Women’s Suffrage, Right to Vote: Aug. 18, 1920

Seneca Falls, NY

In 1866, Kansas held a referendum on women’s suffrage that failed, and over the next 50 years, 479 efforts were mounted in state legislatures for women’s suffrage. Few achieved their goal. In 1872, a national proponent of women’s voting rights, Susan B. Anthony, persuaded voting inspectors, on the strength of the 14th Amendment, to allow her to vote for Ulysses S. Grant as president, only to be arrested and fined $100. Finally, in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson urged adding a women’s suffrage amendment to the Constitution. Congress adopted the amendment in June 1919, but full ratification of the 19th Amendment didn’t occur until 1920, allowing 9.4 million American women to vote in the national elections that fall.

Website