Honoring a Long Overdue Step Forward

August 26, 2009
Almost 90 years ago, and more than 70 years after the woman's rights convention issued its "Declaration of Sentiments," the United States ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote. In June 1920, the Senate voted 56-25 to adopt the amendment, and The New York Times reported that leaders of the National Woman's Party were prepared to promptly "embark upon on a campaign to obtain ratification of the amendment by the necessary three-fourths of the States so that women might have the right to vote in the next Presidential election."

On Aug. 26, 1920, then-Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment's adoption. The Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, following the Tennessee legislature's narrow vote of approval.

The Nineteenth Amendment states that "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," and Congress "shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

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