In the early part of the 19C, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality, while man’s sphere was becoming the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were becoming interested in equality.
In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property & earnings.
In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.
But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, & ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.“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.”
The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy & difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation & protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, & practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.
Beginning in the 1800s, women organized, petitioned, & picketed to win the right to vote, but it took them decades to accomplish their purpose. Between 1878, when the amendment was 1st introduced in Congress, & August 18, 1920, when it was ratified, champions of voting rights for women worked tirelessly, but strategies for achieving their goal varied.
Some pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in each state - 9 western states adopted woman suffrage legislation by 1912. Others challenged male-only voting laws in the courts. Some suffragists used more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, & hunger strikes. Often supporters met fierce resistance. Male opponents heckled, jailed, & sometimes physically abused them.
By 1916, almost all of the major suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment. When the state of New York adopted woman suffrage in 1917 & President Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began to shift.
On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment, & 2 weeks later, the Senate followed. When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, the amendment passed its final hurdle of obtaining the agreement of three-fourths of the states. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification on August 26, 1920, hopefully changing the face of the American electorate forever.
The campaign for woman suffrage was long, difficult, & sometimes dramatic; yet ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement. Decades of struggle to include African Americans & other minority women in the promise of voting rights remained. Many women remained unable to vote long into the 20th century because of discriminatory state voting laws.Transcript
Sixty-sixth Congress of the United States of America; At the First Session,
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the nineteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and nineteen.
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislature of three-fourths of the several States.
"ARTICLE
"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.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation