Women's Right To Vote
Transcript of the 19th Amendment
Sixty-sixth Congress of the United States of America; At the First Session,
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, the nineteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and nineteen.
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislature of three-fourths of the several States.
"ARTICLE ————.
"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."
F. H. Gillett
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Thomas R. Marshall
Vice President of the United States & President of the Senate
Ratified August 18,1920
After decades of fighting for equality, women in the United States were finally guaranteed
the right to vote.
Celebrating 100 Years
During the month of August we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. On August 18,1920 the amendment guaranteed all American women, like men, all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, including the right to vote.
The women's suffrage movement began decades before the Civil War. Many women in the 1820's and 30's became indignant to the historical idea that only a "true" woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother who's concern should center exclusively around her home and family.
Women began to support a new way of thinking about what it meant to be a woman and a citizen of the United States. At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 most delegates agreed that American women were autonomous individuals, and that they should have the right to their own political identities. Among those rights were the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The fight continued through the Civil War and with the signing of the 14th and 15th Amendments. In 1869, a new group was formed by Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to continue the quest for a universal-suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That group became know as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
In 1914, 10,000 women marched in a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D. C. demanding the right to vote, but the parade did not garner the widespread support that was hoped for, and a number of women were arrested and jailed for protesting in front of the White House.
Susan B. Anthony, as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, launched a “society plan” to recruit leaders of women’s clubs to the cause, realizing that these women were an important link to other women in their communities. GFWC, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, which was one of the country's largest woman’s organization in the U.S., with a membership of over one million women, officially signed on to support the suffrage movement. This signaled that the movement, that had once been just a radical dream, was beginning to become a mainstream cause.
As of 1914, only 17 of the GFWC state federations had voted to support suffrage. Pro-suffrage resolutions were blocked from coming to the floor at two previous conferences by an anti-suffrage faction, so the outcome of the 1914 convention was uncertain as the delegates headed to Chicago to meet. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs Magazine presented both sides of the argument, for and against the movement. The debate was very heated.
The GFWC president was in favor of suffrage, believing that a woman's interest in politics and the vital questions of the day would help her fulfill her duty as a wife and mother. But even with the president's endorsement it was still uncertain if a resolution in favor of suffrage would be voted on. Then, surprisingly, individual clubs in attendance began passing their own resolutions in support of an organization wide suffrage resolution.
On June 14, 1914, the GFWC approved a resolution supporting political equality for men and women regardless of sex. The GFWC’s official endorsement of suffrage was major news. It's approval and support meant that suffrage was a cause that middle-class women all over America should and would support. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs Magazine kept members of the GFWC informed of activities toward passage of a national suffrage amendment. By 1917, the magazine was a relevant source for American women about the political and legislative strategies behind the suffrage movement.
Women’s suffrage may not have become a reality without the historic support of the GFWC.
Visit TIME.com for more historical photographs re-imaged in full color. Click
May Mann Jennings
Florida's Own suffragist
American National Biography - May Mann Jennings was one of Florida's most powerful and influential women. She served as president of the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs, from 1914 to 1917. GFWC was the state’s largest women’s organization with more than ten thousand members
Women's Suffrage & the 19th Amendment
GFWC Historical NEWS
19 Facts about the 19th amendment
19 Facts about the 19th amendment
Turning Point - Learn more about GFWC's involvement in the Women's Suffrage Movement
19 Facts about the 19th amendment
19 Facts about the 19th amendment
19 Facts about the 19th amendment
The Conversation -19 things you should know about this landmark amendment
Women's Suffrage Month
19 Facts about the 19th amendment
Women's Suffrage Month
Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission - suffrage inspired digital programming to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the 19th Amendment
Places of Women's Suffrage
Florida & the 19th Amendment
Places of Women's Suffrage
National Parks Service - follow the story map to places around the country related to the suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment
Women's Suffrage
Florida & the 19th Amendment
Places of Women's Suffrage
National Parks Service - read a variety of articles about the women's suffrage movement
Florida & the 19th Amendment
Florida & the 19th Amendment
Florida & the 19th Amendment
National Parks Service - find out when Florida actually ratified the 19th Amendment
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
Turning Point - read about how African American women became leaders in the Women's Suffrage Movement
Suffrage in Spanish
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
Women's Vote Centennial - Hispanic Women and the Fight for the 19th Amendment in New Mexico
African American Women & the 19th Amendment
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
African American Women & the 19th Amendment
National Parks Service - often overlooked in the history of women's suffrage, black women engaged in significant reform efforts and political activism leading to and following the ratification in 1920 of the
19th Amendment
Women's Suffrage in Democracy
Women's Suffrage in Democracy
Women's Suffrage in Democracy
ArcGIS Online - a story map by student Mackenzie Lippincott-Emhoff on the women's suffrage movement
The 19th Amendment 1920
Women's Suffrage in Democracy
Women's Suffrage in Democracy
HISTORY.org - audio, visual and written presentation on the definition,passage and summary of the 19th Amendment
Women of the Iroquois Nation
Women's Suffrage in Democracy
Women of the Iroquois Nation
Syracuse Peace Council - unlike European American women of the mid-19th century, Iroquois women had tremendous political authority
Women of the Black Suffrage Movement
How Chinese-American Women Helped Shape the Suffrage Movement
How Chinese-American Women Helped Shape the Suffrage Movement
Atlanta Black Star - 7 intriguing facts about the women of the Black Suffrage Movement that you might not know
How Chinese-American Women Helped Shape the Suffrage Movement
How Chinese-American Women Helped Shape the Suffrage Movement
How Chinese-American Women Helped Shape the Suffrage Movement
Women's Vote Centennial - Mabel Lee and several other members of the Chinatown community joined national and state suffrage leaders for a meeting at the Peking Restaurant in New York City
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee
How Chinese-American Women Helped Shape the Suffrage Movement
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee
National Women's History Museum - Mabel Lee, at sixteen years old, was already a recognized suffragist and activist that would help to lead almost 10,000 people in the New York suffrage parade
100 Years of LWV
Women’s Suffrage & the Struggle for Inclusion
Women’s Suffrage & the Struggle for Inclusion
League of Women Voters - history of the LWV 1920-2020
Women’s Suffrage & the Struggle for Inclusion
Women’s Suffrage & the Struggle for Inclusion
Women’s Suffrage & the Struggle for Inclusion
League of Women Voters - article on the inclusion of minorities and the right to vote
Women weren't given the vote. They Took it.
Women’s Suffrage & the Struggle for Inclusion
Women weren't given the vote. They Took it.
PBS American Experience - Watch the film THE VOTE which tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote
GFWC Four Corners
Junior Woman's Club
E-Mail:
Mailing Address:
8297 ChampionsGate Blvd. #235
ChampionsGate, FL 33896
Membership:
Toni - heyrit@aol.com
General Federation of Women's clubs
General Federation of Women's clubs
General Federation of Women's clubs
GFWC is an international women's organization founded in 1890 and dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the live of others through volunteer service. Collectively, we are Living the Volunteer Spirit.
GFWC Florida
General Federation of Women's clubs
General Federation of Women's clubs
GFWC Florida is in its second century of community service. In 1891 the Housekeeper's Club of Coconut Grove had formed. It joined the GFWC that year to become the first Florida club to do so. By 1900 several more Florida women's clubs joined.
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General Federation of Women's clubs
GFWC Four Corners Jr's Facebook
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