Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
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Amendment XIX (the Nineteenth Amendment) to the United States Constitution (sometimes called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment) grants voting rights regardless of the voter's sex:
- The right of citizens in 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.
The amendment prohibits both the federal government and the states from using a person's sex as a qualification to vote; it was specifically intended to extend suffrage to women.
The amendment was the culmination of the work of many activists in favor of women's suffrage. One such group called the Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House for 18 months starting in 1917 to raise awareness of the issue.
On January 9, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support of the amendment. The next day, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the amendment but the Senate refused to even debate it until October. When the Senate voted on the amendment in October, it failed by two votes.
In response, the National Woman's Party urged citizens to vote against anti-suffrage senators up for election in the fall of 1918. After the 1918 election, most members of Congress were pro-suffrage. On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment by a vote of 304 to 89, and 2 weeks later on June 4, the Senate finally followed, where the amendment passed 56 to 25.
It was ratified on August 18, 1920, upon its ratification by Tennessee, the thirty-sixth state to do so. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification on August 26, 1920.
On February 27, 1922, a challenge to the 19th Amendment was rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Trivia
- Unlike the other voting rights amendments (the 15th, 23rd and 26th), the Congressional power of enforcement clause was kept in the same section as the granting of the right. The other amendments laid out a separate section for the enforcement clause. This has not, however, had any effect on its interpretation.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were major campaigners for womens' right to vote. They devoted 50 years to the cause.
See also
In 1921, Alice Paul and many other women's suffragists refused to publicly endorse the enforcement of the Nineteenth Amendment for all women: this policy was targeted at women of colour, who had assisted in bringing about the amendment as well. This policy of racial exclusion typified many feminist moves in the 20th Century.
External links
- National Archives: 19th Amendment
- CRS Annotated Constitution: 19th Amendment
- Individual states' ratifications of the 19th Amendment: