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After the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, women could finally vote. Millions of women cast their votes for the first
time. they still didn't have all their rights, but they had a voice in government.Today, women have the right to be equal
to men, to grow up as women, to live free from sexual expoliation, right to not bear children, to good nutrition and health
care, to marry or not and many others.
Women's Suffrage Before the 19th Amendment
Before the Nineteenth Amendment, the states could decide whether women could be granted suffrage. The western states were
first to grant suffrage. Women in the west really helped the society over there, like settling it, working to make it habitable
and even had jobs. The states in the middle of the United States got the idea too. They granted partial suffrage, meaning
that women could vote in some areas and not others.
The Nineteenth Amendment
On January 12, 1915, a bill requesting suffrage was brought before the House of Representatives and only lost by one vote.
It was brought up again on January 10, 1918 and this time, President Wilson made an appeal for the House to pass the bill.
This time, it won by one vote. It was then passed on to the Senate on September 30 that year and though President Wilson tried
convincing the Senate to pass it, it lost by two votes. They tried again on February 10, 1919, but it lost by one. Many politicians
on both parties were anxious to have it passed before the upcoming election, so President Wilson called a special session
with Congress and a bill introducing the amendment was brought up again. On May 21, 1919, it won by 42 more votes necessary
(two-thirds). On June 24, it was brought before the Senate, and won once again, with 56 ayes and 25 nays. Then all that was
left was for the states to ratify it. In the summer of 1920, Tennessee was the last state needed to ratify it. That year,
women across the United States could finally vote.
Nineteenth Amendment. Woman Suffrage
Section 1. 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.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
League of Women Voters Six months before the
ratification of the 19th Amendment, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was reformed by Carrie Chapman Catt into
the League of Women Voters. At first, only women could join, but in 1973, men could too. The LWV does not oppose or support
political candidates at any level of government but does support and oppose issues after studying them. The LWV works to influence
the public through education and advocacy.
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