Which American woman became the first woman elected to the United States Congress?

Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States Congress when Montana voters sent her to the House of Representatives in 1916.

Rankin, a Republican and longtime women’s-suffrage advocate, won one of Montana’s two at-large House seats. She took office on March 4, 1917, before nationwide constitutional woman suffrage was established. Montana women already had voting rights in state elections, which helped make her campaign possible.

During her first term, Rankin voted against the United States entering World War I. She later returned to Congress in 1941 and was the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Rankin was not the first woman to serve in a state legislature or to hold public office in the United States. Her distinction is specifically election to the federal Congress. She remains the only woman elected to Congress from Montana.