RATIFYING THE 19TH AMENDMENT
ACROSS THE NATION

Rightfully Hers was a centennial celebration of the women’s suffrage movement and the efforts of a diverse group of activists to achieve the right to vote. The exhibit honored the relentless, decades-long fight for ratification up to 1920 and beyond.

On June 10, 1919, the very first states (Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan) ratified the 19th Amendment. Follow the map’s progression, celebrating each state’s centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment ratification!

Wyoming

1869

In 1869, Wyoming became the first state or territory in the nation to grant suffrage to women on equal footing with men, as well as the rights to hold public office, own and inherit property, and the guardianship of minor children.

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Illinois

June 10, 1919

Women’s suffrage movements began in Illinois as early as the 1860s, although attempts to grant women the right to vote as part of the 1870 Illinois constitution failed. Then, on June 10, 1919 the Illinois legislature voted to ratify the 19th Amendment in a neck and neck race with Wisconsin. Were it not for a mandatory re-vote due to incorrect wording in the Illinois resolution, Illinois would have been the first state to ratify. Turns out, the devil really is in the details! But in the hearts and minds of many Illinoisans, Illinois remains the true winner in the race to ratify.

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Michigan

June 10, 1919

When the United States entered World War I, subsequent work by women in support of the war effort garnered further male endorsement for woman suffrage. Finally, a woman state suffrage law appeared on the November 1918 ballot – and was passed by Michigan’s voters.

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Wisconsin

June 10, 1919

Wisconsin became the first state to ratify the 19th amendment, which was surprising; only seven years before, the state defeated an important suffrage referendum. The ratification was the result of the efforts of many different women’s rights groups that had been working since 1846. In a nail biting race to ratify between Wisconsin and Illinois, the Wisconsin legislature completed its vote and got it to Washington in the nick of time – going down in history as the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment!

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New York

June 16, 1919

Seneca Falls, NY is long believed to be the birth of the women’s rights movement and many of the movement’s earliest pioneers, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, advocated heavily within the state. The state’s passing of women’s suffrage in 1917 sparked the momentum for the entire nation to follow suit just a few short years later.

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Ohio

June 16, 1919

Ohio women were actively involved in the struggle for suffrage, and even formed the Ohio Woman’s Suffrage Association, in the late 1800s. While they gained voting rights in school board elections in the 1890s, the struggle for full equal voting rights continued. After the 19th Amendment passed, Ohio women quickly and successfully ran for office, including Amy Kaukonen, who was the first woman elected mayor of a community in Ohio and one of the first women elected mayor in the entire United States.

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Kansas

June 16, 1919

When Kansas Territory was organized in 1854, women’s issues, and suffrage in particular, were immediately at the forefront. Kansas women gained the right to vote in school district elections in 1861 and municipal elections in 1887. Then, in the early 20th Century, the campaign for woman’s suffrage took on new life. On November 5, 1912, Kansas voters approved the Equal Suffrage Amendment to the state constitution. After winning suffrage on the state level, activities took the fight to the national stage, ratifying the 19th Amendment on June 16, 1919.

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Pennsylvania

June 24, 1919

When the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, Pennsylvania was the largest state in which women had not previously had the right to vote. Several Pennsylvanians had been critical figures in the long struggle to secure women’s suffrage. Women like Dora Lewis and Caroline Katzenstein were active in the Pennsylvania and national branches of both the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman’s Party (NWP).

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Massachusetts

June 25, 1919

Massachusetts was the eighth state to ratify the 19th Amendment and home to many notable women the cause. In 1870, activists Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, and other supporters of the movement formed the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. These groups worked together, sharing goals and partaking in the same educational, promotional, and legislative lobbying activities that helped push the topic of women’s voting rights forward.

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Texas

June 28, 1919

Texas became the ninth state in the Union, and the first state in the South, to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. The state’s support of women’s enfranchisement set the stage for other southern states to ratify the 19th Amendment.

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Iowa

July 2, 1919

Women in Iowa were granted “partial suffrage” in 1894 and nearly received full suffrage in 1916 but a constitutional amendment was narrowly defeated. However, the movement had gained legs and in 1919, after Iowa-raised Carrie Chapman Catt helped lead the charge, Iowa became the 10th state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

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Missouri

July 3, 1919

On July 2, 1919, Missouri Governor Frederick D. Gardner called for a special session to consider extending the right of suffrage to women, in hopes Missouri could help lead the way toward ratification. The following day, the Missouri Senate followed the lead of the House of Representatives and voted to ratify the amendment, making Missouri the 11th state to vote for ratification.

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Arkansas

July 28, 1919

The Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association organized in 1881 and the Political Equality League organized by 1911. In May 1918, after legislators endured lobbying from these organizations, women were first allowed to vote in Arkansas, but only in primaries. Later, the Arkansas State Legislature vote passed 74-15 and made Arkansas the twelfth state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

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Nebraska

August 2, 1919

After women were given the municipal vote in 1917, an anti-suffrage group petitioned seeking an annulment of the statute. Over the course of a long court battle, Nebraska suffragists gained support leading to Nebraska becoming the fourteenth state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Within the year, the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association reorganized as the Nebraska League of Women Voters.

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Montana

August 2, 1919

In 1914, Montana voted in favor of equal suffrage. The suffrage victory was the result of prolonged efforts from hundreds across the state including a neighbor-to-neighbor campaign organized by the Christian Temperance Union that gave momentum to the movement.

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Minnesota

September 8, 1919

Minnesota women were first able to vote in 1875, but only in school board elections. The Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association was founded soon after in 1881 and after failed attempts at legislation, Clara Hampson Ueland organized a parade of over 2,000 woman suffrage supporters in Minneapolis. The parade brought renewed attention to the issue and Ueland eventually became the president of the MWSA.

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New Hampshire

September 10, 1919

One day after a special session of the Legislature was called to vote on the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, New Hampshire Governor John H. Bartlett signed the amendment that would ensure “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.” The Governor signed the legislation to making New Hampshire the sixteenth state to ratify.

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Utah

September 30, 1919

Despite Utah being one of the earliest states to grant access to the vote for women, Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker act in 1887 and part of this legislation disenfranchised Utah women. This naturally caused outrage as it took away a right that women had for years already. Many Utah women worked with national suffrage organizations by serving in leadership roles, speaking at conventions and more.

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California

November 1, 1919

American women gained their right to vote in 1920. But in California, women had already won the right to vote in 1911, nearly a decade earlier. The 1896 and 1911 suffrage campaigns demonstrated the mature political skill women had acquired. Both campaigns drew help from suffragists all over America, but the assistance to the 1911 effort was formidable. Women remembered who defeated them in 1896.

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Maine

November 5, 1919

Groups both for and against women voting appeared in many cities and towns across the state of Maine. Even national speakers such as Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone traveled through to help the pro-suffrage cause. Through years-long efforts, Maine became the nineteenth state to ratify in late 1919!

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North Dakota

December 1, 1919

Support for the suffrage movement ramped up in North Dakota around 1912, despite strong leaders in years prior. Under the leadership of Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, a strong organization formed which led to another chapter of the Votes for Women League. By 1917, a bill was passed to give women limited suffrage just prior to ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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South Dakota

December 4, 1919

After six previous attempts to approve women’s suffrage, South Dakota implemented a state constitutional amendment in November 1918. Then, just less than one year later, the state League of Women Voters (LWV) held their annual meeting in Mitchell where supporters’ voices were heard in favor of suffrage, among many other issues. It was the final major push before Governor Norbeck called a special session that eventually passed the 19th Amendment in December 1919.

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Colorado

December 15, 1919

After two previous attempts, Colorado’s state referendum passed in 1893. Despite other western territories giving women the right to vote in other forms prior to Colorado, the state was the first to do so by popular referendum.

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Rhode Island

January 6, 1920

Rhode Island passed the Women’s Suffrage Amendment in 1887, thanks to petitions from the Woman’s Suffrage Association. However, the state’s male voters failed to support the amendment in a statewide referendum. After both houses of the United States Congress had passed the 19th Amendment, Rhode Island’s General Assembly was in recess and couldn’t not hold a vote! Fortunately, as Rhode Island’s General Assembly commenced its 1920 session, ratification was among the first items on the legislative calendar.

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Kentucky

January 6, 1920

Kentucky was the first to pass a statewide woman suffrage law in 1893, after New Jersey revoked theirs in 1807. Female heads of households were allowed to vote in elections related to taxes and local boards for the school system. In the beginning days of January 1920, National Woman’s Party members Dora Lewis and Mabel Vernon traveled to Kentucky to help with the final push for the state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

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Oregon

January 13, 1920

In 1870, Abigail Scott Duniway, an early advocate for suffrage, arranged for Susan B. Anthony to tour the Pacific Northwest which led to the formation of Oregon Women Suffrage Association. Through the organization’s work, among others advocates, voting rights came on the ballot six times before women finally achieved full rights in 1912, providing vital support for the national push.

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Indiana

January 16, 1920

Winchester native Amanda Way kicked off the state’s efforts in 1851. That same year, just three years after the famous Seneca Falls Convention, the Indiana Women’s Rights Association was formed. It is widely regarded as one of the country’s first state-wide suffrage organizations. Over time, the IWRA became crucial in gaining the right to vote and gathering support for the 19th Amendment ratification in early 1920.

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Nevada

February 7, 1920

In 1869, both houses of the Nevada legislature passed an amendment allowing women to vote, but it failed to pass two years later during the constitutionally mandated second vote. It wasn’t until 1914 that the state passed a new amendment. Women voted in local races a year later and in statewide races in 1916.

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New Jersey

February 9, 1920

Women in New Jersey were allowed to vote all the way back in 1776. However, the second New Jersey Constitution in 1844 restricted the vote to only “free, white males” thus effectively revoking access for women. In 1912 a resolution in favor of woman suffrage was first introduced in New Jersey Senate, and three years later it passed both houses of two successive legislatures.

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Idaho

February 11, 1920

Idaho gave women the right to vote in 1896, long before the famed 19th Amendment with a Senate Joint Resolution. By a vote of nearly two to one, the resolution passed and has since placed Idaho and its fellow western states (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Washington) as the leaders in the effort for women’s suffrage.

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Arizona

February 12, 1920

Arizona introduced three different bills in the 1880’s to grant women the right to vote but the Legislature defeated each. As Arizona began to push for statehood in 1891, the issue was again at the forefront, this time at the Arizona Constitutional Convention. Eventually, in 1912, activists pushed for the initiative on the ballot and it succeeded in giving women the right to vote, just a few years ahead of the 19th Amendment.

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New Mexico

February 21, 1920

After the state’s Constitution was ratified in 1910, it required a three-fourths majority in each county to amend the suffrage provision, a difficult task that other western states didn’t have to face. Despite being late to the movement, the state witnessed a committed level of support leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment.

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Oklahoma

February 28, 1920

Laura A. Gregg, a National American Woman Suffrage Association organizer, came to Oklahoma in 1895 in one of the first attempts to rally the state to support universal suffrage. Subsequently, Margaret Rees became president of the Oklahoma Territory Equal Suffrage Association which helped introduce the first bills in front of the State Legislature. Despite their initial failures, it jumpstarted a movement in the state.

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West Virginia

March 10, 1920

The creation of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association in 1895 combined smaller groups into a statewide organization that pushed for equal rights. In November of 1916, the electorate made up of all men rejected the newest proposal for suffrage which led to many suffragists to adopt a new strategy. They began heavily supporting the war efforts which became “proof” of their patriotism. Momentum grew and after the war, the state ratified the 19th Amendment.

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Washington

March 22, 1920

Washington’s effort began long before the 19th Amendment passed. For more than 50 years, women in Washington organized, rallied, and lobbied for their voices to be heard. They were the first state in the 20th century and fifth in the Union to enact women’s suffrage.

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Tennessee

August 18, 1920

Tennessee played a crucial role in gaining women suffrage. As the state’s General Assembly was held in 1920, the Amendment was narrowly ratified, leaving the state to become the 36th and final state needed. Their ratification provided the necessary three-fourths majority needed for an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution!

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Connecticut

Septeember 14, 1920

After congress passed the 19th amendment in June of 1919, 36 states were needed to vote in favor of the amendment for it to become law. In September of 1920 when the representatives of Connecticut were slated to vote on the amendment, the 36 states needed to ratify had already voted in favor and the 19th amendment was now a part of the US constitution. Nevertheless, Connecticut became the 37th state to Ratify the 19th Amendment on September 14, 1920.

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Vermont

February 8, 1921

After congress passed the 19th amendment in June of 1919, 36 states were needed to vote in favor of the amendment for it to become law. In September of 1920 when the representatives of Connecticut were slated to vote on the amendment, the 36 states needed to ratify had already voted in favor and the 19th amendment was now a part of the US constitution. Nevertheless, Connecticut became the 37th state to Ratify the 19th Amendment on September 14, 1920.

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