• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Mission Statement
  • Commenter Rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Account Access
The Moderate Voice

The Moderate Voice

An Internet hub with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, indies, centrists, moderates, and right

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Media
  • Inspiration and Living
  • Economy
  • International
  • Movie Reviews

Poll: Most Americans want to end lifetime Supreme Court appointments but nix expanded court.

Poll: Most Americans want to end lifetime Supreme Court appointments but nix expanded court.

Posted on April 18, 2021
GOP Struggling To Harm Biden

GOP Struggling To Harm Biden

Posted on April 17, 2021
Vaccination rates break down along party lines

Vaccination rates break down along party lines

Posted on April 17, 2021
Are mass shootings an American epidemic?

Are mass shootings an American epidemic?

Posted on April 16, 2021
Another US mass shooting leaves eight dead in Indianapolis

Another US mass shooting leaves eight dead in Indianapolis

Posted on April 16, 2021
… and the Oscar goes to … Are they kidding?

… and the Oscar goes to … Are they kidding?

Posted on April 16, 2021
Afghanistan: It’s Done. No More. 3.0  (UPDATE)

Afghanistan: It’s Done. No More. 3.0 (UPDATE)

Posted on April 15, 2021
U.S. imposes wide array of sanctions on Russia for ‘malign’ actions

U.S. imposes wide array of sanctions on Russia for ‘malign’ actions

Posted on April 15, 2021
Minnesota officer who shot Black man after traffic stop charged with manslaughter

Minnesota officer who shot Black man after traffic stop charged with manslaughter

Posted on April 14, 2021
‘Time to end the forever war’: Biden to start U.S. Afghanistan pullout on May 1

‘Time to end the forever war’: Biden to start U.S. Afghanistan pullout on May 1

Posted on April 14, 2021
U.S. calls for pause to J&J COVID-19 vaccine over rare blood clots

U.S. calls for pause to J&J COVID-19 vaccine over rare blood clots

Posted on April 13, 2021
Biden walks tightrope with bipartisan talks on $2 trillion infrastructure bill

Biden walks tightrope with bipartisan talks on $2 trillion infrastructure bill

Posted on April 12, 2021
Entitled

Entitled

Posted on April 12, 2021
Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another? (UPDATED)

Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another? (UPDATED)

Posted on April 11, 2021
Will Bunch: If GOP, Mitch McConnell really wants ‘woke’ corporations out of politics, here’s how

Will Bunch: If GOP, Mitch McConnell really wants ‘woke’ corporations out of politics, here’s how

Posted on April 9, 2021
Britain’s Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, dies aged 99

Britain’s Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, dies aged 99

Posted on April 9, 2021
You are here: Home / Politics / Happy Birthday, 19th Amendment

Happy Birthday, 19th Amendment

August 26, 2009 by KATHY GILL, Technology Policy Analyst 13 Comments

suffrage protest 1917If you’ve ever doubted than a black man would be elected president of the U.S. before a white woman assumed that office, just look at the history of voting in America.

On this day (26 August) in 1920, women in America were finally given the right to vote; black men had been voting for 50 years. And down under in New Zealand, women had been voting since 1893, although they were not eligible for the House of Representatives until 1919. Yes, teeny tiny New Zealand was the first modern country to give women the right to vote.

A Brief History of Suffrage In America
In 1776, Abigal Adams wrote her husband, John, pleading with him and the other men at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to “remember the ladies.”

In the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.

They didn’t. The Declaration of Independence declares that “all men are created equal.”

In July 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY, and launched the woman suffrage movement. (Read a fictionalized account: Seneca Falls Inheritance, by Miriam Grace Monfredo.)

Almost 20 years later (1866), Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the American Equal Rights Association. Their goal? Universal suffrage for white and black women and black men. Stanton and Anthony were so adamant about universal suffrage that they refused to support the 15th Amendment, which enfranchised black men in 1870.

In 1878, Sen. Aaron Augustus Sargent (R-CA) introduced the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to the constitution:

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.

Sargent repeatedly introduced the amendment, even though Congress repeatedly rejected it; amendments 16-18 were passed before the suffrage amendment. And Anthony died on 13 March 1906.

Yet the movement that she helped found did not die. In January 1917, suffragists began picketing the White House daily, trying to pressure President Woodrow Wilson into supporting the Anthony Amendment. Between June and November, 218 protesters from 26 states were arrested and charged with “obstructing sidewalk traffic.”

Eventually, after the World War I, their pressure bore fruit. The Anthony Amendment passed the House of Representatives on 21 May 1919, 304 to 89, after President Wilson announced his support. The amendment granted the right to vote to all U.S. women 21 years of age and older. The Senate subsequently approved it, 56 to 25.

Then the state legislative votes began. (See How To Amend The Constitution.)

  • 10 June 1919 (3) : Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
  • 16 June to 28 July 1919 (9) : Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas
  • 2 August to 15 December 1919 (10) : California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah
  • 6 January to 22 March 1920 (13) : Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming
  • 24 August 1920 (1) : Tennessee
  • Did Not Ratify (13) : Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia

Note: of the 13 original signatories of the Declaration of Independence, only five — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey — ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Another Twist
Which party supported suffrage? The G.O.P. One reason that the Anthony Amendment languished for so many decades was the Democrats controlled Congress, and Democrats did not support the amendment.

We know that political parties evolve over time, but perhaps no other issue illustrates this evolution like women’s rights. In 1923, suffragists succeeded in introducing the “Lucretia Mott Amendment,” which would eventually become the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Congress passed the ERA in 1972; it was controlled by Democrats, although a Republican, Richard Nixon, sat in the White House.

Opponents included Republican Phyllis Schlafly, leader of the Eagle Forum/STOP ERA. In 1980, with Ronald Reagan as its presidential nominee, the Republican Party removed support for the ERA from its platform.

Since 1982, the ERA has been re-introduced each Congressional session. In the current session, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) introduced it as HJR 61. In the prior session of Congress, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) introduced it as SJR 10.

Source for photo: Library of Congress

Avatar
KATHY GILL, Technology Policy Analyst

Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles! @kegill, wiredpen.com

wiredpen.com

Filed Under: Politics, Society Tagged With: ERA, suffrage

Primary Sidebar

Donate to TMV

The TMV Feed

 Subscribe in a reader

Archives

Categories

The Latest

Most Commented Posts (7 or so days)

Copyright 1998 - 2020 The Moderate Voice. Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in