My Take: American democracy at the crossroads, again Don Bergman America’s racists, by working to keep minorities from voting, have never supported an American democracy where all are created equal. They insisted that the 1787 U.S. Constitution protect slavery. The 1791 Bill of Rights contained no right to vote. In 1800, typically only wealthy, white males voted; the “common (white) man” joined the electorate around 1825. Before the 1861 Civil War to maintain slavery, in 1856 the Supreme Court declared nonwhites to be non-citizens with no right to vote. This necessitated the passage of the 14th (1868) and 15th (1870) Amendments guaranteeing that any male born in the U.S. is a citizen and has the right to vote. (This is why Trump's attack on birthright citizenship is a racist act.)