This Is How Fast America Changes Its Mind
By Alex Tribou and Keith Collins
Updated: June 26, 2015
States in U.S. 1920 18th Amendment 1920 19th Amendment 1967 Loving v. Virginia 2015 Obergefell v.Hodges Legal in 4 states 1973 Roe v. Wade Tracking the Pace of Social Change Number of states that have removed a ban, by year (Prohibition shows the number of states that enacted) Interracial marriage Prohibition Women’s suffrage Abortion Same-sex marriage Recreational marijuana Federal action taken No federal action 50 states 40 30 20 10 1787 1800 1850 1825 1900 1875 2015 1925 1950 1975 2000

Interracial Marriage

PA NJ CT NH NY VT MA WI IA MN KS NM WA IL RI ME MI OH CA OR MT ND CO SD ID NV AK HI AZ NE UT IN WY MD 1800 1850 1900 1950 1967 10 20 30 states 1787 19 years In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that states couldn't prohibit interracial marriage, invalidating laws in 16 Southern states. Many Northern states had tossed out bans on interracial marriage in the decades before and after the Civil War. Thirteen others either never had a ban or repealed it before statehood.But the final push came in 1948 when California’s Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the state’s prohibition on interracial marriage was unconstitutional. It was the first state court since Reconstruction to invalidate an interracial marriage ban. After California's ban was lifted, 13 more states followed, plus two more when Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959. AK MA NH VT ME NY MI WI RI CT NJ PA IL MN DE MD VA OH NC SC WV TN GA FL TX AL IN KY MS IA ND MO AR LA SD NE KS OK MT WY CO NM ID UT NV WA OR CA HI AZ States that allowed interracial marriage before the Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia Not yet a state when gray
Note: The 13 states that either never banned interracial marriage or repealed the ban before statehood are shown when they became states.

Sources: Ken Tanabe, founder of Loving Day; Peter Wallenstein, professor of history at Virginia Tech

Prohibition

IA RI MS NC TN AL WV NY DE IA ME PA DE NH IL MA MI MA RI VT KS OK GA CT ME IN MI IN IL AZ AL AR CO ID IA OR VA WA NE SD IN MI MT NH NM TX UT NV WY FL OH SC ND SD MA 1850 1846 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 10 20 30 states 14 years The path to prohibition was a rocky one, with several states passing anti-drinking laws, then repealing them, then passing new ones. Most states during the late 1800s rejected attempts to pass prohibition laws, preferring to let counties and municipalities decide whether to go dry. By 1906, popular votes for prohibition meant that more than a third of the U.S. population lived in dry territory. With more local and federal politicians supporting prohibition, groups like the Anti-Saloon League gained mo-mentum and successfully pushed for statewide prohibition in 29 states. AK MA NH VT ME NY MI WI RI CT NJ PA IL MN DE MD VA OH NC SC WV TN GA FL TX AL IN KY MS IA ND MO AR LA SD NE KS OK MT WY CO NM ID UT NV WA OR CA HI AZ Dry states when the 18th Amendment took effect Not yet a state when gray
Note: Prohibitory laws enacted in territories that were repealed before statehood are not shown.

Source: Cherrington, Ernest H. (1920), The Evolution of Prohibition in the United States of America, Westerville, Ohio: The American Issue Press

Women's Suffrage

WY CO UT ID WA CA AZ OR KS IL MT NV IN NE NY ND OH RI MI OK SD IA ME MN MO TN WI 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 10 20 30 states 10 years Wyoming was the first state to permanently grant full voting rights to women when it entered the union in 1890. For more than a decade, women could vote in only four western states. By 1910 , the National American Woman Suffrage Association and other groups had grown more organized in lobbying states for voting rights. With many women’s groups supporting the war effort, 23 states extended voting rights to women leading up to passage of the 19th Amendment. AK MA NH VT ME NY MI WI RI CT NJ PA IL MN DE MD VA OH NC SC WV TN GA FL TX AL IN KY MS IA ND MO AR LA SD NE KS OK MT WY CO NM ID UT NV WA OR CA HI AZ States that let women vote in presidential elections before the 19th Amendment took effect Not yet a state when gray
Update: This chart does not represent the brief period of 1797-1807 when women in New Jersey were granted voting rights.

Sources: National Constitution Center, U.S. House Archives

Abortion

CA CO NC GA MD AR DE KS NM OR AK HI NY SC VA WA FL 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 5 10 15 states AK MA NH VT ME NY MI WI RI CT NJ PA IL MN DE MD VA OH NC SC WV TN GA FL TX AL IN KY MS IA ND MO AR LA SD NE KS OK MT WY CO NM ID UT NV WA OR CA HI AZ States that allowed at least some abortions before the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade The movement to legalize abortion is something of an outlier here. It ultimately may have followed the same pattern as other issues—but we'll never know, because in 1973 the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade cleared the way for legal abortions. At the time, many states had only just begun considering the question. Of the 17 states that allowed any abortions prior to Roe, only four—Alaska, Hawaii, Washington and New York—allowed women to end a pregnancy without providing a reason.By acting before a critical mass of states was in support, the Supreme Court pre-empted what had been a steady popular movement in the states toward abortion rights.
Note: Laws in Alabama, Mississippi, and Massachusetts that allowed abortions under exceptionally limited circumstances are not shown.

Source: Guttmacher Institute

Same-Sex Marriage

MA CT IA VT NH NY ME WA CA DE HI MD MN NJ NM RI AK AZ CO ID IL IN KS MT NV NC OK OR PA SC UT VA WV WI WY FL 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 10 20 30 states 2 years+ In 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the state‘s same-sex marriage ban was uncon - stitutional, making it the first state where gay couples could marry. A few mostly northern states followed. Gay marriage proponents were buoyed in 2013 , when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where it is legal. After that ruling, same-sex marriage became legal in 28 more states , many after state and federal court decisions lifted bans. The Supreme Court extended marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide on June 26, 2015. AK MA NH VT ME NY MI WI RI CT NJ PA IL MN DE MD VA OH NC SC WV TN GA FL TX AL IN KY MS IA ND MO AR LA SD NE KS OK MT WY CO NM ID UT NV WA OR CA HI AZ States that allowed same-sex marriage beforethe Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges
Update: Corrects year when same-sex marriages began in Connecticut.

Sources: National Conference of State Legislatures, Freedom to Marry

Recreational Marijuana

WA CO AK OR 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 5 states AK MA NH VT ME NY MI WI RI CT NJ PA IL MN DE MD VA OH NC SC WV TN GA FL TX AL IN KY MS IA ND MO AR LA SD NE KS OK MT WY CO NM ID UT NV WA OR CA HI AZ States where recreational marijuana is legal This is likely the next big social issue to head down the path of its predecessors, and it's already starting to happen. States across the country are wrestling with the idea of legal marijuana, urged on by a large and well-organized pro-legalization movement. Already, 24 states allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Voters in four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska — have chosen to legalize recreational pot.At least five more states are expected to consider whether to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016. For now, marijuana is a social issue still very much in its infancy.
Sources: Norml, Bloomberg Intelligence data
Prohibition 13 years Women’s suffrage 10 years Same-sex marriage 2+ years Abortion 6 years Interracial marriage 19 years 20 10 30 states 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 years Number of years from an issue’s trigger point to federal action (all abortion years shown) Speed of Change