Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

On March 22, 1984, Mississippi formally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, becoming the last of the original states to do so—more than six decades after it had become federal law—thereby achieving symbolic unanimous state ratification.

Shortly after the amendment’s adoption, Carrie Chapman Catt reorganized NAWSA into the League of Women Voters to help newly enfranchised women exercise their new voting rights through political education and civic engagement, continuing the fight for equality beyond enfranchisement.

On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was formally certified and proclaimed as part of the U.S. Constitution. Women across the United States gained the legal right to vote on an equal basis with men, a major expansion of American democracy.

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, reaching the three‑fourths threshold required for it to become part of the Constitution. The ratification famously passed by a single vote.

Idaho became one of the first states to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, doing so on February 11, 1920. Its quick adoption underscored western states’ leadership in expanding suffrage to women ahead of the full federal ratification.

In early 1918 both chambers of Congress passed the women’s suffrage amendment: the House passed it on May 21, 1919, and the Senate followed on June 4, 1919. This marked completion of the legislative phase, sending the amendment to the states for ratification.

Beginning July 4, 1917, activists from the National Woman’s Party, known as the Silent Sentinels, began picketing outside the White House to demand suffrage. Many were arrested, jailed in Lorton, Virginia, and subjected to harsh treatment including force-feeding during hunger strikes, drawing widespread attention and sympathy for the cause.

In 1890, the two major suffrage organizations, NWSA and AWSA, reunited to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), under leadership that included Stanton and later Carrie Chapman Catt. This consolidation strengthened the national movement with unified strategy and resources.

On January 10, 1878, Senator Aaron Sargent of California introduced the first proposed constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote. The language—drafted by Stanton and Anthony—stated that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged … on account of sex.” This text remained unchanged through eventual adoption in 1920.

In 1869 two competing organizations were established to pursue women's suffrage: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, aimed for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, while the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone and others, favored state-by-state campaigns. This split reflected strategic differences within the movement.

At a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, women's rights advocates including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the Declaration of Independence. It asserted that “all men and women are created equal” and included a resolution calling for women’s suffrage, marking the formal start of the organized women’s suffrage movement in the United States.