The womens suffrage movement and the nineteenth amendment

Q: What is the womens suffrage movement?

The womens suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once.

In 1920, after more than a century of activism, women won the right the to vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. The House, led by Jeannette Rankin on Montana, had first passed the suffrage amendment in 1918. That bill died in the Senate, but in 1919 Congress quickly secured its passage. Despite its ratification, decades of discrimination continued to restrict who could exercise the right to vote.

Table of Contents Show

Historical Summaries
Primary Sources
What influence did the 19th Amendment have on the women's suffrage movement?
What was the main reason for the 19th Amendment?
What is the women's suffrage movement?

/tiles/non-collection/n/nhd_suffrage-button.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object As the drive to pass the 19th Amendment gathered steam toward a successful 1919 vote in Congress, these buttons became part of supporters’ uniforms.

Historical Summaries

/tiles/non-collection/n/nhd_rankin-newspaper.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object Jeannette Rankin’s election as the first woman to Congress in 1916 generated huge press coverage, including this article from the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.

"Women Must Be Empowered": The U.S. House of Representatives and the Nineteenth Amendment [PDF]
A downloadable PDF publication exploring the House’s role in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Congress and the Women’s Suffrage Movement
A blog showcasing House records that shed light on the ways citizens and advocacy groups interacted with Congress regarding suffrage for women.

“Why Not Have it Constitutionally?”: Race, Gender, and the Nineteenth Amendment
A blog revealing the resistance some lawmakers had to women’s suffrage.

The House’s 1918 Passage of a Constitutional Amendment Granting Women the Right to Vote
A historical highlight describing the first time the House passed a women’s suffrage amendment.

The Nineteenth Amendment
A historical highlight outlining the debate that took place before the final vote on a women’s suffrage amendment.

Jeannette Rankin and the Women’s Suffrage Amendment
A blog detailing Representative Jeannette Rankin’s efforts in the fight for women’s suffrage.

The First Woman to Address a House Committee
A historical highlight detailing the time Victoria Woodhull demanded the right to vote before the House Judiciary Committee.

Suffragette City
A blog illustrating the first time a woman testified before a House committee.

Suffragist Susan B. Anthony’s Petition to the 43rd Congress
A historical highlight outlining Susan B. Anthony's arrest for "knowingly and unlawfully" voting.

Primary Sources

/tiles/non-collection/n/nhd_woodhull.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object In this print, suffragist Victoria Woodhull argues for the right to vote. She was the first woman to testify before a House committee.

Petition for Woman Suffrage
Signed by Frederick Douglass Jr., this 1878 petition for woman suffrage asks the House and Senate to amend the Constitution and allow women to vote.

WCTU Petition for Woman Suffrage
The Nebraska branch of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) sent this petition urging passage of a proposed constitutional amendment that “prohibited disenfranchisement on the basis of sex” to the House in 1886.

Commission to Investigate Equal Suffrage
Citizens of Ottumwa, Iowa, sent a letter to their Member of Congress, John Lacey, in 1902 requesting a congressional commission to investigate full voting rights for women.

Petition for Woman Suffrage Committee
On April 10, 1917, woman suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt sent this letter on behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage Association to urge the House to create a Committee on Woman Suffrage.

House Joint Resolution 1 for Women’s Suffrage
House Joint Resolution 1 proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending voting rights to women was introduced in the House on May 19, 1919.

Women’s Suffrage Amendment Tally Sheet
This tally sheet shows how the House voted on H. J. Res. 1 in 1919.

Missouri Ratifies Nineteenth Amendment
Missouri was the 11th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.

Minnesota Ratifies Nineteenth Amendment
The Minnesota legislature granted women the right to vote in presidential elections in 1919 and later that year, on September 8, it became the 15th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

What influence did the 19th Amendment have on the women's suffrage movement?

The 19th Amendment helped millions of women move closer to equality in all aspects of American life. Women advocated for job opportunities, fairer wages, education, sex education, and birth control.

What was the main reason for the 19th Amendment?

The 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution, ensuring that American citizens could no longer be denied the right to vote because of their sex. Michael Boyd was a legal studies intern at the National Constitution Center.

What is the women's suffrage movement?

The women's suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once.