19th Amendment Facts
The 19th Amendment to United States Constitution made it illegal to prevent any U.S. citizen from voting based on their gender. To cut to the chase, it gave women the right to vote. The women's suffrage movement in the U.S. fought for women's right to vote at state and national levels. The 19th Amendment essentially overruled a former unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court - that the 14th Amendment did not make it legal for women to vote in elections. A Senator by the name of Aaron A. Sargent first introduced the 19th Amendment to Congress in 1878, but it wasn't until 1920 that it was ratified or approved.
Interesting 19th Amendment Facts:
1. In the mid-1800s women started to act ask for legislation that would give them the right to vote.
2. During the women's suffrage movement the fight for woman’s right to vote included: traveling, giving lectures, writing the government, lobbying the government, and holding civil disobedience events such as hunger strikes, vigils, parades to bring attention to the cause.
3. Supporters of the women's suffrage movement were sometimes jailed and abused for their participation.
4. In 1797, New Jersey temporarily granted unwed women the right to when it established its constitution. In New Jersey if you owned fifty pounds of property you were granted the right to vote. Moving backwards, in 1807 the law changed and only free, white males were allowed to vote.
5. Wyoming was almost denied statehood because in 1868 women in Wyoming were given the right to vote if they were over the age of 21. This was, 30 years before women in the rest of the states would be allowed to vote. Wyoming didn’t budge on this law however and was granted, the 44th U.S. state in 1890.
6. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony had great influence on the first attempt.
7. When the 19th Amendment was first proposed in 1878 it was defeated.
8. The 19th Amendment was originally called the Susan Anthony Amendment.
9. The House of Representatives introduced the 19th Amendment to Congress three times. The first attempt was in 1918, then 1919. In 1919 it was finally successful in passing through Senate.
10. Tennessee was the last U.S. state to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote as of August 18th, 1920.
11. Both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, were instrumental in the women's suffrage movement. Stanton, died in 1902 and Susan B. Anthony, died in 1906. Neither were ever granted the right to vote.
12. Prior to the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920, several states had already granted women the right to vote including Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Washington, Illinois, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Nevada, Nebraska, Montana, Michigan, Kansas, New York, and Indiana.
13. In 1918 President Wilson switched his stance on women's right to vote from opposing woman’s right to vote to supporting it.
14. Because of World War I women were involved in the war effort and the feeling was they should have say in how the government is run.
15. On November 2nd, 1920, 8 million women voted in the U.S.
elections for the first time in history.
Tags:
suffrage,universal suffrage,19th amendment,women,woodrow wilson,margaret sanger,alice paul,wctu,nawsa,suffragettes,alice stokes paul,emma goldman,rights,apush,ap,us history,progressive era,wwi,civil rights,test,exam,homework help,womens suffrage (activism issue),documentary,john green,vlogbrothers, learning lockit, learninglockit
