Stop the Steal: The History of Voter Suppression in America, and Who Is Really Stealing Votes?

Authors

Cheryl T. Page, Southern Illinois University School of Law

First Page

153

Abstract

President Barack Obama once quipped, "elections have consequences." It is clear that 245 years later, the Founding Fathers understood the implications of voting and the weight it carries. These men knew that to maintain power, they would have to limit the people that would have the ability to vote. These fifty-six men who represented the new thirteen colonies met on July 4, 1776, to sign what would be called the Declaration of Independence. In part are the words: "[w]e hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The irony is not lost on the fact that these men were declaring freedom from British rule and control as they sought to rule and control others. In the words penned by these freedom seekers, they deliberately excluded from these rights the nation's African and African American residents. These same drafters of the Declaration of Independence classified Black people as less than human and, thus, undeserving of basic human rights and dignities.

Recommended Citation

Cheryl T. Page, Stop the Steal: The History of Voter Suppression in America, and Who Is Really Stealing Votes?, 17 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 153 (2022).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/ihrlr/vol17/iss1/10