Election Day and the Right to Vote

November 2 is election day. The time that all Americans may vote for their representatives and some senators. However, just less than one hundred years ago not all Americans could exercise their right to vote. Women suffrage was not the law of the land.

When the Territory of Montana was admitted to the union as a state in 1890, it became the first state with women suffrage. By 1890 Utah, Colorado, and Idaho joined Montana in allowing women the vote. In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party (Bull Moose) became the first national political party to have a plank supporting women suffrage.

However, it took until May, 1919 for the necessary two-thirds vote in favor of the women suffrage amendment to be mustered in Congress. The propose new amendment was sent to the states for ratification. Finally in 1920 the ratification of the 19th Amendment became law when Tennessee cast its final votes.

The 19th Amendment guarantees that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or by and State on account of sex and Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. For more information, see Exploring Constitutional Conflicts.

Check out CDPL's items on the suffrage movement and the Constitution.