In 1918, Jeannette Rankin of Montana— the first woman elected to the US Congress—introduced a bill to give American women the right to vote. The legislation passed the House but failed in the Senate. President Wilson endorsed women’s suffrage, and the Senate passed a reintroduced measure in 1919. That legislation was circulated among the states as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. It was ratified, and became law, in August 1920.