U.S. Elections
Although the United States was conceived as a democracy by the founding fathers, not all Americans have always had the right to cast votes in elections for their representatives in government.
This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by ePublishing Partners, now available on Google Arts & Culture
Join this Expedition to learn about some of the milestones in the history of elections in America.
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The Roman Forum and Environs
You’re looking at what’s left of the Roman Forum, the center of ancient Rome’s political, social, and economic life. Why start your exploration of the United States political system in Rome?
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Because in the sixth century BCE, the Romans created a republic. And that republic--a form of democracy in which citizens vote for people to represent them in government—shaped the ideas of the framers of the U.S. government more than 2,000 years later.
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Curia Julia, Rome, Italy
This is the Curia Julia, home of the Roman Senate. By the time Julius Caesar had it built, the Roman Republic was a shell of its former self. But the Senate continued to meet here in this building, which is built over the remains of the previous curiae.
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Church of the Sisters Luca and Martina
This 17th-century church sits right behind the Curia Julia. It rests atop a 6th-century church, and possibly part of the ruins of the Senate Curia of the Roman Republic.
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The Roman Forum
When you turn from the Curia, you can see what remains of the Roman Forum. During the Roman Republic, the Forum is the place where public debates took place.
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Independence Hall
Welcome to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Some people think of this as the place where the United States was born. That’s because this is where the nation’s founders met to organize a system of government—the nuts and bolts of a representative democracy.
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This is where they argued and finally agreed on the details of the United States Constitution.
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The West Wing of Independence Hall
To the left of the archway is the West Wing of Independence Hall, which holds original printed copies of the founding documents. These include the Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776; and the Constitution, ratified in 1788, and still guiding the nation today.
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Statue of George Washington
Who better to stand in front of Independence Hall than George Washington, the nation’s first president? The president heads the executive branch of government, which enforces laws.
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Congress Hall
To the right of Independence Hall, you can see Congress Hall. It was home to the legislature from 1790 to 1800, when the national government was based in Philadelphia. Senators and Representatives argued here about governance, and the two-party system was born.
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Monuments to Presidents and Memories of Great Leaders
The United States commemorates two of its most important presidents in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. George Washington was the first president of the new nation, while Abraham Lincoln led the country through a Civil War that threatened to split it in two.
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From where you’re standing, you can see tributes to both these men. And you’re standing where Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on an August day in 1963, inspiring a crowd of more than 200,000 people gathered to advocate for equal rights for African Americans.
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The Washington Monument
You’re facing the Washington Monument, which commemorates the nation’s first president. When George Washington was president, only white male property owners over 21 years old had the right to vote. That was only about 6 percent of Americans!
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The Lincoln Memorial
Climb those steps to see the massive statue of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln gets credit for keeping the nation from splitting in two. After he died in 1865, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1870, granting voting rights to former male slaves.
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The Reflecting Pool
From the top of the stairs where you’re standing, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech in 1963.
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One of the primary goals of Civil Rights activists was to ensure that African Americans actually got to exercise the right to vote that the 15th Amendment, passed almost 100 years earlier, had granted them.
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Women’s Rights National Historical Park
On your right, you can see the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. The site commemorates American women’s struggle to have the same rights that American men have-- among them, the right to vote.
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The 19th Amendment, granting women the vote, was ratified in 1920. That’s 144 years after the nation’s founders declared America’s independence from Britain, and 50 years after the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote.
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The Visitors Center
Step inside the park’s Visitors Center to learn about how American women secured the right to vote. The passage of the 19th Amendment marked a significant expansion of voting rights.
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Wesleyan Chapel
This is the actual building where the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention was held. Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, delegates to the convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments.
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Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, it resolved, among other things, that women should have the right to vote.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt Museum
You’re in Hyde Park, about 90 miles north of New York City, home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR for short). You’re in the museum dedicated to the 32nd president, who was the only American president to serve more than two four-year terms.
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Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and died during his fourth term in office in 1945. He served during what was perhaps the most tumultuous period of the 20th century, spanning the Great Depression and World War II.
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The First Campaign
That’s FDR waving his hat as he campaigned for the presidency in 1932. About 25 percent of Americans were unemployed, and many of them waited in line to receive donated food. Roosevelt promised to pull the country out of the Great Depression and easily won the 1932 election.
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The Great Depression
The situation when Roosevelt was first elected was dire. Banks were failing, people were losing their homes, and more than a quarter of all workers had no jobs. In Roosevelt’s first two terms as president, he started government programs that eased the pain.
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Then he ran for president again in 1940, with World War II raging in Europe. He saw the country through that challenge, too.
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The Edmund Pettus Bridge
You’re standing in Selma, Alabama, in the spot where marchers gathered on Sunday, March 7, 1965, the day that came to be called Bloody Sunday.
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These civil rights activists set out to march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery to protest the fact that the state government made it nearly impossible for African Americans to vote.
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A few blocks away is the bridge where the protestors faced heavily armed police as they tried to begin their march.
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Selma: The March Begins
Here at the Pettus Bridge, police gave marchers two minutes to turn around. But they didn’t actually wait that long to confront the marchers with tear gas, clubs, and bullwhips.
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Overlooking the River
Two days after Bloody Sunday, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a symbolic march across the bridge while activists waited for a federal judge to rule that they had the right to federal protection for their march.
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Across the Bridge
On March 21, 3,200 people crossed the Pettus Bridge. They arrived in Montgomery on the 25th, along with more than 20,000 people who had joined them along the way. A few months later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
2013 Inaugural Parade (2013-01-21) by NASA/Carla CioffiNASA
President Barack Obama’s Inauguration Parade
Every four years, the newly-elected president is sworn in, and Americans celebrate that in their democracy, power has changed hands peacefully, repeatedly for more than 200 years.
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Join the parade! You’re going to march along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol, where the new president is sworn in, to the White House, where he’s going to live.
2013 Inaugural Parade (2013-01-21) by NASA/Bill IngallsNASA
The 2009 parade was particularly important because it marked the first time an African American man became president of the United States.
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The Capitol: The Parade Begins
It’s a big day: January 20, 2009. You’re looking at the United States Capitol, where Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States has just been sworn in. Now it’s time for the Inaugural Parade!
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The National Archives
Turn around so the Capitol is behind you and walk up Pennsylvania Avenue. On your left, you can see the National Archives, where you might stop and see an original copy of the U.S. Constitution.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Building
On your right just ahead is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, home of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the government agency with a mission “To protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.
You are all set!
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