Constitution
26th Amendment
Bust out your magnifying glass. We're taking an up-close look at 26th Amendment of the US Constitution.
| Passed by Congress: 23 March 1971 Ratified: 1 July 1971 Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. |
The Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. The amendment passed in 1971, near the end of the Vietnam War; the argument for lowering the voting age was that an 18-year-old who was old enough to serve and perhaps die in Vietnam ought to be old enough to vote at home.
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