The Nineteenth Amendment

Ladies,

Ninety years ago, today, the gentlemen of our country finally ratified the amendment that gave us the right to vote.  My grandmother, when she was born, at first appeared she would not have a vote, but by the time she was two years old, her fortunes had changed.

Thank you, Google, for making sure we didn't forget this momentous occasion.


From the Washington Post:

"Ninety years ago today, women got the right to vote. Here's the text of the 19th amendment, which was ratified on August 18, 1920, by the Tennessee General Assembly: "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." Tennessee was the thirty-sixth state to ratify, giving the amendment the requisite approval of three-fourths of the states; the amendment passed because 24 year-old legislator Harry Burn changed his vote, at the insistence of his elderly mother."

Whew, thank goodness Harry listened to his mother.

Maybe you want to see where your state ended up in the order of ratification*:

1. Illinois (June 10, 1919, reaffirmed on June 17, 1919)
2. Michigan (June 10, 1919)
3. Wisconsin (June 10, 1919)
4. Kansas (June 16, 1919)
5. New York (June 16, 1919)
6. Ohio (June 16, 1919)
7. Pennsylvania (June 24, 1919)
8. Massachusetts (June 25, 1919)
9. Texas (June 28, 1919)
10. Iowa (July 2, 1919)
11. Missouri (July 3, 1919)
12. Arkansas (July 28, 1919)
13. Montana (August 2, 1919)
14. Nebraska (August 2, 1919)
15. Minnesota (September 8, 1919)
16. New Hampshire (September 10, 1919)
17. Utah (October 2, 1919)
18. California (November 1, 1919)
19. Maine (November 5, 1919)
20. North Dakota (December 1, 1919)
21. South Dakota (December 4, 1919)
22. Colorado (December 15, 1919)
23. Kentucky (January 6, 1920)
24. Rhode Island (January 6, 1920)
25. Oregon (January 13, 1920)
26. Indiana (January 16, 1920)
27. Wyoming (January 27, 1920)
28. Nevada (February 7, 1920)
29. New Jersey (February 9, 1920)
30. Idaho (February 11, 1920)
31. Arizona (February 12, 1920)
32. New Mexico (February 21, 1920)
33. Oklahoma (February 28, 1920)
34. West Virginia (March 10, 1920, confirmed on September 21, 1920)
35. Washington (March 22, 1920)
36. Tennessee (August 18, 1920)

Those not listed either ratified it later, or not at all.  Yes, I said not at all.  And some did not ratify until the 1980s. Hmmmm....


*Mount, Steve (January 2007). "Ratification of Constitutional Amendments". Retrieved August 18, 2010.