Women's Suffrage: The Original Constitution's Missing Voice

The original U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789, did not explicitly grant women the right to vote. While women had the right to vote in several pre-revolutionary colonies, by 1807, every state constitution had denied women even limited suffrage. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1920, granted women the right to vote, legally guaranteeing American women the right to vote and prohibiting the United States and its states from denying any citizen the right to vote based on sex.

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The 19th Amendment

> 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 the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The road to achieving this milestone was long and challenging. It required decades of agitation and protest by women's suffrage supporters, who employed various strategies to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change to the Constitution. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of women lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practised civil disobedience to win the right to vote. The fight for women's suffrage emerged as part of the broader movement for women's rights and was closely intertwined with the abolitionist movement. Anti-slavery activism drew both Black and white women into politics, with some white women arguing that slavery defied their ideals of womanhood and justice.

The first introduction of the amendment in Congress occurred in 1878, but it was not until 1919 that the House of Representatives and the Senate passed it. The amendment's ratification on August 18, 1920, marked its final hurdle, obtaining the agreement of three-fourths of the states. Despite this significant victory, the struggle for full enfranchisement continued, as many women, particularly African Americans and other minority women, remained unable to vote due to discriminatory state voting laws.

Women's Suffrage Movement

The Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States was a long and arduous campaign that lasted for over a century. The movement sought to secure the right of women to vote, which was not guaranteed in the original Constitution.

In the early years of the United States, voting was not a nationally recognised right. Instead, the states were largely responsible for crafting their own election laws. Most states limited the right to vote to white male individuals who owned property above a certain value. This changed as property requirements were gradually lifted, and universal suffrage for men was achieved with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which prohibited the denial of voting rights based on "race, colour, or previous condition of servitude".

Despite these changes, women remained excluded from the franchise. While certain advocates argued that the Fourteenth Amendment extended the right to vote to women, the Supreme Court ruled in Minor v. Happersett that the amendment did not confer voting rights to women, despite recognising them as citizens. The national debate around women's suffrage waned during the Civil War and the subsequent passage of the Reconstruction Amendments, which failed to include women's suffrage despite efforts by women's rights leaders.

The movement for women's suffrage gained momentum in the mid-19th century, with supporters employing various strategies such as lecturing, writing, marching, lobbying, and civil disobedience to achieve what many considered a radical change to the Constitution. The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878, but it was not until 1919 that the amendment finally passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This amendment, known as the Nineteenth Amendment, prohibited the denial of voting rights based on sex. The amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it, marking a pivotal moment in the history of American democracy.

While the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed the right of women to vote, the struggle for full enfranchisement continued for minority women, particularly African Americans. The systemic racism prevalent in the South and other regions posed significant obstacles, and it would take several more decades for women of colour to fully exercise their voting rights.

State vs. Federal Legislation

The struggle for women's suffrage in the United States was a long and arduous one, with the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, only being passed in 1920. This amendment was the culmination of decades of agitation and protest by women's suffrage organisations, which began in the mid-19th century. The movement for women's suffrage took place at both the state and federal levels, with varying degrees of success.

At the state level, there were some early successes for women's suffrage. In 1869, women were enfranchised in the Wyoming Territory, and in 1870, Utah became the first place in the nation where women legally cast ballots after the launch of the suffrage movement. By 1890, Wyoming was joined by Utah, Colorado, and Idaho in allowing women the right to vote. Several more states followed suit by 1920, including Washington, California, Oregon, and Arizona. These successes were due in part to the efforts of women's organisations, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which advocated for extending the right to vote for women at the state level.

However, there was also strong opposition to women's suffrage at the state level. For example, the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NYSAOWS) used grassroots mobilisation techniques to defeat the 1915 referendum on women's suffrage in New York. They later became the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) and continued to fight against the federal constitutional amendment for suffrage.

At the federal level, the push for women's suffrage faced significant challenges. The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878, but it did not pass the House of Representatives until 1919. The Southern states, in particular, were the most conservative and gave the least support for suffrage. This was due in part to traditional values regarding women's public roles and strong support for states' rights, which meant automatic opposition to a federal constitutional amendment.

The 19th Amendment, which prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens on the basis of sex, was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920. This amendment finally guaranteed the right of women to vote in the United States, but it did not ensure full enfranchisement for all women. Millions of women of colour across the country, particularly in the South, continued to face systemic racism and discriminatory policies that prevented them from exercising their right to vote. Even before the 19th Amendment, some states had allowed women to vote, but these gains were often short-lived and did not represent full enfranchisement for all women.

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The Fifteenth Amendment

However, the Fifteenth Amendment did not include protections against sex discrimination in voter laws, which was a significant disappointment for leading women's rights activists, who had been campaigning for decades for the right to vote. The women's suffrage movement, which had previously made common cause with the abolitionist movement, now faced a difficult decision. Some leaders, like Stone and Douglass, supported the 15th Amendment, arguing that Black male voting rights should come first, and that once the 15th Amendment was ratified, they could push for a separate amendment for women's suffrage. Others, like Anthony and Stanton, vehemently disagreed, arguing that any constitutional amendment that did not grant women's suffrage was unacceptable. This disagreement led to a split in the women's rights movement, with Stanton and Anthony creating the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which advocated for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage and took on other political issues such as divorce laws and the temperance movement.

The fight for women's suffrage in the United States was long and arduous, with women organizing, petitioning, and picketing for decades to win the right to vote. The road to the Nineteenth Amendment was filled with setbacks and triumphs, but it ultimately ensured that women's voices would be heard and represented in the democratic process.

Women's Officeholding Rights

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which came into effect on 18 August 1920, granted women the right to vote. However, the road to achieving this milestone was long and arduous, requiring decades of agitation and protest by women's suffrage supporters. The fight for women's officeholding rights and voting rights occurred separately and was understood by much of the population to be distinct.

Prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment, many women were elected or appointed to hold certain offices across the country. Several state constitutions contained gender-neutral language regarding officeholding, and women took advantage of this by running for office as a strategy to gain headway in the fight for the right to vote. For example, in 1869, women were enfranchised in the Wyoming Territory, and in 1870, Utah became the first place in the nation where women legally cast ballots after the launch of the suffrage movement. In 1887, Kansas women gained the right to vote in city elections and hold certain offices.

The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878, but it was not until 1919 that an amendment passed the House of Representatives and the Senate. This amendment was then submitted to the states for ratification, requiring the approval of 36 states to secure adoption. On 18 August 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, and the Secretary of State certified the ratification on 26 August 1920, marking a pivotal moment in the history of women's suffrage in the United States.

While the 19th Amendment was a significant step forward, it did not guarantee full enfranchisement for all women. The struggle to include African American and other minority women in the promise of voting rights continued for decades, as systemic racism in the South and other regions persisted. The fight for women's officeholding rights and voting rights was a testament to the dedication and perseverance of generations of activists who worked tirelessly to bring about change.

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