Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Text

The amendment reads, in full: :''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. :''Congressional power of enforcement|Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.''

Interpretation and history

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 woman|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 United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives narrowly passed the amendment but the United States Senate|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 Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|15th, Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution|23rd and Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|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.

See also

Women's suffrage

Feminism

External links

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html#19

http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt19toc_user.html

Individual states' ratifications of the 19th Amendment:

http://www.floridamemory.com/FloridaHighlights/19th_Amendment/19th_Amendment.cfm