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How the 19th Amendment to the Constitution Came About Historically Through Smart Ideas and Actions. Activism Creates Change.

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The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbids any of the states and also the Federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote on account of the sex of their citizen.

It was a modification made to the U.S. Constitution that follows in the spirit of treating all individuals equally.

At the time that the U.S. constitution was originally written, American society lived very differently.

Although some initial articles had already opened the way for more equal rights for women, the American Constitution at that time was written in desperation by wealthy men to hold the United States together.

Supporting important equality issues such as equal rights for men and women and equal rights for blacks and whites was viewed by many at the time as a step too far.

Nevertheless, within the formulation of the constitution of the United States, provisions had already been made for such steps to be taken at a later date.

The Nineteenth Amendment also represented the crowning point of the work of a great number of so-called suffragette activists who supported equal rights for women.

Their actions and manifestations even went as far as one group protesting in front of the White House for a full eighteen months in order to draw attention to the problems faced by women not being able to vote.

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The President’s Support First

In 1918, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution squeaked past in the House of Representatives after President Woodrow Wilson had announced his support for it.

Nevertheless, the Senate did not share the same opinion and voted against it by an equally small majority.

Compared to the situation today, which a number of people would still not yet consider to be perfect, these legislative votes that were taken at the beginning of the twentieth century demonstrated an extraordinary degree of prejudice against women being allowed to vote.

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Populating Congress with Allies

At that time, not only did women in the United States not have the right to vote, but they were barred from employment in a number of key professions, including the legal profession.

The key to unlocking the doors for women to have the same opportunities that were available to men was by passing the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that enabled women to vote.

Once women were able to vote, they could then express themselves on a wide variety of subjects and issues, including issues such as which jobs they were allowed to perform in society.

Unfortunately, in a kind of Catch 22 situation, without having the vote, women were effectively in a position of stalemate.

The feminist movement and its sympathizers therefore directed their efforts first and foremost towards getting the vote for women.

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Victory at Last in a New Equality

They did this by influencing the votes of others and asking them to vote for members of Congress who were pro-women’s rights and vote against those who were against women’s rights.

It was this strategy that allowed the movement to eventually gain political allies in Congress that were prepared to vote for the right of women to vote.

After the initial failure to have the 19th Amendment to the Constitution approved by the Senate, their additional work eventually bore fruit and with a new and more favorable population in place in the Senate a year later, the motion was then passed.

A year after that, upon the ratification by the state of Tennessee, which was the 36th state to do so, the 19th Amendment was officially adopted as part of the Constitution of the United States.

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