The 19th Amendment

Introduction

Timeline of the Suffragist Movement.

Main Contributors

Opposition

Introduction

The process for amending the 19th Amendment was a very arduous process that required thousands of men and women to work together for tens of years. This process was called the Women's Suffrage Movement. It was the Amendment that gave women the right to vote. Before the 19th Amendment, while women were citizens of the United States, they weren't given the right to vote for representatives or the right to have a say in political matters. Many obstacles needed to be overcome to accomplish their goal, such as other men and women trying to make sure that women did not get the right to vote, people taking the rights that women had away, and even disagreement between the contributors to the movement.

Timeline of the Suffragist Movement.

The First time a woman was able to vote on a matter in America was in 1756 in Massachusetts. A wealthy, widowed woman who had a son who was too young to vote was allowed to vote in three town meetings (Verhovek, 2025).
During 1776–1807, the New Jersey Constitution allowed women to vote, provided they owned their own property. This meant that while married women could not vote, single women could. It also allowed other races to vote. There were at least 75 cases of women voting between 1800 and 1806. However, as time passed, New Jersey grew wary of women and people of other races taking over their state, which led them to change their constitution so that only white men could vote (Verhovek, 2025).
In 1848, there was a convention called the Seneca Falls Convention. There was a 300-plus gathering of men and women where there was debate on the matter that women should be able to participate in the government and vote. This declaration was signed by 68 women and 32 men. It also caused several more conventions where women and men gathered to talk about voting and citizenship rights for women (Verhovek, 2025).
After many more conventions, the American Equal Rights Association was created. The organization worked to get citizenship rights for women and freed African Americans; however, in 1867, when a campaign in Kansas failed, the organization started to lose power (Verhovek, 2025).
After African Americans and other races started to get citizenship rights and voting rights while women did not, many suffragists felt as if it was unfair, and in 1869, it came to a head where the American Equal Rights Association fell apart. Those who did not approve of the 15th Amendment created the National Woman Suffrage Association, while those who did approve created the American Woman Suffrage Association (Verhovek, 2025).
Throughout 1872–1913, both organizations continued to try to get women's suffrage. They tried to use the 14th Amendment as a way to state that women have the right to vote as they have citizenship; however, many women who voted or tried to vote were denied and were arrested if they did vote (Verhovek, 2025).
On January 10, 1878, the 19th Amendment was first introduced to Congress; however, in June, the amendment was indefinitely postponed (Verhovek, 2025).
In 1890, when Wyoming became the 44th state, it was the first state to have universal suffrage (Verhovek, 2025).
In 1890, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association merged (Verhovek, 2025).
In 1914, while most of the West had women’s suffrage, the rest of the country did not want to change (Verhovek, 2025).
In 1914, another women’s suffrage amendment was introduced. It also failed (“National Park Service”, 2019).
In 1916, the organization National Woman’s Party and in 1917-1919, they did many protests, Such as sitting in front of the White House while protesting (Verhovek, 2025).
In January 1918, the current President Woodrow Wilson supported the amendment (Verhovek, 2025).
In 1918, the 19th Amendment passed the House and then failed in the Senate by 2 votes (“National Park Service”, 2019).
On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives approved the amendment, and on June 4, the Senate did too. On August 18, 1920, the amendment was ratified by the final vote of Tennessee (Verhovek, 2025).

Main Contributors

Three of the main contributors to the women’s suffrage movement were Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Burns, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Susan B. Anthony was born in a Quaker family, which led her to believe in social equality. She was one of the main contributors to the Women’s Suffrage Movement and created and served as the president of the National Woman Suffrage Association. She spent fifty years of her life on this movement. The 19th Amendment was widely known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Lucy Burns was one of the main contributors to the movement in the early 20th century. She was one of the creators of the National Women's Party, and she was also one of the organizers who protested in the White House for suffrage. Throughout her journey for suffrage, she was arrested six times and was also assaulted. After the 19th Amendment was passed, she left the public eye and lived her life peacefully till she died. Carrie Chapman Catt was also another main contributor to the suffrage movement, but she was part of the second generation of suffragists. She grew to Fame because she was able to mobilize suffragists across the country. After Anthony retired from being president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association, she became the president. She was one of the creators of the “winning plan,” which was created to sway public opinion and cause the 19th Amendment to be approved (Verhovek, 2025). There was also discrimination within the movement itself, as people of color were continuously excluded and discriminated against by several suffragists. This also led to disagreements between suffragists, which caused suffragist organizations to split on several occasions (Verhovek, 2025)

Opposition

There were many people, both men and women, who were against the suffragists. While there were no official anti-suffragist movements or organizations till 1911, Many people still tried to stop and ridicule the suffragists. There were articles, political art, and even speeches where people mocked the suffragists and spoke against them. Massachusetts was one of the key states with a large number of suffragists. However, this caused there to be many anti-suffragists too. In the 1880s, anti-suffragists created the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. Similar to the suffragist organizations, these organizations also had meetings and events. They even created daycares and other establishments to convince women and men to listen to their views. Organizations believed women shouldn't be able to vote as they are just far too busy with taking care of children, and do not have the brain capacity to understand what they are voting for, and having more people vote just increases costs without any positive effects (Lange, 2015). There was also discrimination within the movement itself, as people of color were continuously excluded and discriminated against by several suffragists. This also led to disagreements between suffragists, which caused suffragist organizations to split on several occasions (Verhovek, 2025).

Effect

There have been many effects of women getting the right to vote, such as politicians paying more attention to women (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). This is because women now have a say in whether they're going to get voted into the government (Impact of the Nineteenth Amendment Beyond the Supreme Court, n.d.). There has also been a correlation that if states allow women to vote, there is better education and better child mortality rates (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). It also led to many more women gaining office positions. To this day, women are still gaining more positions and rights in the US. For example, the first person to be elected into the House of Representatives was Jeannette Rankin in 1916, the first person to be was Hattie Wyatt Caraway in 1932, the first person to be elected as a speaker of the house was Nancy Pelosi in 2007, and just recently the First female vice president was Kamala Harris in 2020. However, despite all of these victories, there is still discrimination in the United States, whether for women or people of other races (Impact of the Nineteenth Amendment Beyond the Supreme Court, n.d.).

Conclusion

The 19th Amendment is an important part of our history and government as a whole. Civics is the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, which expanded the definition of people who count as part of the United States democracy. It also showed how the Constitution is a living document and can be amended and changed anytime, and how the Constitution is the most important and powerful part of the United States as even though some states disagreed on the matter of women voting, they all had to follow the Constitution. The 19th Amendment also changed the United States to be more equal, which is another principle of Civics, as all citizens should have an equal say in the government. Another reason the 19th Amendment is very important to Civics is that it showed how people could exercise their rights as citizens. During the process, the Constitution was amended with the 19th Amendment. Several people protested, lobbied, and used public pressure to change the Constitution. The process of amending the 19th Amendment as a whole is a very important part of Civics.

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References

Impact of the Nineteenth Amendment Beyond the Supreme Court. Constitution Annotated. (n.d.). https://constitution.congress.gov/ browse/essay/amdt19-5/ALDE_00013829/

Lange, A. (2015). Opposition to suffrage. History of U.S. Women's Suffrage. https://www.crusadeforthevote.org/naows-opposition

“National Park Service.” (2019, December 4). The 19th amendment: A crash course (U.S. National Park Service). The 19th Amendment: A Crash Course. https://www.nps.gov/articles/2020-crash-course.htm

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020, September 25). Causes and Effects of Women’s Suffrage in the United States. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/summary/Causes-and-Effects-of-Womens-Suffrage-in-the-United- States

Verhovek, K. (2025, March 3). The 19th amendment, explained. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our- work/research-reports/19th-amendment-explained

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