Essay on the 19th Amendment 1

The Women’s Suffrage Movement in America

Kambrey R. Tarbox

Political Science 1100; Salt Lake Community College

Essay on the 19th Amendment 2

Abstract

This is a paper written on the history and development of the Women’s Suffrage Movement that

lead to the creation of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Though women are by no means

a minority within the population of the United States; we have often been segregated out of

politics and any meaningful positions within society at large in much the same way the Jim Crow

laws allowed African-Americans to be pushed to one side. In this essay we will explore just a

few of the often overlooked contributions that women played during and after WWI, and the

fight for our right to a voice.

Keywords: 19th Amendment; Suffrage; Women’s Movement; Feminism; WWI

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The Birth of Feminism in America

“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.”

-Corwin and Peltason’s, Understanding the Constitution

(Fifth Edition, P.163; released Jan. 1970)

From Then to Now

The history of women’s struggle for the right to be able to vote is a long and tedious one.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;

it must be demanded by the oppressed.” (King, n.d.) As he usually was, Dr. King was correct

and by the early 1900’s women were done waiting and started demanding that their voices be

heard. Our right, as women, to be allowed to vote was truly a marathon though, not a sprint. In

many ways, we are still fighting to defend that right today with even other women – such as the

Women Against Feminism group – claiming that women should not be allowed to vote. (Women

Against Feminism, n.d.) In an article posted recently to their cite titled “3 Reasons Women

Should NOT Vote”, it cites the number 1 reason being that women can not be drafted. The

rabbit hole spirals down fast from there, claiming also that women being given the vote is also

the direct reason for a steady increase in national spending since the 20’s.

The drive behind the Women’s Suffrage Movement in America goes back long before

1920 however. Women’s rights movements have been reported dating all the way back to the

1830’s to when they were also pushing hard to abolish slavery. The anti-slavery movement often

overshadowed the women’s movement, so very few are aware that it was even already an issue

woman were taking a stand on during that time.

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In 1848, the first women’s right convention organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and

Lucretia Mott was held in Seneca Falls, New York. This meeting is often thought of as the

launch of the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

“The demand for the vote became a centerpiece of the women’s right movement.”

-Unknown

Women had hoped that their work to abolish slavery would also help their own cause to

gain more individual rights. When the 14th Amendment passed in 1868, implying equity in the

rights of all citizens to vote, many were very dismayed to learn that this still was interpreted to

only include male citizens. Though they fought this in the Supreme Court, they ruled against the

Suffrage’s upholding the interpretation. It was 1878 before a proposal for the 19th Amendment

was finally introduced into Congress. Over the course of the next 4 decades the proposal was

shot down several times, never quite getting the number of votes it needed to pass.

It should also be mentioned that several of the western states, including Utah, did indeed

pass suffrage bills and were allowing women to vote much sooner than the eventual national

ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Members of such organizations as the National

American Woman Suffrage Association, also known as N.A.W.S.A.; and the National Woman’s

Party, N.W.P., became “strongly militant”. They were holding demonstrations and conducting

campaigns for the ratification of the amendment on a state by state basis. After New York

started allowing women to vote Woodrow Wilson was finally convinced to support the passing

of Women’s Suffrage. President Wilson was quoted as saying,

“We have made partners of the women in this war [referring to WWI]; shall we

admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a

partnership of privilege and right?”

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This voice of support from the President helped gain the needed votes and on June 4, 1919, the

bill to officially amend the constitution passed.

The 35th state to ratify the Amendment to their State’s Constitution was Kentucky, being

signed by Governor Edwin P. Morrow. The day this signing happened, the 19th Amendment

became officially federally ratified into the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920 (Our

Documents - 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ..., n.d.); and declared to be law by the

Secretary of State forcing the remaining states that had not yet ratified, to comply. Some states,

like Alabama, that voted against ratification refused to add it into their State’s Constitution even

though they could no longer legally bar women from voting. They did not officially add it into

the Alabama State Constitution until 33 years later in 1953 (Alabama Pioneers – Women were

not considered full citizens …, n.d.).

This was still a huge win for the Women’s Movement though, but there was little

celebrating done. Once again, their great achievement had been overshadowed; this time by the

passing of the 18th Amendment – Prohibition. Still, despite all of this and the challenges and

opposition they and women today would still face; women went out in droves to the polls to cast

their votes. They voted that year, and we vote still today. NAWSA evolved into ‘The League of

Women Voters’ and female activists still continue to work hard to use politics to help reform

society. This time period would later be known as “1st Wave Feminism”, to be followed by “2nd

Wave Feminism” in the 60’s and 70’s, and “3rd Wave Feminism” happening right now.

We have made monumental progress towards equality as a society, but we still have work

to do – just as our fore-mothers did before us. Both women and men need to continue to work

together towards a system that provides equal rights and equal protections under the law; where

both our sons and our daughters can live up to their full potentials.
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Bibliography

King, M. L. (n.d.). Letter from Birmingham Jail. Retrieved 4 16, 2018, from Bates College:

http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html

Our Documents - 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ... (n.d.). Retrieved 4 18, 2018, from

http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=63

Women Against Feminism. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 16, 2018, from

http://womenagainstfeminism.tumblr.com/

http://www.alabamapioneers.com/women-were-not-considered-full-citizens-in-alabama-

in-1965/

Corwin and Peltason (1970) Understanding the Constitution, Fifth Edition; University of

Illinois: Library of Congress catalog number 70-110430

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/suffrage/history2.htm; History of Women’s

Suffrage, Grolier’s Encyclopedia Americana

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http://history.com/topics/womens-history/19th-amendment; The History Channel, 19th

Amendment; Matthew Pinsker (Historian)

http://crusadeforthevote.org/19-amendment/; National Women’s History Museum

(NWHM); Passing the 19th Amendment, Allison Lange, Ph.D. (Fall 2015)