	On Trial Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Charles L. Zelden is associate professor of history at Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Table of Contents

	Series Foreword	vii
	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgments	xv
Part 1
1	Introduction	3
	The Strange Career of Voting in the United States	3
	The Right to Vote: A Short History of a Contested Right	8
	Conclusion	35
	References and Further Reading	36
2	Historical Background	39
	Vote Denial: Democracy's Dark Secret	39
	Conclusion	84
	References and Further Reading	86
3	Cases	89
	The Courts Say No to Expanded Voting Rights	93
	The Fall of the All-White Primary	101
	Victory and Defeat in the Lower Federal Courts	109
	The One Person/One Vote Standard	119
	The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Attack on Race-Based Vote Denial	126
	Vote Dilution, Redistricting, and the Shift from At-Large Elections to Single-Member Districts	135
	The Conservative Reaction to Expanded Voting Rights	150
	Conclusion	157
	References and Further Reading	158
4	Impact and Legacy	161
	Equal Protection or Equal Effect? Voting Rights in the Twenty-first Century	161
	The Election the Judges Resolved: Bush v. Gore and the Debate over the Nationalization of Voting in America	164
	Conclusion	178
	References and Further Reading	180
Part 1
	Documents	185
	Foundations: The Constitution of the United States (1787)	185
	The Courts Say No to Expanded Voting Rights: Elk v. Wilkins and Minor v. Happersett	190
	The Fall of the All-White Primary: Smith v. Allwright	197
	Victory and Defeat in the Lower Federal Courts: Terry v. Adams	202
	The One Person/One Vote Standard: Reynolds v. Sims	214
	Voting Rights Act of 1965	222
	Vote Dilution and the Shift from At-Large to Single-Member Districts: Allen v. State Board of Elections	229
	The Conservative Reaction to Expanding Voting Rights: Dissents in Reynolds and Allen; Majority in Shaw	234
	The Debate over Nationalization of Voting Rights: Bush v. Gore	247
	Key People, Laws, and Concepts	267
	Chronology	293
	Table of Cases	315
	Annotated Bibliography	319
	Index	331
	About the Author	349

Editorial Reviews

Most libraries will find this volume a useful addition to their political science, history, and legal collections.” —American Reference Books Annual

From the Publisher