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. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

While we missed the 100th year anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment by just a few months, today we will be taking the time to discuss the amendment that expanded voting rights to a large number of women across the United States.

Early American feminist ideologies (as well as supporters) can be traced back to the 1700s and early 1800s. But for the most part, there was no formal movement or organization. It was not until the early to mid-1800s that what is now called "first-wave feminism" began to gain a larger following and transaction. The cause for this early growth was the 1848 Seneca Fall Convention and growing anger at the inequity between men and women under American laws.

Created due to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and other American women being refused entry to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, the Seneca convention focused on developing the Declaration of Sentiments which exressed their unhappines with the inequilty in American laws. Many mark this event as the official start of the American women's rights movement.

Following the first convention in Seneca, women continued to be one of the leading voices in the anti-slavery movement in the United States. Many believed that with the ending of slavery, suffrage for women would come soon after. While women's suffrage did not gain much attention in the wake of the American Civil war, with the passing of the civil war amendments, suffragettes such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony once again commenced the call for the United States government to also grant women suffrage.

On a state level, while some states were slowly granting women the right to vote (8 states by WW1), the federal government still ignored calls for action. But as women took the place of the men sent to fight in Europe and staged protests around the country, the support for women's suffrage for the first time started to gain public support.

By 1918 Woodrow Wilson faced extreme pressure to put his support behind women's suffrage and an amendment. With the president's support, a propposed amendment was brought to the house floor in 1918 and passed. But it fell short of being passed in the senate and between 1918 and 1919 was voted on 5 times. It failed to pass each time.

But in 1919, during a special season of congress called by Wilson, the amendment passed the House 304 to 89. And when brought to the senate, it passes with 56 yeas, 25 nays, and 14 not voting.

While there was much push back from anti-suffrage supporters, through work from suffragettes, by 1920, the 35 states needed had ratified the 19th amendment.