A Significant Change
American Documents: The Nineteenth Amendment
NOTE---MY APOLOGIES FOR THE FLOOD OF ARTICLES. Last night's piece about skydiving was written on a whim. The culture war piece was written over the weekend, and the 19th Amendment piece (this one) was supposed to be for tomorrow, but I got my days mixed up. So if you opened your inbox to three articles in 12 hours, mea maxima culpa.
2026 is America’s 250th birthyear. To celebrate, I’m highlighting 50+ significant American documents from our history. So far I have covered The Mayflower Compact, Patrick Henry’s Speech, The Lee Resolution, The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Treaty of Paris, the Virginia Plan, The Northwest Ordinance, The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Louisiana Purchase, the Star-Spangled Banner, the Monroe Doctrine, the Indian Removal Act, the Knickerbocker Baseball Club rules, Lincoln’s ‘House Divided’ Speech, the Emancipation Proclamation, Jefferson Davis’ inaugural address, the Appomattox Surrender Letters, the Homestead Act, the Gettysburg Address, the Alaska Purchase, the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, Susan B. Anthony’s Speech on Women’s Suffrage, the Nez Perce Surrender, the Dawes Act, the Newlands Resolution, the Sixteenth Amendment, and Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
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A few weeks ago we covered Susan B. Anthony’s speech on women’s suffrage (linked above.) That speech pretty much sums up the case for Nineteenth Amendment so I won’t reiterate it all here. After the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the social changes brought on by the Progressive Era, suffrage for women was bound to be the next big amendment to the Constitution. Fourteen years after Susan B. Anthony died, women were allowed to vote.
“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.”
—Text of the 19th Amendment
This amendment didn’t exactly double the electorate, but the expansion was immediate and broad (heh). In 1916, roughly 18 million Americans turned out to vote for president. The 19th Amendment was proposed in 1919 and ratified in 1920, ahead of Warren G. Harding’s election, and the total participation was closer to 27 million. (A 50% increase.)
As you continue to follow the Electoral Brawlage series here on Trucker Man Reads, pay attention to the demographic (and geographic) shifts in voting patterns. Allowing women to vote isn’t the exclusive cause for those shifts, but it is one of many factors to consider as you see the map change. (There will be an even more significant move in the 1960s, but we’ll get to that soon.)
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