What is Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution?
{{US Constitution article series}} '''The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the [[United States Constitution]]''' ('''Amendment XXVI''') lowered the [[minimum]] [[voting]] age in the [[United States]] from 21 to 18. The [[United States Congress]] approved the [[amendment]] on March 23, 1971, and sent it to the [[States of the United States|states]] to be [[ratification|ratified]]. Within three months and eight days, the states had ratified the amendment, and it became part of the Constitution. This was the quickest amendment to be ratified in United States history.<ref name=amend>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html |title=Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Charters of Freedom |date=30 October 2015 |publisher=United States National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=March 17, 2016 }}</ref> ==Text== {{Quote|'''Section 1.''' The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be [[wikt:denied|denied]] or [[wikt:abridge|abridged]] by the United States or by any State on account of age. '''Section 2.''' [[United States Congress|The Congress]] shall have the power to [[wikt:enforce|enforce]] this article by [[wikt:appropriate|appropriate]] [[legislation]].<ref name=gpo>{{cite web|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2002/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2002-9-27.pdf|title=Reduction of Voting Age: Twenty-Sixth Amendment|publisher=United States Government Printing Office |date=November 27, 2002 |access-date=March 19, 2016}}</ref>}} ==Background== ===Earlier legislation=== Lowering the minimum voting age was not a new idea. In the United States, some people started trying to get the voting age lowered during [[World War II]].<ref name=newidea/> During the [[war]], [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] lowered the [[conscription|military draft]] age to 18. This meant that men as young as 18 could be forced to jo