The Constitution
Twenty-Sixth Amendment
The 1971 amendment setting the voting age at eighteen, ratified in about three months, the fastest in American history.
In full
It followed a Supreme Court ruling that Congress could lower the voting age for federal but not state elections, which would have required states to run two sets of rolls. The Vietnam-era argument that those old enough to be drafted should be old enough to vote carried it through Congress and the states almost immediately.
Where to go next
Keep going
Browse every term in the glossary, or see the vocabulary in motion in the How government works walkthroughs.
A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.