Just the Facts – Women’s Suffrage

Contributed by Olga Vanucci.

It’s Women’s History Month, and here’s to a long line of women who persisted to ensure that more than half the population of the U.S. has the right to vote. Follow the timeline of their efforts. 

1787: The U.S. Constitutional Convention places voting qualifications in the hands of the states. Women in all states except New Jersey lose the right to vote.

1807: Women in New Jersey lose the right to vote.

1838: Kentucky passes the first statewide woman suffrage law allowing female heads of household in rural areas to vote in elections deciding on taxes and local boards for the new county “common school” system.

1872: Susan B. Anthony registers and votes in Rochester, New York, and is arrested a few days later for voting.

1878: A federal amendment to grant women the right to vote is introduced for the first time. Though initially unsuccessful, it would eventually become the 19th Amendment.

August 18, 1920: Tennessee is the last of the necessary 36 states to ratify the 19th  Amendment.

August 26, 1920: The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is received and ratified by the U.S. Secretary of State, adding the amendment to the Constitution.  It 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.

2020: It’s the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in the U.S., and the year that women will vote Trump out!

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_States