Researched
Universal Suffrage
From France's universal male vote (1848) and New Zealand's women's vote (1893) to the US Voting Rights Act (1965), the vote reaches all adult citizens.
Open in the interactive tree →Athenian democracy excluded women, slaves and foreigners, and the first modern constitutions still limited the vote by property and sex. France introduced universal male suffrage in 1848, New Zealand was first to give women the national vote in 1893, and most democracies followed after 1918. The struggle continued with the US Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Switzerland's national vote for women in 1971.
Prerequisites
- Democracy in Athens508 BC
- Constitutions & Checks on Power1787
- Secret Ballot1856A wider vote means little without a secret ballot that protects voters from pressure
Unlocks
- Human Rights (1948)1948The 1948 declaration (Art. 21) demands universal and equal suffrage