“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.”
These famous words, passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, granted women the right to vote, resulting in the largest enfranchisement in the history of the United States. At the time, it made 26 million adult, female Americans eligible to vote.
However, achieving this milestone required a lengthy and challenging struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of women’s suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. The campaign for women’s suffrage was long, difficult, and sometimes dramatic—and even still, ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement. Many women remained unable to vote long into the 20th century because of discriminatory state voting laws.
Like the Founding Documents on view in the historic National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., the 19th Amendment is among the most iconic records of our nation’s history. Its meaning and impact continue to inspire today.
