To celebrate the anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, we are featuring the document and an overview that introduces the text. As you read the document, we encourage you to reflect on the amendment that granted women the right to vote.
This document can be found in The Schlager Anthology of Women’s History. This set offers a modern, original library reference set covering women’s history from ancient times to the present day. It is also part of the Schlager Digital Library, a collection of over 2,500 primary sources specially selected to support courses of study across U.S and world history, ethnic and gender studies, American government, and religious studies.
Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Author
Aaron A. Sargen, Susan B. Anthony
Date
1920
Document Type
Legislative
Significance
Granted women in the United States the constitutional the right to vote
Overview
After more than a century of activism, women in the United States won the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. The amendment was initially introduced in Congress in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent, a Republican from California, who was passing along the measure as written by his friend Susan B. Anthony, who in turn based the language on the Fifteenth Amendment. However, it failed to secure passage after it was defeated in the Senate in 1886. Over the next three decades, the amendment was introduced by others and either blocked from consideration or defeated. For instance, it failed to pass the Senate in both 1913 and 1918. Many members of Congress clung to outdated stereotypes about gender roles, while others were afraid that male voters did not back increased rights for women.
Meanwhile, several states in the West, beginning with Wyoming, granted women the right to vote as support for women’s suffrage grew across the country. The National American Woman Suffrage Association led the campaign to gain voting rights for women. In 1912, former president Theodore Roosevelt announced his support for granting women the right to vote as part of his presidential campaign. Then in 1916, Jeannette Rankin became the first women elected to Congress. She served as a member of the House of Representatives from Montana.
Support for suffrage further increased during the U.S. involvement in World War I in 1917 and 1918 as many women took on new responsibilities and roles while a large number of men served in the military. Incumbent president Woodrow Wilson endorsed women’s suffrage in 1918 as part of his effort to unite Americans behind the war effort. By the end of the war, fifteen states allowed women to vote.
In May 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment was reintroduced in Congress. The measure passed the House on a vote of 304 to 89 on May 21. The Senate approved the measure on June 4, on a vote of 56–25. Although Congress had approved the measure, the amendment required the endorsement of two-thirds of the states to become law. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18. The amendment then became part of the Constitution on August 26. Despite the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, women would continue to struggle for full political equality into the twenty-first century.
Document Text
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.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.