The Nineteenth Amendment gave women in the United States the constitutional right to vote in 1920.
The amendment states that voting rights cannot be denied by the United States or any state on the basis of sex. Congress proposed it in 1919, and Tennessee supplied the decisive thirty-sixth state ratification on August 18, 1920. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified it on August 26.
The amendment was the result of decades of organizing, petitioning, public speaking, civil disobedience, and legal challenges by women’s suffrage activists. It expanded constitutional protection, but it did not immediately eliminate every barrier to voting. Many women of color continued to face discriminatory laws and practices, especially in the Jim Crow South.
The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, addressed voting restrictions based on race for male citizens but did not guarantee women’s suffrage. The Nineteenth Amendment therefore represents a distinct constitutional milestone in the nation’s long civic history.