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.  

U.S. Const. amend XIX. 

June 4, 2019, marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing American women the constitutional right to vote. That right was a long time coming. American suffragists had been advocating for it since at least the 1800s. The Declaration of Sentiments, which was introduced at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 and modelled after the Declaration of Independence, called for women’s suffrage (a controversial demand at the time). The Amendment was first introduced in Congress thirty years later.  

From a symbolic standpoint, the Seneca Falls Convention looms large in the women’s suffrage movement. According to historian Lisa Tetrault in her book, The Myth of Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony laid the groundwork for the discipline of women’s history.  

Today, according to Center for American Women and Politics, women hold nearly 24% of the seats in Congress and more than 27% of statewide elective offices. Compare these percentages to 3% and 7%, respectively, in 1971. The right to vote and the influence it has yielded to American women can be felt in numerous aspects of our lives. For instance, the League of Women Voters of MIchigan was instrumental in a recent panel of federal judges’ decision to require Michigan to redraw district lines prior to the 2020 federal election.  

To find resources or learn more about the 19th Amendment, search the Library Catalog or contact a McNichols Campus Librarian.