"The people" were originally White, Property-owning Males over 21. They were the only ones that could originally vote. The property owning portion will almost completely be gone by 1828 (this is what helped Andrew Jackson get elected). Non white men will begin being able to vote with the passing of the 15th Amendment after the Civil War. Women will earn suffrage (right to vote) in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. Lastly, we'll lower the voting age to 18 in 1971 with the 26th Amendment, due to the Vietnam War.
I believe it's "<span>it breaks the social contract and people can create a new government."</span>
Answer:
Some of the issues that polarized American Society ever since are:
- Gun politics - the right to keep guns is protected by the Second Amendment. However, the amount of guns in the United States is large, and some political commentators argue that this is one of the causes of the increasing amount of mass shootings in the country. This is why people on different political aisles have called for more gun regulation, while others oppose these measures.
- Abortion - this is a hot button issue up to this day. People disagree on everything here: whether a fetus is a human being or not, whether women should keep unwated pregnacies or not, whether the argument should be framed in a religious fashion or in a secular fashion, etc.
- Recreational drug use and legalization - Drug use is still frowned upon by most of society, but this has not stopped marihuana from being legalized in several states. Many economists support legalization because they believe that prohibition only leads to inflated prices in black markets that are prone to violence. Legalization of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroine, however, is much more controversial.
- Separation of church and state - Some people believe that United States is a Christian nation, and that the church should have a lot of influence in the government, while others argue that America is a secular country, and that state and religous matters are separate.
