Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. The Constitution allows the states to determine the qualifications for voting, and until the 1910s most states disenfranchised women. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. It effectively overruled Minor v. Happersett, in which a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give women the right to vote.
The Nineteenth Amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent. Forty-one years later, in 1919, Congress approved the amendment and submitted it to the states for ratification. It was ratified by the requisite number of states a year later, with Tennessee's ratification being the final vote needed to add the amendment to the Constitution. In Leser v. Garnett (1922), the Supreme Court rejected claims that the amendment was unconstitutionally adopted.
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American History USA Articles
- The History of the United States, in 10,000 Words
American history in a single article. A 10,000 word history of the United States. - The National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association
The NWSA and AWSA operated independently, with some antagonism, until they reunified in 1890, forming the NAWSA. - Quakers, Abolitionism, and Women's Suffrage
For much of American history, Quakers were at the forefront of abolitionism and women's rights. Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony were two famous examples.
Primary Sources
Books/Sources
- Constitutional Amendments (VOLUME TWO): An Encyclopedia of the People, Procedures, Politics, Primary Documents... - Mark Grossman
- A Look at the Nineteenth Amendment: Women Win the Right to Vote (The Constitution of the United States) - Helen Koutras Bozonelis