Woman suffrage amendment ratified - Aug 18, 1920 - HISTORY.com Woman suffrage amendment ratified Publisher A+E Networks The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is ratified by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by woman suffragists. Its two sections read simply: “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” and “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” America’s woman suffrage movement was founded in the mid 19th century by women who had become politically active through their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In July 1848, 200 woman suffragists, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss women’s rights.

After approving measures asserting the right of women to educational and employment opportunities, they passed a resolution that declared “it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” For proclaiming a woman’s right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected to public ridicule, and some backers of women’s rights withdrew their support. However, the resolution marked the beginning of the woman suffrage movement in America. The first national women’s rights convention was held in 1850 and then repeated annually, providing an important focus for the growing woman suffrage movement. In the Reconstruction era, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, granting African American men the right to vote, but Congress declined to expand enfranchisement into the sphere of gender. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to push for a woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Another organization, the American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone, was formed in the same year to work through the state legislatures.

In 1890, these two groups were united as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. That year, Wyoming became the first state to grant women the right to vote. By the beginning of the 20th century, the role of women in American society was changing drastically: Women were working more, receiving a better education, bearing fewer children, and three more states (Colorado, Utah, and Idaho) had yielded to the demand for female enfranchisement. In 1916, the National Woman’s Party (formed in 1913 at the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage) decided to adopt a more radical approach to woman suffrage. Instead of questionnaires and lobbying, its members picketed the White House, marched, and staged acts of civil disobedience. In 1917, America entered World War I, and women aided the war effort in various capacities, which helped to break down most of the remaining opposition to woman suffrage. By 1918, women had acquired equal suffrage with men in 15 states, and both the Democratic and Republican parties openly endorsed female enfranchisement.

In January 1918, the woman suffrage amendment passed the House of Representatives with the necessary two-thirds majority vote. In June 1919, it was approved by the Senate sent to the states for ratification. Campaigns were waged by suffragists around the country to secure ratification, and on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. On August 26, it was formally adopted into the Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. Related Videos 19th Amendment - constitution | Laws.com 19th Amendment Share 0 Share 0 Tweet 0 +1 0 Share Understanding the 19th Amendment Share Share 0 Tweet 0 +1 0 Share 0 The Nineteenth Amendment is another Amendment to the United States Constitution that was implemented in order to provide for a guarantee of civil rights to all citizens of the United States. In the vein of the Fifteenth Amendment, the Nineteenth Amendment would call for the prohibition of the state and Federal governments to deny a citizen the right to vote due the citizen's sex.

It would take fifty years for women to obtain that right which was granted to free men in 1870 by virtue of the Fifteenth Amendment. The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18th, 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment states, "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." Though the Women's Rights Movement for Suffrage was already underway in previous years, it would not be until the adoption of the 19th Amendment in which they would ultimately reach success. Women suffrage can be traced back to 1848 to the "Declaration of Sentiments" delivered in Seneca Falls, NY, which would be the first Woman's Rights Convention held in the United States. Women suffragists sought their inclusion in recognition of voting rights provided by the Fifteenth Amendment, but evidently did not make a strong enough case for universal suffrage. It would be in 1878, where the Constitutional Amendment, including what is now Section I of the Nineteenth Amendment, would be proposed.

Congress would hear the inclusion of this Amendment in every session for the next 41 years until it was finally approved. However, it is not to say that certain states did not grant women the right vote. The inclusion of Wyoming as a state in 1890 in turn made the new State of Wyoming the first state allowing women the vote. Other states, such as Colorado, Utah, and Idaho would also follow suit in years to come. On the national level, support for women suffrage would arrive at its most successful step to date on January 9th, 1918, when President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for what would eventually become the 19th Amendment. The bill was voted on the following day, in which the House of Representatives managed to pass the Amendment, but the Senate would eventually vote on it in October of the same year and fail to pass it by three votes. It would finally get voted on once again in 1920, when Harry Burns would provide the necessary vote for the State of Tennessee to become the 36th State necessary to pass the Nineteenth Amendment into law.

It was quite the controversial move on Burns' part, considering that it was primarily the southern states of the U.S. that were most adamantly opposed to the 19th Amendment. However, the Nineteenth Amendment and its ratification would prove to be one of the most important changes in the history of the United States, further expanding the protection of civil rights for all citizens. Woman suffrage (19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States) becomes law on August 26, 1920. - HistoryLink.org HistoryLink.org Woman suffrage (19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States) becomes law on August 26, 1920. By Mildred Andrews Tweet On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which grants women the right to vote, becomes law. Washington women had won the vote in 1910, after which Washington suffragists had helped with the national campaign to amend the constitution so that all American women could vote. In Washington state, various woman suffrage organizations had been working to win votes for women since the 1880s, with some successes, later repealed.

Finally, on November 8, 1910, Washington state's male electorate granted women the franchise by an overwhelming majority, breaking a 14-year gridlock in the national crusade and making Washington the fifth state in the United States where women could vote. Washington's enactment of woman suffrage opened the floodgates for other Western states, which quickly followed suit. To counter strong resistance in the older and more entrenched East and South, the national crusade escalated its demand for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Washington women remained involved in the national crusade until the passage of the 19th Amendment to the constitution in 1920. The 19th Amendment The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America reads: 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 19th Amendment was proposed by resolution of the U.S. Congress on June 4, 1919. It was ratified by more than three-fourths of the states, and declared ratified in a proclamation of the U.S.

Secretary of State on August 26, 1920, on which day it became the law of the land. Women posting signs to promote woman suffrage, Seattle, 1910 Courtesy UW Special Collections (Neg. A. Curtis 19943) Sources: T. A. Larson, "The Woman Suffrage Movement in Washington," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 2 (April, 1976), 49-62; Mildred Tanner Andrews, Woman's Place: A Guide to Seattle and King County (Seattle: Gemil Press, 1994). The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is Ratified | World History Project The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is Ratified “ 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. ” — 19th Amendment Source: National Archives Added by: Scott McMillin The first Territorial legislature of Wyoming granted woman suffrage in 1869, Utah doing likewise in the following year.

In 1890 Wyoming came into the Union as the first woman suffrage State. In 1893 voters of Colorado made that State the second of the woman suffrage States. In 1895 Utah adopted a constitution in which woman suffrage was provided for. One after another, Western States granted the right of voting to their women citizens, the only opposition being presented by the liquor interests and the machine politicians. The procession was brought up with New York State, that old battle ground for suffrage, in 1917. Meanwhile efforts to obtain an amendment to the Federal Constitution had not abated. Finally, on January 12, 1915, a bill to this effect was brought before the House of Congress, but was lost by a vote of 174 against 204. Again a bill was brought before the House, on January 10, 1918. On the evening before President Wilson made a strong and widely published appeal to the House to pass the bill. It was passed with one more vote than was needed to make the necessary two-thirds majority. The fight was now carried into the Senate.

Again President Wilson made an appeal, and on September 30, 1918, the question was put to the vote, but two votes were lacking to make the two-thirds majority. On February 10, 1919, it was again voted upon, and then it was lost by only one vote. There was now considerable anxiety among politicians of both parties to have the amendment passed and made effective before the general elections of 1920, so the President called a special session of Congress, and a bill introducing the amendment was brought before the House again. On May 21, 1919, it was passed, 42 votes more than necessary being obtained. On June 4, 1919, it was brought before the Senate, and after a long discussion it was passed, with 56 ayes and 25 noes. It only remained now that the necessary number of States should ratify the action of Congress. Within a few days Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, their legislatures being then in session, passed the ratifications.

One after another the other States followed their examples, Tennessee being the last of the needed 36 States to ratify, in the summer of 1920. The amendment was now an accomplished fact and the Presidential election of November, 1920, was therefore the first occasion on which all American women were allowed to exercise their right of suffrage. Source: “Woman suffrage”, Collier's New Encyclopedia, X (New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company, 1921), pp. 403–405. Added by: Colin Harris On January 9, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support of the amendment. The House of Representatives narrowly passed the amendment the next day, but the Senate refused to debate it until October. When the Senate voted on the amendment in October, it failed by three votes. In response, the National Woman's Party urged citizens to vote against anti-suffrage Senators up for reelection in the 1918 midterm elections. Following those elections, most members of Congress were pro-suffrage.

On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment by a vote of 304 to 89 and the Senate followed suit on June 4, by a vote of 56 to 25. On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee General Assembly, by a one-vote margin became the thirty-sixth state legislature to ratify the proposed amendment, making it the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Source: Wikipedia Added by: Colin Harris After a long and persistent fight advocates of woman suffrage won a victory in the Senate today when that body, by a vote of 56 to 25, adopted the Susan Anthony amendment to the Constitution. The suffrage supporters had two more than the necessary two-thirds vote of Senators present. Had all the Senators known to be in favor of suffrage been present the amendment would have had 66 votes, or two more than a two-thirds vote of the entire Senate.

19th Amendment adopted - Aug 26, 1920 - HISTORY.com 19th Amendment adopted Publisher A+E Networks The 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by woman suffragists. Its two sections read simply: “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” and “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” America’s woman suffrage movement was founded in the mid 19th century by women who had become politically active through their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In July 1848, 200 woman suffragists, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss women’s rights.

After approving measures asserting the right of women to educational and employment opportunities, they passed a resolution that declared “it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” For proclaiming a women’s right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected to public ridicule, and some backers of women’s rights withdrew their support. However, the resolution marked the beginning of the woman suffrage movement in America. The first national woman’s rights convention was held in 1850 and then repeated annually, providing an important focus for the growing woman suffrage movement. In the Reconstruction era, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, granting African American men the right to vote, but Congress declined to expand enfranchisement into the sphere of gender. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to push for a woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Another organization, the American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone, was formed in the same year to work through the state legislatures.

In 1890, these two groups were united as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. That year, Wyoming became the first state to grant women the right to vote. By the beginning of the 20th century, the role of women in American society was changing drastically: Women were working more, receiving a better education, bearing fewer children, and three more states (Colorado, Utah, and Idaho) had yielded to the demand for female enfranchisement. In 1916, the National Woman’s Party (formed in 1913 at the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage) decided to adopt a more radical approach to woman suffrage. Instead of questionnaires and lobbying, its members picketed the White House, marched, and staged acts of civil disobedience. In 1917, America entered World War I, and women aided the war effort in various capacities that helped break down most of the remaining opposition to woman suffrage. By 1918, women had acquired equal suffrage with men in 15 states, and both the Democratic and Republican parties openly endorsed female enfranchisement.

In January 1918, the woman suffrage amendment passed the House of Representatives with the necessary two-thirds majority vote. In June 1919, it was approved by the Senate and sent to the states for ratification. Campaigns were waged by suffragists around the country to secure ratification, and on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. The package containing the certified record of the action of the Tennessee legislature was sent by train to the nation’s capital, arriving in the early hours of August 26. At 8 a.m. that morning, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed it without ceremony at his residence in Washington. None of the leaders of the woman suffrage movement were present when the proclamation was signed, and no photographers or film cameras recorded the event. That afternoon, Carrie Chapman Catt, head of the National American Suffrage Association, was received at the White House by President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Wilson, the first lady.

Related Videos Today in History: Women suffrage amendment ratified - AOL News Today in History: Women suffrage amendment ratified Before you go, we thought you'd like these... Aol.com Editors Aug 18th 2015 5:00AM On August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment to the Constitution was ratified , giving women the right to vote. The amendment came after more than 70 years of struggle for women suffragists. Tennessee ultimately ratified the amendment, giving the two-thirds majority of state ratification that is required to make a law. SEE ALSO: 4,000-year-old tablets found in Turkey mention women's rights The ratification states : "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." It also says, "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The beginning of the 20th century came with women having a more prominent role in American society, and the ratification of the 19th amendment was a huge stride in this change.

See the gallery below for photos of women who made history and fought for women's rights: 38 PHOTOS See Gallery Today in History: Women suffrage amendment ratified American writer, educator and advocate for the disabled Helen Keller (1880 - 1968) arriving in Southampton from New York, 2nd March 1950. A childhood illness left Keller blind, deaf and mute. (Photo by FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images) 2nd July 1964: American tennis player Billie Jean Moffitt (later King) in action during a semi final in the women's singles championship at Wimbledon. (Photo by Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Getty Images) BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 10: Malala Yousafzai speaks during a press conference at the Library of Birmingham after being announced as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, on October 10, 2014 in Birmingham, England. The 17-year-old Pakistani campaigner, who lives in Britain where she received medical treatment following an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012, was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize with Kailash Satyarthi from India.

Chair of the Nobel Committee Thorbjorn Jagland made the announcement in Oslo, commending Malala for her 'heroic struggle' as a spokesperson for girls' rights to education. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) Artist Frida Kahlo in the Blue House, CoyoacÃ¡n, Mexico, ca. 1943. (Photo by Leo Matiz/Leo Matiz Foundation Mexico/Getty Images) INDIA - OCTOBER 01: The Indian nun MOTHER TERESA (with Albanian-Yugoslavian origins) in Calcutta. The founder of the Charity's Missionnaries dedicated her life to the poor of Calcutta. She had just received the Nobel Peace Prize. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) America contralto Marian Anderson (1897 - 1993) at home. Anderson was the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

(Photo by London Express/Getty Images) American artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 - 1986) poses outdoors beside an easel with a canvas from her series, 'Pelvis Series Red With Yellow,' Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1960. (Photo by Tony Vaccaro/Getty Images) This photograph released by the Library of Congress and provided by Abrams Books shows Harriet Tubman in a photograph dating from 1860-75. Tubman was born into slavery, but escaped to Philadelphia in 1849, and provided valuable intelligence to Union forces during the Civil War. Experts are hoping that events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War will include some measure of remembrance for the black operatives who quietly spied on the Confederacy. (AP Photo/Library of Congress) American civil rights campaigner, and widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King (1927 - 2006) stands behind a podium covered in microphones at Peace-In-Vietnam Rally, Central Park, New York, April 27, 1968.

(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) FRANCE:Undated picture taken in the 30' s of American female aviator Amelia Earhart beeing at the controls of her plane. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic as a passenger, in 1928, and followed this by a solo flight in 1932. In 1935 she flew solo from Hawan to California. In 1937, with Fred Noonan, they set out to fly round the world, but their plane was lost over the Pacific, 02 July. (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images) Photo datant de 1925 du Professeur Marie Curie en train de travailler dans le laboratoire de l'universitÃ© Ã Paris. Marie Curie et son mari, le physicien Pierre Curie, ont annoncÃ© il y a 100 ans, le 18 juillet 1898, le dÃ©couverte du Polonium, avant de recevoir le Prix Nobel de physique en 1903.

Picture dated 1925 shows Professor Marie Curie working in the laboratory of Paris university. Marie Curie and her husband, the French physicist Pierre Curie were the discoverers of radium and won the Nobel prize for physics in 1903. Pierre Curie was born in Paris 15 May 1859 and his most important contributions to physics was the discovery that the magnetic properties of substances change at certain temperature, known as the 'Curie point.' (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images) Jane Addams, American social reformer and feminist (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images) American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald (1918 - 1996). (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) ALBERTVILLE, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 10: Speedskater Bonnie Blair of the United States waves from the medal stand after receiving a gold medal during the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics on February 10, 1992 in Albertville, France. (Photo by: Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images) Meryl Streep, American actress born in Summit, New Jersey, who has starred and acted in many award-winning films.

(Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images) Susan B. Anthony, women's rights advocate, is shown in this undated photo at an unknown location. Anthony, who was born in 1820 in Adams, Mass., led the fight for women to have the right to vote in the United States in the 19th century. (AP Photo/New York University) Oprah Winfrey, 1970s. (Photo by Film Favorites/Getty Images) Undated and unlocated picture of US tennis player Althea Gibson returning a backhand. Gibson won the Roland Garros championships in 1956 and Wimbledon in 1957 and 1958. (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP/Getty Images) circa 1955: US comedienne Lucille Desiree Ball (1910 - 1989). She began working in television in 1951, and starred in such domestic comedies as 'I Love Lucy' (1951 - 1955). She later became a production executive. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images) American lawyer Sandra Day O'Connor testifying at a judicial hearing, September 1981.

O'Connor was appointed Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court the previous July and was the first woman to hold the position. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925 - 2013) giving a speech 22nd May 1980. (Photo by Mike Lawn/Evening Standard/Getty Images) PRINCETON, : U.S. author Toni Morrison smiles in her office at Princeton University in New Jersey, while being interviewed by reporters 07 October 1993. Morrison said 'I am outrageously happy' after hearing that she had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) circa 1925: Portrait of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906 - 1975) lying on a tiger rug in a silk evening gown and diamond earrings. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) US Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks at a press conference with thirteen military officers who endorsed Clinton, in Washington DC on March 6, 2008.

Democrats groped Thursday for ways to avert all-out conflict at their presidential convention in August, as a war of words escalated between the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) The 15 year old Joan Hughes is the youngest flight pilot in England. Loughton Aerodrome. 1933. Photograph. (Photo by Austrian Archives/Imagno/Getty Images) MARTINSVILLE, VA - OCTOBER 24: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy Breast Cancer Awareness Chevrolet, walks through the garage area prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway on October 24, 2014 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) 6th December 1962: American author Pearl S. Buck testifies before the Senate subcommittee on new uses for Ellis Island, New York City, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Neal Boenzi/New York Times Co./Getty Images) UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 17: Rep.

Shirley Chisholm at press conference as she endorsed Howard Samuels for Governor in 1970. (Photo by Evelyn Straus/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) Jacqueline Cochran stands in front of the Canadian-built F-86 Sabre jet, in which she became the first woman to break the sound barrier, at Edwards Air Force Base, Ca., May 19, 1953. Cochran made history on May 18, flying at a speed of 625.5 miles per hour. (AP Photo) Suffragist Alice Paul 1917 (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images) US athlete Wilma Rudolph shows the gold medal she won at the Women's 100 meters Summer Olympic Games sprint event on September 2, 1960 in Rome, Italy. (AP Photo) An official White House portrait of First Lady Betty Ford, wife of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, 1974.

(Photo by Consolidated News Pictures/Archive Photos/Getty Images) 1946: Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962) American author, lecturer, ambassador, social activist and wife of the 32nd President Franklin D Roosevelt. A representative to the United Nations, she is listening through headphones during a conference at the temporary UN headquarters at Lake Success, New York. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - JULY 24: Madonna performs on stage at Feijenoord Stadium on July 24 1990 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns) Rosa Parks Mug Shot 1955 (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images) Jackie Joyner-Kersee pushes across the finish line at a track event. (Tony Duffy via Getty Images) Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to register for and run the Boston Marathon, speaks at a special event as AOL, PBS and Simple celebrate MAKERS, on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012, in Brighton, Mass.

(Photo by Aynsley Floyd/Invision for AOL and PBS/AP Images) Up Next Modern History Sourcebook: Passage of the 19th Amendment 1919-20 [See here for a picture of the New York Times Front Page, June 5, 1919 ] WASHINGTON, June 4 - After a long and persistent fight advocates of woman suffrage won a victory in the Senate today when that body, by a vote of 56 to 25, adopted the Susan Anthony amendment to the Constitution. The suffrage supporters had two more than the necessary two-thirds vote of Senators present. Had all the Senators known to be in favor of suffrage been present the amendment would have had 66 votes, or two more than a two-thirds vote of the entire Senate. The amendment, having already been passed by the House, where the vote was 304 to 89, now goes to the States for ratification, where it will be passed upon in the form in which it has been adopted by Congress, as follows: "Article-, Section 1.

- 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. "Section 2. - Congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article." Leaders of the National Woman's Party announced tonight that they would at once embark upon a campaign to obtain ratification of the amendment by the necessary three-fourths of the States so that women might have the vote in the next Presidential election. To achieve this ratification it will be necessary to hold special sessions of some Legislatures which otherwise would not convene until after the Presidential election in 1920. Miss Alice Paul, Chairman of the Woman's Party, predicted that the campaign for ratification would succeed and that women would vote for the next President. Suffragists thronged the Senate galleries in anticipation of the final vote, and when the outcome was announced by President Pro Tem. Cummins they broke into deafening applause. For two minutes the demonstration went on, Senator Cummins making no effort to check it. The Vote in Detail. The roll call on the amendment follows: FOR ADOPTION - 36. Republicans - 36.

Capper, Cummins, Curtis, Edge, Elkins, Fall, Fernald, France, Frelinghuysen, Gronna, Hale, Harding, Johnson, (Cal.,) Jones, (Wash.,) Kellogg, Kenyon, Kayes, La Follette, Lenroot, McCormick, McCumber, McNaty, Nelson, New, Newberry, Norris, Page, Phipps, Poindexter, Sherman, Smoot, Spencer, Sterling, Sutherland, Warren, Watson. Democrats - 20. Ashurst, Chamberlain, Culberson, Harris, Henderson, Jones, (N. M.,) Kenrick, Kirby, McKellar, Myers, Nugent, Phelan, Pittman, Ransdell, Shepard, Smith, (Ariz.,) Stanley, Thomas, Walsh, (Mass.,) Walsh, (Mon.) AGAINST ADOPTION - 25. Borah, Brandegee, Dillingham, Knox, Lodge, McLean, Moses, Wadsworth. Democrats - 17.

Bankhead, Beckham, Dial, Fletcher, Gay, Harrison, Hitchcock, Overman, Reed, Simmons, Smith, (Md.,) Smith, (S. C.,) Swanson, Trammell, Underwood, Williams, Wolcott. Paired. Ball and King, for, with Shields, against: Calder and Townsend, for, with Penrose, against; Gerry and Johnson of South Dakota, for, with Martin, against; Gore and Colt, for, with Pomerone, against. Absent and Not Paired. Owen, Robinson, and Smith of Georgia. The vote came after four hours of debate, during which Democratic Senators opposed to the amendment filibustered to prevent a roll call until their absent Senators could be protected by pairs. They gave up the effort finally as futile. Changes Defeated. Before the final vote was taken Senator Underwood of Alabama, called for a vote on his amendment to submit the suffrage amendment to Constitutional conventions of the various States, instead of to the Legislatures, for ratification. This was defeated by a vote of 45 against to 28 in favor. Senator Gay of Louisiana offered an amendment proposing enforcement of the suffrage amendment by the States, instead of by the Federal Government.

Senator Gay said that from a survey of the States he could predict that thirteen States would not ratify the amendment, enough to block it. His amendment was defeated, 62 to 19. During debate, Senator Wadsworth of New York, who has been an uncompromising opponent of woman suffrage, explained his attitude as being actuated by the motive of preserving to the States the right to determine the question, each State for itself. "No vote of mine cast upon this amendment would deprive any of the electors of my State of any privilege they now enjoy," said the Senator. "I feel so strongly that the people of the several States should be permitted to decide for themselves, that am frank to say that, if this amendment, instead of being drafted to extend woman suffrage all over the country, were drafted to forbid the extension of the franchise to women in the States, I would vote against it. Even though one might be opposed on general principles to the extension of the franchise to women, one cannot logically object to the people of a State settling that question for themselves.

"It seems to me that it is incumbent upon a Senator in considering his attitude on this matter to regard the nation as a whole and to give consideration to the wishes of the people of the various States which have expressed themselves from time to time." Overriding State Votes Senator Wadsworth spoke of the results in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Louisiana, Texas, Wisconsin, and other States where woman suffrage was defeated at the polls. "Now the question is," he resumed, "whether the people of these States are competent to settle the question for themselves. There is no tremendous emergency facing the country, no revolution or rebellion threatened, which would seem to make it necessary to impose on the people of these States a thing they have said as free citizens they do not require or desire. Is it contrary to the spirit of American institutions that they shall be left free to decide these things for themselves? "My contention has been, with respect to an amendment to the Constitution, that, if it be placed there, it should command the reverence and devotion of all the people of the country. The discussion here yesterday makes it perfectly apparent that, in part at least, in a certain section of this country, this proposed amendment will be a dead letter.

No pretense is made that it will be lived up to in spirit as well as in letter. That same attitude has been manifest in the discussion of the last amendment to the Constitution, ratified last Winter. Today there are thousands of people all over the United States who are attempting to contrive ways by which the prohibition amendment can be evaded. This attitude shows an utter lack of appreciation of the Constitution as a sacred instrument, a lack of realization of the spirit of self-government." Senator Smith of South Carolina opposed giving women the right to vote, he said, because to allow it would induce "sectional anarchy." Signing of the Resolution Immediately after its passage by the Senate the Suffrage Amendment was signed. In appreciation of the fifty-year campaign of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the guests were limited to representatives of that association and members of Congress, and the gold pen used was presented to the national association. The women chosen to represent the national association were Mrs. Wood Park of Massachusetts, who for two years has been in charge of the association's Congressional work: Mrs. Helen Gardener of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Ida Husted Harper of New York, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton of Ohio, Miss Mary G.

Hay, and Miss Marjorie Shuler of New York. Besides Speaker Gillett, who signed the bill, the members of the House present were Frank W. Mondell, majority leader; Champ Clark, minority leader and ex-Speaker, under whom the amendment first passed the House, and John E. Raker, Chairman of the committee which won the suffrage victory in the House last year. The Senators present at the signing of the bill for the Senate were Albert B. Cummins, President Pro Tempore, who signed the measure; James E. Watson, Chairman of the Suffrage Committee; Charles Curtis, Republican whip; A. A. Jones, Chairman of the Suffrage Committee in the last Congress; Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, Morris Sheppard, Joseph E. Ransdell, and Reed Smoot. To celebrate the passage of the amendment the national association will give a reception next Tuesday evening at its Washington headquarters to the members of the House and Senate who voted for the resolution and to their wives. These will be the only guests. Miss Paul, Chairman of the National Woman's Party, issued a statement, in which she said: "There is no doubt of ratification by the States.

We enter upon the campaign for special sessions of Legislatures to accomplish this ratification before 1920 in the full assurance that we shall win." "The last stage of the fight is to obtain ratification of the amendment so women may vote in the Presidential election in 1920," said Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the association. "This we are confident will be achieved. The friends of woman suffrage in both parties have carried out their word. In the result we can turn our backs upon the end of a long and arduous struggle, needlessly darkened and embittered by the stubbornness of a few at the expense of the many. 'Eyes front', is the watchword as we turn upon the struggle for ratification by the States." Prospects of Ratification Suffrage leaders say quick ratification is assured in twenty-eight States in which women now have full or Presidential suffrage. These States are Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Kansas, Arizona, Oregon, Montant, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, Rhode Island, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Nevada, and Texas.

Legislatures now in session are: Illinois, will adjourn late in June; Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, adjourn end of June or first of July; Wisconsin, Florida, in session until June 1, cannot ratify, because an election must intervene between submission of amendment and ratification. Legislatures to meet comparatively soon, or with prospects of meeting soon, are: Michigan and Texas, extra sessions called in June; Georgia, to meet this month; Alabama, to meet in July; Louisiana, possibility of extra session before September; New Jersey, movement for extra session soon; Maine, special session in October; Iowa, special session in January; Kentucky, South Carolina, and Mississippi, meet in January; Virginia, meets in February; Maryland, meets during 1920; Ohio, meets in June. Today's victory for suffrage ends a fight that really dates from the American Revolution. Women voted under several of the Colonial Governments. During the Revolution women demanded to be included in the Government. Abigail Adams wrote her husband, John Adams, "If women are not represented in this new republic there will be another revolution." From the time of the Revolution women agitated for suffrage by means of meetings and petitions.

In 1848 a woman's rights convention was held at Seneca Falls, N. Y., arranged by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the first big suffrage demonstration. From 1848 to the civil war efforts were made to have State laws altered to include women, and Susan B. Anthony became leader of the movement. For five years after the civil war suffragists tried to secure interpretation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments which would permit them to vote. In 1872 Miss Anthony made a test vote at the polls, was arrested, and refused to pay her fine, but was never jailed. In 1875 Miss Anthony drafted the proposed Federal amendment, the same one that was voted on today. In 1878 the amendment was introduced in the Senate by Senator Sargent of California. It has been voted on in the Senate five times, including today. In 1878 the vote was 16 yeas to 34 nays; in 1914 it failed by 11 votes, in 1918 it failed by two votes, and on Feb.

10, 1919, it failed by one vote. It has been voted on three times in the House. It failed there in 1915 by 78 votes. In 1918 it passed the House with one vote to spare. On May 21, 1919, it passed the House with 14 votes more than the necessary two-thirds. Foreign countries or divisions of countries in which women have suffrage are: Isle of Man, granted 1881; New Zealand, 1893; Australia, 1902; Finland, 1906; Norway, 1907; Iceland, 1913; Denmark, 1915; Russia, 1917; Canada, Austria, England, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, and Wales, 1918; Holland and Sweden, 1919. Copyright 1919 The New York Times Sunday, February 15, 1920 Booms Mrs.

Catt for Presidency Minnesota Delegate's Suggestion Rouses Furor in Suffrage Convention Praise Hays and Cummings League Takes the Place of Old Association That Won the Fight CHICAGO, Feb. 14 - The National American Woman's Suffrage Association today came to the defense of Will Hays, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, who has been attacked by anti-suffragists for aid rendered to the suffrage cause, and congratulated the Republican Party "for having a Chairman who is astute enough to recognize the certain trend of public affairs and to lead his party in step with the inevitable march of human progress." The resolution was adopted by a vote of 190 to 22, which was later made unanimous. Democratic women then introduced a resolution thanking Homer Cummings, Democratic National Chairman, for help he rendered their cause, and it, too, was adopted by unanimous vote. Delegates at the ratification banquet tonight were brought to their feet with a cheer when Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was proposed for President by Mrs. Peter Olsen of Minnesota. Mrs. Catt waved the suggestion aside with a smile. Commenting on the fact that the convention program contained the advertisements of two candidates for President, Mrs. Olsen said: "Mrs.

Carrie Chapman Catt for President. That is what I would put on the program Others are starting booms. Why can't we? I say this in all seriousness. It is time we did honor to our living leaders." Mrs. Olsen also was applauded when she predicted: "The League of Women Voters will see to it that the saloon is out to stay out." Elected permanent convention Chairman of the Congress of the League of Woman Voters, Mrs. Catt today outlined the policies of the new organization and declared women should affiliate with the political parties. Mrs. Catt's keynote address came at the conclusion of the first session of the new league, at which the work of organization was begun. Today's meetings were concluded with a ratification celebration banquet tonight at which prominent suffrage workers addressed the delegates. Deplores League Criticism "There seems to be some misunderstanding regarding the League of Women Voters," Mrs. Catt declared, in addressing the new body. "There is evident opposition, largely political. "Persons interested in enrolling members in their political parties are making rather cutting criticisms. They think the league will keep women out of politics. That must not be. For sixty years we have waited for political parties to give us the vote.

No State has given it until the political parties had consented. "The only way to get things in this country, is from the inside of the political parties. More and more the parties have become the agencies through which powerful things have been accomplished. It is not a question of whether it is right for us but rather a realization of the fact. They are powerful. "Why have the Governors in the West acted so independently of the women voters? We expected that they would c all special sessions immediately after the amendment had passed. The reason is this: That the women voters have been a sort of ladies' auxiliary. There has been no common body to exert an influence. "Women must get into the parties. Without, we should continue to be auxiliaries. We've been sixty years urging men to confide in the abilities of women. Prove your capacity from within the parties. "You have a struggle ahead. There are inner circles in the parties where you will not be wanted, but it is just there that you must go. There is a danger, too, that you will be too timid, too conservative. If you are going to trail along five years behind the parties, it would be better that you never take up politics.

Be five years ahead." To Direct League Affairs of the league, it was decided today, would be in charge of ten National Directors elected for one year. Seven of the Directors would represent divisions of the country and three would be elected at large. The Board of Directors would elect a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer, and would meet annually in each of the seven districts. A national manager also will be chosen by the board, "at a sufficient salary to get the best available talent in the country." An Executive Council also was provided for, to be composed of the Presidents of state auxiliaries and chairmen of standing committees. The association decided to establish a foundation for the study of politics at Bryn Mawr and to establish a chair in the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, both as a memorial to the late Anna Howard Shaw. Mrs. George O. Miller of Pennsylvania, was appointed chairman of the memorial fund. Mrs. Grace Howard Lewis of Buffalo, a close friend of the late suffrage President, announced a gift of $1,000 to the memorial fund. Evidence of partisan activity was given repeatedly today.

Four women, although declared out of order by the chair, rose to insist that the word "nonpartisan" be kept in sight, and another delegate asked that "unpartisan" be used in the permanent name of the Voters' League, which is yet to be chosen. Following the morning session Democratic adherents, especially delegates from the Southern States, complained openly that the convention had been packed with Republicans. Copyright 1920 The New York Times Saturday, February 14, 1920 Delegates Join in 30-Minute Demonstration Over Their Coming Victory Associations to Dissolve League of Women Voters Also Will Be Organized as an Independent Body CHICAGO, Feb. 13 - Governors of the various States that have not ratified the Federal suffrage amendment will receive telegrams demanding immediate consideration and prompt action by the Legislatures as a result of action decided upon today at the opening of the fifty-first annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Delegates to the convention numbering more than 2,000 wish ratification to be completed so that all women of the country can participate in the Presidential election.

Demand on the various State executives for a changed attitude toward woman voters followed the receipt of a telegram indicating that a special session of the Oklahoma Legislature would be called Feb. 23 to consider ratification of the amendment. Particular attention was directed by the convention against Governor Hart of Washington, the only equal suffrage State where no move has been made to call a special session. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the association, was directed to send to the Governor the following telegram: "Washgton is now the only enfranchised State which has not taken action toward ratification of the Federal Suffrage amendment. Thirty-five ratifications are assured in the immediate future. The nation has been informal for many years that Washington approved woman suffrage. It therefore looks to yu to call an immediate session of your Legislature, and once more announce Washington's endorsement of woman suffrage by ratification of the Federal amendment." Condemn Washington Governor The message was dispatched following receipt of a telegram from the Washington League of Woman Voters saying: "We were a pioneer suffrage State, the fifteenth State to be enfranchised.

Therefore we resent the disgraceful humiliation put upon us by the stubborn refusal of our Governor to listen to our united demand for a special session to ratify the suffrage amendment." With the reading, amid enthusiastic cheering of a telegram of congratulation from President Wilson, the convention became a victory jubilee patriotic celebration and political rally rolled into one. For thirty minutes the delegates assembled in the Gold Room at the Congress Hotel and each supplied with a horn, indulged in a wild demonstration of joy. A din of horns resounded. The delegates lined up by States and marched up and down the aisles waving banners. Women stood on chairs and led State cheers and songs, and the whole assemblage united in singing "America" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." Mrs. Catt Reads Message During a lull in the cheering Mrs. Catt read this telegram from President Wilson: "Permit me to congratulate your association upon the fact that its great work is so near its triumphant end, that you can now merge it into a league of women voters to carry on the development of good citizenship and real democracy, and to wish for the new organization the same success and wise leadership." Mrs.

Stanley McCormick of Massachusetts, First Vice President, moved that a reply be sent conveying the association's gratitude for President Wilson's "constant co-operation and help, with deep regret for his recent illness." Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, Chairman of the Committee on Local Arrangements, in her address of welcome expressed the hope that the ratification campaign would "make future conventions unnecessary." Mrs. Catt then asked Mrs. Stanley McCormick to take the chair and began her address. "We have no official proclamation announcing that our amendment has been ratified by the necessary thirty-six States," she said, "but the ratifications already completed and the special legislative sessions already called for ratification bring us within a very few of the required number. There is no earthly power that can do more than delay by a trifle the final enfranchisement of women. Nevada Sends Official Word "Thirty-one States have ratified. Our able assistant, Mrs. Helen S. Gardener, has been camping on the doorstep of the Legislature to see that the certificates are rushed to Washington as soon as they are issued.

I had a telegram from Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, today announcing that he had received the certificate of ratification from Nevada, which ratified the amendment on Feb. 7. "I have just received a message from the Governor of Arizona announcing the ratification by that Senate. You read it in the newspapers this morning, but we do not take the newspapers for our authority. "Here is something that hasn't been printed in the newspapers. I have just received word from the Governor of New Mexico saying he is going to call a special session of the Legislature on Monday. The Governor of Oklahoma calls his session on the 23d. Five other State Legislatures have asnnounced their readiness to ratify. That will make thirty-eight States altogether, but only three of the five Governors have promised to call their sessions in the near future, and that makes the necessary thirty-six." Mrs. Catt laid the failure of the suffrage amendment to pass the Sixty-fifth Congress at the doors of Senators Pomerene and Hitchcock, Democrats, and Senators Borah and Wadsworth, Republicans, and blamed them for the necessity of calling special sessions of the Legislatures.

The Executive Council at the night session recommended that the association dissolve as the object of many years' endeavor, the obraining of the vote for women, was about to be attained. Another recommendation, which was approved, was that the League of Women Voters, now a section of the Suffrage Association, be organized as a new and independent body. It also was recommended that the auxiliaries of the association retain their relationship to the Board of Directors to be elected by this convention, but that they change their names, objects, and constitutions to conform to those of the National League of Women Voters. Copyright 1920 The New York Times Friday, February 13, 1920 Suffragists Split By Party Politics Mrs. Bass Attacks Republican Women Who Spread Propaganda at Convention May Break Out On Floor Mrs. Catt Predicts Speedy Success of Amendment on Eve of Chicago Session CHICAGO, Feb. 12 - Party politics overshadowed all other issues on the eve of the fifty-first convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Party lines were being so tightly drawn tonight that the most skillful leadership will be necessary to hold the gathering to a strictly non-partisan course.

The powder was touched off by the Democratic women, who promise to liven several issues that will come up on the floor. Mrs. George Bass, member of the Democratic Executive Committee, and referred to as the "spokeswoman for the Administration," issued a statement sharply criticizing the Illinois Republican Women's Executive Committee for placing a full-page paid advertisement in the program of the convention. Mrs. Bass's remarks were chiefly directed against the first sentence printed in heavy type at the head of the advertisement, which read: "To the Republican Party you owe the passage of the Federal suffrage amendment, and it will be responsible for the ratification soon to come." "In regard to this advertisement I will say I was greatly shocked." said Mrs. Bass. "The Democratic Party in Congress and in the States has done more to give the women in the United States suffrage than any other party, and President Wilson is the only President who has lifted his voice and his influence in the cause of suffrage." Earlier in the day Mrs. Bass had issued a reply to the statement made on Wednesday by Will H.

Hays, Republican National Chairman, in which she declared the "mere act of giving women suffrage does not automatically give them all the privileges of party management." "Some changes in party rules and election and primary laws are necessary to give women equal representation with men," she said. Republican Women Stand Firm Mrs. Fletcher Dobyns, Chairman of the Illinois committee which inserted the advertisement, declared that the Republican women refused to be drawn into a controversy concerning it. Miss Mary Garrett Hay of New York, speaking for the Republican Women's National Committee, said: "The advertisement was not inserted by the national organization. It was paid for by the State organization. It seems to me it rather shows the alertness of the Illinois women and their progressiveness. I would call it something of a business coup." That the matter probably will find its way to the convention floor was intimated by one of the Republican delegates, who said such a matter "could best be handled by the convention itself by resolution." Another question in which party lines may crop out is that of the merger of the suffrage association with the National League of Women Voters, the first congress of which will be held on Saturday. The Democrats look upon it as a superfluous organization.

The Republican women speak of it tolerantly as a sort of innocuous organization, probably helpful, if anything, to the Republican Party. The "neutrals," those who are waiting final ratification of the suffrage amendment before declaring party allegiance, declare that the league will serve both as a school of citizenship for women and as a nonpartisan lobbying organization to support the enactment of laws in which both Democratic and Republican women are interested. But while politics hummed up and down the corridors of the Congress Hotel, it was strictly barred from the six preliminary conferences which were in session all day and ended tonight at half a dozen dinners, following which the most prominent speaker delivered addresses. Mrs. Catt, Miss Hay, and other prominent suffragists spent the entire day hurrying from one conference to another and back to the meeting of the Board of Directors of the association, which was in session all day behind closed doors. Copyright 1920 The New York Times June 4, 1920 Western Women Active Begin Work for Early Ratification of Suffrage Amendment CHICAGO, June 4 - Illinois women tonight were jubilant as a result of passage of the equal suffrage amendment by the United States Senate.

Some of the leaders were roubtful that ratification by thirty-six states could be obtained in time for the women to vote in the next Presidential election. Mrs. Catherine Waugh McCulloch, Evanston lawyer, said there was no doubt about Illinois, and that an effort would be made to have the Legislature the first in the country to ratify. INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 4 - No sooner was the word flashed here that the Senate had passed the Woman Suffrage Amendment than the Indiana Woman's Franchise League had its President on the way to the State Capitol to urge Governor Goodrich to call a special session of the Legislature to ratify the Federal amendment. Although not fully satisfied with the answer of the Governor, the women have not given up hope of a special session. Governor Goodrich said that he was heartily in sympathy with the cause, and if it became necessary to call a special session to hasten woman suffrage he would do so.

Copyright 1919 The New York Times Wednesday, June 9, 1920 Suffrage Pickets Get Little Notice March Up and Down Before Convention Hall with Banner, but Are Lost in Hurrying Crowds CHICAGO, June 8 - The tamest feature of the convention's opening was the picketing by the National Woman's Party in protest against the refusal of the Governors of Connecticut and Vermont to call special sessions to ratify the suffrage amendment, already ratified by thirty-five of the requisite thirty-six States. The women were there. They carried their purple, white and gold banner, which sought, in a variety of slogans, to place responsibility for failure to ratify the amendment squarely upon the Republican Party, and to set forth all the bad things 17,000,000 women could and would do to that party next November if it did not get busy right away and make national enfranchisement an accomplished fact. Silently the women moved along the curb on Wabash Avenue or backed up against the Coliseum walls. But they made no demonstration of any sort - were, in fact, forbidden to speak to any one - and a vast majority of the hurrying thousands did not even notice them.

There was no attempt to enter the building or to molest the delegates. Copyright 1920 The New York Times Sunday, August 29, 1920 EDITORIAL: The Woman of Thirty It is almost cruel to recall the nineteenth century wit who offered to solve the suffrage question. It would suffice, he said, to permit all women to vote after thirty - the sly inference being that none would qualify. If the author of this merry jest is still alive, even he must find his taunt somewhat faded. Women in fighting for the vote have shown a passion of earnestness, a persistence, and above all a command of both tactics and strategy, which have amazed our master politicians. A new force has invaded public life and it is wielded by leaders who, whatever their foibles, perforce admit their three decades. A world that has hitherto recognized only the power of feminine youth and beauty is on its knees - no less - before the woman of thirty. What is to be the upshot? It is doubtless true that women will divide much as men have done among the several parties.

There will be no solid "woman vote." Having individual opinions and preferences, they will be individually swayed by them in respect to any given political issue or personality. But this is only half of the story. Even the democratic franchise cannot quite unsex either men or women. Hitherto the distinctively feminine instincts and aspirations have centered in winning the right of suffrage; but now that it is won, a vast, united force has been let loose. That political issues and leaders should continue to be merely man-made is inconceivable. It is a fair guess, and indeed a fact already exemplified, that one distinctive interest of the woman politician will be in what is called welfare legislation - the regulation of the conditions of life and of industry with reference to the health and vigor of the nation, for the present and especially for future generations. Such issues should rouse all the powers of sisterly and motherly instinct; but as yet they have not developed an intensity, and especially a skill in leadership, at all comparable to that displayed in the suffrage campaigns. Perhaps it is because the feminine strength was divided between Albany and Washington; all may be well, now the great victory is won. Yet there is another possibility.

Unlike suffrage, questions of human welfare can seldom be answered by a categorical yes or no. If we legislate an eight-hour day for women, we are subject to unexpected repercussions. Seasonal industries like canning and millinery are crippled and their employees deprived of much valued overtime pay. If we legislate against night work, we hear from elevator girls and ticket choppers, who suffer a serious loss of employment. So the women welfare workers are confronted by others of their sex who demand in the name of freedom that they be permitted to work as they choose. It is not a question of black or white, but of delicately shaded values and the interplay of a thousand nicely adjusted forces, economic and social. The talents required are openness to evidence, accurate foresight and wise tolerance. Women are beginning to have a sense of this, and they are developing a flexibility of mind and a capacity for compromise that make political discussion a thing very different from what it has been.

Again, in the current campaign both parties are appealing to the feminine abhorrence of bloodshed, and especially to the desire to protect brothers and sons; but, while one party declares that the League of Nations will end all wars, the other, with equal assurance, declares that it will ceaselessly embroil us. Once more there is need of openness of mind and accurate foresight - the exercise of which is adding a new talent to the woman of thirty. By degrees the bickerings of politics as practiced by men are developing a really vital view of the situation. Women who are fit to be mothers of the nation know that there is no sovereign remedy against death in any form, and that the one sure way to make life honorably safe is to face its responsibilities with a clear mind and a high heart. True citizenship means service and sacrifice, the giving as well as the taking. Truly, we live in a new day and are blessed with new manners. Time was when it seemed a baffling fact that the decade of the feminine struggle for freedom was the decade when hobbles became tightest and heels most toppling. Now we know: it was necessary to convince men that even in politics women can still be feminine.

With victory assured, the woman of thirty is already dressing more sedately. Once, at the most intellectual dinner tables, the departure of the ladies was a signal for the men to duck beneath the mahogany for things which, like Desdemona's handkerchief, were not lost but only mislaid. That also was the prerogative of the unenfranchised, and is also a vanishing ceremony. Some men still linger over their cigars, but only at debutante dinners, where the lure is callow youth. In circles dominated by the woman of thirty, cigars are laid aside half smoked and the men clamor at the drawing-room door to know how soon they may be admitted. Copyright 1920 The New York Times Source: All the text files here are from edition of The New York Times, 1919-1920. Under US Copyright law, copyright does not extend beyond 75 years and these are now in US public domain. The situation may be different in other countries This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook . The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.

Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use of the Sourcebook. (c)Paul Halsall September 1997

Question: Ratified on the 18th of August, 1920, the 19th amendment to the US constitution states: 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 what?
Answer: Sex