Women's+Suffrage

The women suffrage was first introduced in Congress in 1878. It failed to pass but was reintroduced in every session of Congress for the next 40 years. During World War I (1914-1918) the contributions of women to the war effort increased support for a suffrage amendment. In 1918, the House of Representatives held another vote on the issue. Spectators packed the galleries, and several congressmen came to vote despite illness. One congressman was brought in on a stretcher. Representative Frederick C. Hicks of New York left his wife's deathbed--at her request--to vote for the amendment. The House approved the amendment, but the Senate defeated it. In 1919, the Senate finally passed the amendment and sent it to the states for approval.

By late August 1920, the required number of states had ratified what became the [|19th Amendment]. The amendment says, "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." The 19th Amendment to the Consititution, which became law on Aug. 26, 1920, gave women the right to vote in all elections. Votes for women were first seriously proposed in the United States in July, 1848, at the Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention organized by and. One woman who attended that convention was Charlotte Woodward. She was nineteen at the time. In 1920, when women finally won the vote throughout the nation, Charlotte Woodward was the only participant in the 1848 Convention who was still alive to cast her vote. Eighty-one years old, she cast her vote proudly.

(**NAWSA national women suffrage association**) In 1872, Susan demanded that women be given the same civil and political rights that had been extended to black males under the 14th and 15th amendments. Thus, she led a group of women to the polls in Rochester to test the right of women to vote. She was arrested two weeks later and while awaiting trial, engaged in highly publicized lecture tours and in March 1873, she tried to vote again in city elections. After being tried and convicted of violating the voting laws, Susan succeeded in her refusal to pay the fine. From then on she campaigned endlessly for a federal woman suffrage amendment through the National Woman Suffrage Association (1869-90) and the National American Woman Suffrage Association (1890-1906) and by lecturing throughout the country.

[|(**Susan B. Anthony**)] 1776: New Jersey gives the vote to women owning more than $250. Later the state reconsidered and women were no longer allowed to vote. 1837: Kentucky gives some women suffrage in school elections. 1861: Kansas enters the Union; the new state gives its women the right to vote in local school elections. 1869: Wyoming territory constitution grants women the right to vote and to hold public office. 1870: Utah territory gives full suffrage to women. 1893: The male electorate in Colorado votes "yes" on woman suffrage. 1894: Some cities in Kentucky and Ohio give women the vote in school board elections. 1895: Utah amends its constitution to grant women suffrage. 1896: Idaho adopts a constitutional amendment granting suffrage to women. 1902: Kentucky repeals limited school board election voting rights for women. 1910: Washington state votes for woman suffrage. 1911: California gives women the vote. 1912: Male electorates in Michigan, Kansas, Oregon and Arizona approve state constitutional amendments for woman suffrage. Wisconsin defeats a proposed suffrage amendment. 1912: Kentucky restores limited voting rights for women in school board elections. 1920: On August 26, a constitutional amendment is adopted when Tennessee ratifies it, granting full woman suffrage in all states of the United States. 1971: The United States lowers the voting age for both men and women to eighteen.

__**Reference:**__ http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/suffrage/ [|http://www.worldbook.com/features/whm/html/whm012.html]