The 90th Annivesary of the Women's Right to Vote

On February 14, 1920 with the passage of the 19th amendment imminent, suffragists met to transform the movement into the League of Women Voters to help educate women to become responsible voters.  On August 26, 1920, just days after Tennessee became the 36th and last needed state to ratify the amendment.  The Secretary of State signed the proclamation enacting the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.  Women all over America have the privilege to vote today.  The 19th amendment passed following the end of World War I in 1918.  This bill was passed when Woodrow Wilson was still president.  The passage of this amendment predates the "Roaring 20's."

The woman behind the proposal for women having the right to vote was Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  She and others first seriously proposed women's right to vote at Seneca Falls, NY, on July 19, 1848.  This was at a women's right movement.  Prior to this time, Susan B. Anthony was active in the women's temperance movement, but when she met Stanton in 1851, they joined forces and worked together over the next half of the century.  They both were a force.  They gave their lives to this goal.  Although they both died before the goal was reached, they lived long enough to see significant progress and were primarily responsible for the ultimate success.  Carrie Chapman Catt, founder and early leader of the League of Women Voters, younger than Anthony and Stanton, entered the struggle later and became a leader in the suffragist movement that helped lead it to victory with passage of the 19th amendment in 1920.