Because the Voting Rights Act is a law and not a chapter book, it might not have themes the way we're used to seeing them. But there's some good news: the content of the bill absolutely fits into the grand overarching themes we love over here at Shmoop.
This bill is a reaffirmation of American principles of equality under the democratic rule of law. If one would consider the Constitution to be a bedrock of American principles—and, um, we should—then a law meant to reinforce the constitution would, by proxy, look to restate and support those principles.
Questions About Principles
- Where does the law specifically speak to American values?
- What responsibilities does it give the Federal government to uphold those principles?
- Is the right to vote the most fundamental American principle, or are there others?
- Does the Constitution in a vacuum embody American principles?
Chew on This
We're sure everyone in government wants to legislate according to principles they hold dear, but the tricky thing about principles is they're subjective, and up to determination. Laws inevitably reflect that kind of ideological struggle.
The big brother of principles is ideology; when principles turn into a system of beliefs of how people should be governed. The line between the two is often blurred, but the big scale political ideologies often form into -isms, such as capitalism, communism, libertarianism, socialism, and so on.