Senate Passes 19th Amendment Sending Women's Suffrage to States for Ratification

On June 4, 1919, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which stated that “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 Senate vote came nearly 18 months after the House of Representatives had passed the amendment on January 10, 1918, following President Wilson’s reversal of his opposition on January 9, 1918. The amendment’s passage represented the culmination of a 71-year struggle dating back to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, where the demand for women’s voting rights had barely passed despite the passionate advocacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass. The Congressional approval sent the amendment to the states for ratification, requiring approval from three-fourths of the 48 states—36 states—to become part of the Constitution.

The Senate vote reflected both the success of militant suffragist tactics and the broader political realignment forced by World War I. The National Woman’s Party’s 18-month White House picketing campaign, which resulted in 168 arrests and the brutal treatment of prisoners including the November 14, 1917 “Night of Terror,” had generated public sympathy and made opposition politically untenable. Meanwhile, NAWSA’s more conservative approach of suspending activism during the war to demonstrate women’s patriotism through volunteer work had also paid dividends, countering arguments that women were unfit for citizenship. The combination of insider lobbying and outsider agitation proved more effective than either strategy alone could have been. Wilson’s endorsement of suffrage as a “war measure” provided political cover for senators who had previously opposed expansion of voting rights, though this framing also revealed the conditional nature of institutional support for democracy.

The amendment’s passage by Congress marked a major victory but left the outcome uncertain, as state-by-state ratification campaigns would face intense opposition from entrenched interests. The liquor industry, which had long opposed women’s suffrage due to the connection between the temperance movement and women’s rights activism, mobilized against ratification. Textile manufacturers worried that enfranchised women would support restrictions on child labor, threatening their business models dependent on cheap child labor. Railroad companies feared that women voters would support Progressive Era regulations of corporate power. Political machines, particularly in the South, opposed expanding the electorate beyond their controlled constituencies. These corporate and political interests would wage fierce battles in state legislatures, particularly in Tennessee, which would become the decisive 36th state to ratify on August 18, 1920. The Congressional vote demonstrated that institutional resistance to democratic expansion could be overcome through sustained pressure, but the ratification campaign would show how deeply entrenched economic interests would fight to preserve systems of exclusion that protected their power and profits.