By Terra Morrison, Age 12
There was a time when young people in the United States protested in songs and on the streets until they changed the Constitution.
As far back as the Revolutionary War, conscription systems were in place in the United States. A mandatory draft was used in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The draft was ended in 1973. However, the rules for the draft have not always been consistent. Less than a year into U.S. involvement in World War II, the U.S. government needed to increase the draft numbers. President Roosevelt and his administration faced the fact that half of the 20 million draft-eligible men could not serve, either due to health reasons or because they were illiterate. Consequently, the U.S. government needed to increase draft numbers and expand the eligible age from a minimum of 21 to 18.
At the time, the national voting age was 21 years old, and some people thought it was unfair that 18-year-olds were being asked to fight in the war but were not able to vote. These teens were sacrificing their lives without a choice, yet they couldn’t even participate in the decision-making for the country.
In Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1954 State of the Union address, he said that draft eligible men “should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons.” He urged Congress to propose a constitutional amendment which would permit citizens to vote when they reach the age of 18. But Americans would have to wait 17 years—until 1971—for that to actually happen.
Barry McGuire’s 1965 hit song “Eve of Destruction” was about how all these young men were going into war and having to take on a huge amount of responsibility, though they were still not considered old enough to vote. The main slogan people used when protesting the Vietnam War and asking for the voting age to be lowered was “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote!” Activists and groups like the National Education Association, AFL-CIO and the NAACP helped support the movement to lower the voting age.
Sen. Edward (Ted) Kennedy said, “About 30% of our forces in Vietnam are under 21. Over 19,000, or almost half, of those who have died in action there were under 21. Can we really maintain that these young men did not deserve the right to vote?”
In 1971, due to pressure from protests and the difficulty of maintaining separate voting rules for federal and state elections, Eisenhower’s vision was ratified into the Constitution with the 26th Amendment.
According to the amendment, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.” Young people had won the fight!
West Virginia Sen. Jennings Randolph was right when he described the importance of the younger generation being able to participate in government: “I believe that our young people possess a great social conscience, are perplexed by the injustices which exist in the world and are anxious to rectify these ills.”
Conscription: legally requiring citizens (usually men) to join a government service, typically the military
Draft: another word for conscription into the military
Illiterate: unable to read or write
Summons: a legal document requiring someone to show up somewhere, like to court or to join the military
Constitutional amendment: a change made to the U.S. Constitution
Ratified: when something has been signed into agreement, making it official
