Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

E32120

amendment to the United States Constitution constitutional amendment

The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the 1971 amendment that lowered the nationwide voting age to 18, expanding suffrage to millions of younger citizens.

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Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	Occurrences
Twenty-sixth Amendment	2
Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution	1

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ constitutional amendment ⓘ
amendmentNumber	26 ⓘ
appliesTo	federal elections in the United States ⓘ local elections in the United States ⓘ state elections in the United States ⓘ
appliesToClass	citizens 18 years of age or older ⓘ citizens of the United States ⓘ
cameIntoForceOn	1971-07-01 ⓘ
category	United States constitutional amendments ⓘ surface form: Amendments to the United States Constitution Voting rights in the United States ⓘ
constitutionalArticleModified	Article I of the United States Constitution ⓘ Article II of the United States Constitution ⓘ Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution ⓘ surface form: Article VI of the United States Constitution
constitutionalPosition	27th amendment textually including the unratified original first amendment, but 26th in ratified order ⓘ
containsProvision	Section 1 prohibits denial or abridgment of the right to vote for citizens 18 years of age or older on account of age ⓘ Section 2 grants Congress power to enforce the article by appropriate legislation ⓘ
country	United States of America ⓘ
effect	expanded suffrage to citizens aged 18 to 20 ⓘ lowered the nationwide voting age to 18 ⓘ
enforcementPowerGrantedTo	United States Congress ⓘ
hasConstitutionalOrder	Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction amendments ⓘ
jurisdiction	United States government ⓘ surface form: United States federal government
language	English ⓘ
legalDomain	constitutional law ⓘ election law ⓘ
locatedInLegalCode	United States Constitution ⓘ
minimumVotingAgeSet	18 ⓘ
motivatedBy	Vietnam War era debate over draft age and voting rights ⓘ
notableFeature	one of the fastest-ratified amendments in U.S. history ⓘ
partOf	United States Constitution ⓘ
previousGeneralVotingAgeInManyStates	21 ⓘ
prohibits	denial of the right to vote on account of age for citizens 18 or older ⓘ
proposedBy	United States Congress ⓘ
proposedDate	1971-03-23 ⓘ
ratificationMethod	ratification by state legislatures ⓘ
ratifiedOn	1971-07-01 ⓘ
ratifiedYear	1971 ⓘ
relatedTo	Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ surface form: Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
rightProtected	right to vote of citizens 18 years of age or older ⓘ
sectionCount	2 ⓘ
shortName	Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Twenty-sixth Amendment
sloganAssociated	old enough to fight, old enough to vote ⓘ
subject	suffrage ⓘ voting age ⓘ
timeFromProposalToRatification	about 100 days ⓘ

Referenced by (8)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Birch Bayh → authorOf → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ

Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution → comparedWith → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ

United States federal elections → expandedSuffrageBy → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ

United States constitutional amendments → includes → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ

this entity surface form: Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970 → influenced → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ

Birch Bayh → notableWork → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ

this entity surface form: Twenty-sixth Amendment

Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution → shortName → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Twenty-sixth Amendment

United States federal elections → votingAgeBasis → Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ