June 4, 1919 - Susan B. Anthony & Lucretia Mott - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

U.S. Senate gives women the vote. It was in 1848 that American suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott first proposed that women be able to vote. Little did they know it would take seven decades of lobbying, protests and arm-twisting to make the dream come true. Amending the American constitution (like amending any country’s constitution) is a difficult process; it requires agreement from two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then three-quarters of the states. In January of 1919, the House of Representatives passed the Women’s Suffrage Bill, also known as the Susan Anthony amendment. Five months later, on June 4, 1919, the Senate gave its approval. Then began the state-by-state campaign, which succeeded the day Tennessee passed the amendment by just one vote. The secretary of state certified the ratification on August 26, 1920, finally granting most American women the vote. Two years later, the Supreme Court protected the new amendment by ruling against a legal challenge to it. The 19th amendment now reads: “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.”

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