It is far from my place as History editor to attempt to influence your political opinion; the freedom to vote your own conscience is something which I hold most sacred. With that said, I find that the Senators vying for President on the 2008 democratic ticket embody two of the most controversial amendments ever passed in our country’s history.

As I think on these two candidates, it amazes me that more than 50 years since the start of the Civil Rights Movement in America, more than 90 years since Suffragettes protested for equal rights, more than 140 years since the emancipation of all slaves in America, and more than 200 years since our founding fathers wrote that “all men are created equal,” this is the first time that a woman and an African-American are both serious contenders for the Office of the President.

I can’t help but think back across time to two of the Amendments that made these historic campaigns for president possible. Both of these amendments ensured rights that had long been denied. Both of these amendments ensured the chance to participate in government – through voting and holding office. And both of these amendments caused great controversy and took a great deal of embattlement to get passed.

The first of these two world-changing amendments to pass was the15th Amendment which was ratified February 3, 1870 and stated:

“Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude--
Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The matter of slavery in the United States had been legally addressed 5 years and 2 amendments earlier, but it had taken centuries of oppression, violence, and civil war to bring these amendments into being.

The second of these was the 19th Amendment, ratified 50 years later in 1920 which stated:

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The idea of women having the right to vote began in hushed murmurs back in Roman times, but some credit Mary Wollstonecraft’s work entitled “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792) to be the first public step in the struggle towards equal rights. Though it was not until the 1850 and 60s that Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, and Lucy Stone started organizing the Suffragettes – those women who stood forward and voiced their demands for equal rights – that voting rights in America began to come into view. It would take more than 60 years to guarantee those rights.

No matter the outcome of the 2008 election year, nor your political preference, take some time to consider the many long hours of toil, and the great battles for justice and equality that won the passage of the 15th and 19th Amendments to our constitution, and therefore, made these campaigns possible.