by Laurence Pevsner
Still, serious arguments against children’s suffrage abound. Eighteen to 21-year-olds already vote in dismal numbers - why should we give the vote to people even younger, who probably care less? Even if they do care to vote, children don’t have the intellectual capacity or the life experience to understand complex issues. Supposing you did stick them in a polling booth, they’re likely to vote exactly as their parents tell them to - essentially giving parents double, triple, or quadruple the votes.
But we’ve heard these arguments before.
A 1910 pamphlet from the National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage, for example, emphasized remarkably similar objections, such as “because 90% of the women either do not want it, or do not care” and “because 80% of the women eligible to vote are married and can only double or annul their husband's votes.”
People of color have also suffered greatly on account of specious logic. Following the Civil War that should’ve settled the issue, white politicians and phrenologists trotted out “biology” to argue that a black person’s brain was inferior, and so black people weren’t capable of understanding the issues. The result was the literacy test, one of the most despicable stains on the history of our democracy.
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Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
In these paragraphs, which is the major comparison being made?
(1 point)
Responses
nineteenth-century scientific practices and those of today
nineteenth-century scientific practices and those of today
arguments against children’s, women’s, and Black suffrage
arguments against children’s, women’s, and Black suffrage
the intelligence of 13-year-olds and 21-year-olds
the intelligence of 13-year-olds and 21-year-olds
political changes between the Civil War and 1910
political changes between the Civil War and 1910
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1 answer
The major comparison being made in the paragraphs is:
arguments against children’s, women’s, and Black suffrage.
This is evident as the text discusses the similarities in arguments made against granting suffrage to children, women, and Black individuals, highlighting how these arguments often rely on claims about capability and influence.
