19th Amendment

AMENDMENT 19

The amendment that I chose to do my report on is the 19th amendment. This amendment guaranteed the voting right to all of the American woman. The victory of this amendment took decades to be passed. In August of 1995 marked the 75th anniversary of the ratification of this amendment. This amendment was ratified on August 24,1920. The first three states to approve this amendment were Illinois Wisconsin and Michigan.

When this amendment was first put out into the society the men and people didn't know what to think. They mostly thought of it as outrageous to let a woman vote. A lot of people also thought of this as something that they didn't have to worry about that it was just some stupid thing that would go away. Woman on the other hand took this matter very seriously. They often held silent vigils and hunger strikes. When the women did this they were often heckled at, discriminated against, sent to jail, and some men even physically abused them.

One of the more famous parades that they groups of woman had was call the "SUFFARAGE PARADE". This parade was held in New York City in 1912. New York adopted women's suffrage in 1917. The president Woodrow Wilson started to change his mind on which side that he thought was right. He began leaning more towards the woman's side. When he did this he made more people think that it was good what the woman were doing. On May 21, 1919 the House of Representatives passed the amendment. Just two weeks after the Senate did the same thing. Tennessee was the 36th out of 50 states to ratify this amendment.

Now a day's many people would think that this would be silly and stupid, but to many women back then if was a very serious matter. Now a days every United States citizen no matter their race their sex or anything can vote. I think that what the woman did was very strong and courageous. When people pushed them they just got up and pushed right back. They never gave up and I would truly like to thank each and every one of them.