The United States of America 19^th Amendment Facts

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the land. All other laws are, therefore, supposed to be in conformity with the Constitution. It is, necessary to note that, this Constitution has gone through a series of amendments, one of which is the 19^th Amendment, which sought to give voting rights to women. The Constitution, which is the supreme law, gave States the authority to set voting qualifications. Prior to the amendment, many States did not grant permission or voting rights to women. A set of facts, are known about this amendment, and these include the following:

·        This amendment to the Constitution was passed into law by the 66^th United States Congress in 1919 and was ratified in 1920.

·        The 19^th amendment was introduced in 1919 by a Republican Senator and was, therefore, mostly supported by Republicans. The Senator was from California and was called Aaron A. Sargent. Since many of the members of the company were Democrats, the first three times he proposed the amendment were in vain.

·        The 19^th amendment guarantees all women in the United States of America the right to vote. This amendment, which was a radical change of the Constitution, was only achieved after years of lobbying, civil disobedience and lecturing by women activists. Of these activists, however, only a few lived to see the fruits of their labor.

·        In the period before the ratification and passing into law of the amendment, many women activists and chief suffrage organizations were united and advocated for an amendment.

·        After it was passed by the House of Representatives, the Senate also passed it after a period of only two weeks. Then the only obstacle that remained was ratification by the different States.

·        The amendment got the required three fourths majority vote needed for ratification in 1920. This was attained after ratification of the amendment by Tennessee, which was the 36^th ratifying State.

·        The ratification of the amendment was certified by the then Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby on the 26^th day of August 1920.

·        After its ratification, the 19^th amendment facts was challenged a number of times in the courts of law. For example, in the case of Leser V Garnett (1922), it was claimed that the amendment had been unconstitutionally adopted. The Supreme Court, however, rejected this reasoning and dismissed the case.

The 19^th amendment is to the effect that, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex”. Given the fact that prior to the amendment, most men had the right to vote, it is clear that this provision was meant to give voting rights to women.

Many women activists and groups deemed it fit that, women’s rights to vote, also be recognized, and they advocated for the same. The reconstruction amendments, however, did nothing for the women, hence the need for another amendment that specifically addresses the franchise rights of women.