In the colonial period before 1776, and for some time after, often only adult white male property owners could vote ; enslaved Africans, most free black people and most women were not extended the franchise.

Adams managed to pass his probationary period by leading the renamed franchise to first ever playoff series victory over the Montreal Maroons.

A franchise usually lasts for a fixed time period ( broken down into shorter periods, which each require renewal ), and serves a specific territory or geographical area surrounding its location.

The code also regulates the content of franchise agreements, for example in relation to marketing funds, a cooling-off period, termination, and the resolution of disputes by mediation.

The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and then to its current home in Oakland, California in 1968.

Following a transitional period, the right to operate the two tram businesses was officially transferred from the government to the private sector under franchise agreements on 29 August 1999.

During that interim period with Gentry, the Heat got their best win of franchise history when they beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126 – 83.

" Following this, the franchise went through a lengthy transitional period, as key players either retired ( Laimbeer in 1993 and Thomas in 1994 ) or were traded ( Edwards, Johnson, Salley and Rodman among others ).

Led by Mike Dunleavy's 24 points in the period, the team set a franchise record for most points in a quarter and was only four points short of the all-time NBA record for points in a quarter ( 58 ) set in the 1970s.

Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of its destruction varying by time period, writers and franchise.

National Express East Coast took over the franchise on 9 December 2007 after an interim period when GNER ran trains under a management contract.

The Johnstown Chiefs hockey team managed to provide affordable family entertainment to the region for 22 seasons, the longest period a franchise of the league stayed in one city.

The franchise gained a reputation for poor timekeeping: its best performing period between 2000 and 2007 still saw one in six trains five minutes late or more, with punctuality dropping as low as 61 % in 2003.

The period of the franchise saw both additions to and losses from the network: services in Mid Wales were transferred away to Wales and Borders in 2001, but the company also reintroduced direct services to Stansted Airport from the north.

During the first half of the franchise period, Arriva Trains Northern suffered many problems.

In 2002, the company began a new franchise of up to twenty years, subject to the company making various investments in and improvements to the route over that period.

However, due to the two-year period of dormancy, the Redskins and the NFL consider the Boston / Washington franchise as a separate organization dating to 1932, and not as a continuation of the Kelleys / Eskimos line.

Whilst it carried on broadcasting to the end of its franchise period it began partially liquidating the company.

However, the recently terminated Connex South Eastern franchise, while " nationalised " as South Eastern Trains until the end of the franchise period, was subsequently re-franchised as Southeastern.

* Churning to set up a business for failure, e. g. a franchise so the franchisor can re-sell the business in a short period

This period also saw the introduction of a franchise which limited the number of people who could vote in elections for the House of Commons.

Though the great majority of the people were Roman Catholics, no person of that faith could either enter parliament or exercise the franchise ; the penal code, which made it almost impossible for a Roman Catholic to hold property, to follow a learned profession, or even to educate his children, and which in numerous particulars pressed severely on the Roman Catholics and subjected them to degrading conditions, was as yet unrepealed, though in practice largely obsolete ; the industry and commerce of Ireland were throttled by restrictions imposed, in accordance with the economic theories of the period, in the interest of the rival trade of Great Britain.

For much of the period, the Tories commanded a broad base of support in rural England, but the relatively undemocratic nature of the franchise and the maldistribution of the borough seats ensured that this popular appeal was never translated into a Tory majority in Parliament.

He then led the team to a 7 – 9 record the following year, before leading the Panthers to their worst record in franchise history.

The team's struggles led to the firing of manager Don Baylor, the only manager in franchise history, following the season.

The following season, the Wings looked poised to " three-peat " for the first time in franchise history, acquiring three-time top blueliner Chris Chelios from his hometown Chicago Blackhawks in March 1999, but they would end up losing the Western Conference Semifinals to Colorado in six games.

It is the second alternate universe in the Gundam media franchise, following Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

The franchise was established following the actions of Stuart Symington, then-United States Senator from Missouri, who demanded a new franchise for the city after the Athletics ( Kansas City's previous major league team from 1955 to 1967 ) moved to Oakland, California.

The Red Sox did not re-sign Clemens following the 1996 season, despite offering him " by far the most money ever offered to a player in the history of the Red Sox franchise.

Following the 1945 elections to the Constituent Assembly in France, which were held with a very limited franchise, the French authorities gradually extended the franchise until in November 1955 the principle of universal sufferage was passed into law and implemented the following year.

The following year, the government changed the electoral laws, resorting to gerrymandering, and altering the franchise to allow some rich men of trade and industry to vote, in an attempt to prevent the ultras of winning a majority in future elections.

In April, the turnaround was complete as they became the first franchise in NBA history to qualify for the postseason following a sub-20-win campaign the previous year since the NBA went to an 82-game schedule.

The franchise has enjoyed a strong following ; from 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports.

The following year, he and co-owner Cyrus McLean made a presentation to the National Hockey League asking the league to award them an NHL franchise, but their bid was rejected.

Nimoy and Murphy acknowledged his part would attract non-Star Trek fans to the franchise following the rising popularity of Murphy, but it also meant the film might be ridiculed.

In April 1995, following UFC 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Davie and Gracie sold their interest in the franchise to SEG and disbanded WOW Promotions.

Namco chose to use the title Soul Blade in Europe, North America and Australia ; following Soul Edge's sequel, Soulcalibur, subsequent installments in the franchise have all been released under the title of Soulcalibur, by which the franchise is now most commonly known.

During September 1963 the ITA invited new applications for franchises to operate from July 1964 for three years or until the arrival of ITV2, whichever came first ( in the event, " ITV2 ", the second commercial channel, did not begin until 1982, under the guise of Channel 4 ), but in fact no changes were made to any franchise holders at that time, except for confirming the merger of the South Wales and the West franchise held by TWW and the Wales West and North franchise held by WWN following the financial collapse of WWN.

* The franchise for the Channel Islands was awarded to Channel Television, from two applications, following the extension of the 1954 Television Act to the Islands by Order in Council, as it normally would not apply there.

Due to financial problems, the team suspended operations in 1927 and surrendered its franchise the following year.

The team suspended operations in 1927 and formally surrendered its franchise the following year.

In photographs of unknown date from the 1950 – 1970 timeframe, the following guidelines may be helpful to identify which franchise is pictured:

When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise at 9: 25am the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was launched, with a new team of network continuity announcers ; former Meridian announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice.