Amdt19.2.4 Women’s Suffrage and the Progressive Era

Nineteenth Amendment:

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.

The Progressive Era, which lasted from the late 1890s to the early 1920s, was a period of increased political activism and social reform in the United States.1 During this era, the National American Woman Suffrage Association2 initially emphasized state-level efforts to secure voting rights for women.3 By 1916, women had obtained full voting rights in eleven western states and partial voting rights in many others.4 Nonetheless, the slow pace of progress at the state level spurred activists such as Carrie Chapman Catt to intensify their efforts to obtain an amendment to the Constitution recognizing women’s right to vote.5 Some suffragists, such as Alice Paul, combined traditional advocacy efforts with more radical forms of protest, including parades, picketing, and hunger strikes in support of a federal amendment.6

The year 1917 marked a turning point in the fight for women’s suffrage.7 In that year, the first woman elected to Congress, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, took office.8 In addition, New York passed a referendum approving women’s suffrage, becoming the first eastern state to do so.9 As the United States entered World War I in April 1917 to fight for democracy abroad, it became more difficult for opponents of women’s suffrage to argue that women should be denied a fundamental democratic right at home.10 By the end of the year, the women’s suffrage movement had secured significant political support for a federal amendment, but obtaining the approval of Congress and the state legislatures proved to be a difficult task.11

Footnotes
1
See Women’s Suffrage in the Progressive Era, Libr. of Cong., https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929/womens-suffrage-in-progressive-era/ (last visited Feb. 10, 2023). back
2
For more information on NAWSA’s formation as result of the merger of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, see Amdt19.2.2 The Reconstruction Amendments and Women’s Suffrage. back
3
Eleanor Flexner & Ellen F. Fitzpatrick, Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States 208–13 (1996). back
4
Katie Anastas & James Gregory, Timeline and Map of Woman Suffrage Legislation State by State 1838–1919, Univ. of Wash., https://depts.washington.edu/moves/WomanSuffrage_map.shtml (last visited Feb. 10, 2023). As the creators of this timeline and map note, “many state legislatures were persuaded to allow partial voting rights, typically limited to school elections or the right to vote only in municipal or presidential elections.” Id. Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution gave states the ability to determine voter qualifications for congressional elections based on the qualifications required to vote in state elections. See ArtI.S2.C1.2 Voter Qualifications for House of Representatives Elections. back
5
Flexner & Fitzpatrick, supra note 3, at 271–74. back
6
Id. at 255–56, 262. back
7
Id. at 275–76. back
8
Id. at 276. Montana had granted women equal suffrage rights in 1914. See Montana and the 19th Amendment, Nat’l Park Serv. (Aug. 19, 2019), https://www.nps.gov/articles/montana-and-the-19th-amendment.htm. back
9
Flexner & Fitzpatrick, supra note 3, at 282. back
10
Id. at 280. back
11
See Amdt19.2.5 Proposal and Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. back