1920
Woman Suffrage Amendment Ratified
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution,
guaranteeing women the right to vote, is ratified by Tennessee, giving it the
two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the
land. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by
woman suffragists. Its two sections read simply: “The right of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
by any State on account of sex” and “Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.”
America’s woman suffrage movement was founded
in the mid 19th century by women who had become politically active through
their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In July 1848, 200
woman suffragists, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met
in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss women’s rights. After approving measures
asserting the right of women to educational and employment opportunities, they
passed a resolution that declared “it is the duty of the women of this country
to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” For
proclaiming a woman’s right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected
to public ridicule, and some backers of women’s rights withdrew their support.
However, the resolution marked the beginning of the woman suffrage movement in
America.
The first national women’s rights convention
was held in 1850 and then repeated annually, providing an important focus for
the growing woman suffrage movement. In the Reconstruction era, the 15th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, granting African American men
the right to vote, but Congress declined to expand enfranchisement into the
sphere of gender. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded
by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to push for a woman suffrage
amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Another organization, the American Woman
Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone, was formed in the same year to work
through the state legislatures. In 1890, these two groups were united as the
National American Woman Suffrage Association. That year, Wyoming became the
first state to grant women the right to vote.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the role
of women in American society was changing drastically: Women were working more,
receiving a better education, bearing fewer children, and three more states
(Colorado, Utah, and Idaho) had yielded to the demand for female
enfranchisement. In 1916, the National Woman’s Party (formed in 1913 at the
Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage) decided to adopt a more radical
approach to woman suffrage. Instead of questionnaires and lobbying, its members
picketed the White House, marched, and staged acts of civil disobedience.
In 1917, America entered World War I, and
women aided the war effort in various capacities, which helped to break down
most of the remaining opposition to woman suffrage. By 1918, women had acquired
equal suffrage with men in 15 states, and both the Democratic and Republican
parties openly endorsed female enfranchisement.
In January 1918, the woman suffrage amendment
passed the House of Representatives with the necessary two-thirds majority
vote. In June 1919, it was approved by the Senate sent to the states for
ratification. Campaigns were waged by suffragists around the country to secure
ratification, and on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify
the amendment. On August 26, it was formally adopted into the Constitution by
proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.