🗳️The Road to Votes for All

How the right to vote was extended over the centuries.

1. Magna Carta 1215

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   Magna Carta in 1215 established that even the king was subject to the law and that he must involve his noblemen in decisions, an early limit on royal power.

2. Reform Act 1832

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   The Reform Act of 1832 greatly increased the number of people who could vote and abolished the old pocket and rotten boroughs, shifting power to the towns.

   centuries later

3. The Chartists

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   The Chartists campaigned for the working classes to have the vote. They wanted votes for every man, secret ballots and for MPs to be paid.

   but voting still needed property, so

4. Reform Act 1867

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   The 1867 Reform Act created many more urban seats and reduced the property a man needed to vote, though most men still could not vote.

   then

5. The suffragettes

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   Women campaigned for the right to vote and became known as suffragettes. Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903.

   meanwhile

6. Equal voting 1928

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   In 1918 women over 30 were given the vote, and in 1928 women were given the right to vote at age 21, the same as men. In 1969 the voting age became 18.