1920 US woman suffrage amendment
ratified ^top^
The 19th Amendment to the US
Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is ratified
by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification
necessary to make it the law of the land. The amendment was
the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by woman suffragists.
Its two sections read simply: "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" and "Congress
shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
America's woman suffrage movement was founded in the mid 19th
century by women who had become politically active through their
work in the abolitionist and temperance movements.
In July 1848, 200 woman suffragists,
organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in
Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss women's rights. After approving
measures asserting the right of women to educational and employment
opportunities, they passed a resolution that declared "it is
the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves
their sacred right to the elective franchise." For proclaiming
a woman's right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected
to public ridicule, and some backers of women's rights withdrew
their support. However, the resolution marked the beginning
of the woman suffrage movement in the US. The first national
women's rights convention was held in 1850 and then repeated
annually, providing an important focus for the growing woman
suffrage movement. In the Reconstruction era, the 15th Amendment
to the US Constitution was adopted, granting African American
men the right to vote, but Congress declined to expand enfranchisement
into the sphere of gender. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage
Association was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton to push for a woman suffrage amendment to the US Constitution.
Another organization, the American Woman Suffrage Association,
led by Lucy Stone, was formed in the same year to work through
the state legislatures. In 1890, these two groups were united
as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. That year,
Wyoming became the first US state to grant women the right to
vote.
By the beginning of the 20th
century, the role of women in American society was changing
drastically: Women were working more, receiving a better education,
bearing fewer children, and three more states (Colorado, Utah,
and Idaho) had yielded to the demand for female enfranchisement.
In 1916, the National Woman's Party (formed in 1913 at the Congressional
Union for Woman Suffrage) decided to adopt a more radical approach
to woman suffrage. Instead of questionnaires and lobbying, its
members picketed the White House, marched, and staged acts of
civil disobedience. In 1917, America entered World War I, and
women aided the war effort in various capacities, which helped
to break down most of the remaining opposition to woman suffrage.
By 1918, women had acquired equal suffrage with men in 15 states,
and both the Democratic and Republican parties openly endorsed
female enfranchisement. In January 1918, the woman suffrage
amendment passed the House of Representatives with the necessary
two-thirds majority vote. In June 1919, it was approved by the
Senate sent to the states for ratification. Campaigns were waged
by suffragists around the country to secure ratification, and
on 18 August 1920, Tennessee becomes the 36th state to ratify
the amendment. On 26 August it was formally adopted into the
Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge
Colby. |
1914 US President Wilson issues Proclamation of Neutrality,
aimed at keeping US out of World War I.
1868 Pierre Janssan discovers helium in solar spectrum during
eclipse
1864 Battle of Weldon Railroad,
Virginia: day 1 of 3. ^top^
Union General Ulysses S. Grant
tries to cut a vital Confederate lifeline into Petersburg, Virginia,
with an attack on the Weldon Railroad. Although the Yankees
succeeded in capturing a section of the line, the Confederates
simply used wagons to bring supplies from the railhead into
the city. Grant's spring campaign against General Robert E.
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia ended at Petersburg, 30 km south
of Richmond. In June, Grant ceased frontal assaults, and the
two armies settled into trenches for a siege. Grant sought to
break the stalemate by severing the Weldon and Petersburg Railroad,
which ran south to Weldon, North Carolina. The line was one
of two that now supplied Lee's army from other points in the
South. Grant's first attack, on 22 June, failed. Now Grant attacked
with General Gouvernor K. Warren's corps at the Globe Tavern.
On 18 August, Warren's men succeeded in capturing part of the
line. In a battle that raged for the next five days, the Confederates
tried to recapture the line, but the Yankees remained in control
of a short section around the tavern. Despite control over this
area, the Union did not prevent the Weldon line from supplying
Lee's army. The Confederates simply stopped their trains one
day south of Petersburg and used wagons to haul the cargo around
the break. On 25 August, a Confederate offensive would return
control of the railroad to the Rebels; but nearly four months
later, Grant would finally succeed in destroying the railroad.
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1846 General Stephen W Kearney's US forces capture Santa Fe,
NM
1838 1st US marine expedition
1835 Last Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago
1834 Mt Vesuvius erupts
1817 Gloucester, Mass, newspapers tell of wild sea serpent seen
offshore
1698 Russian Tsar Peter the Great arrives in Zaandam.
1688 Bunyan's last
sermon ^top^
Puritan clergyman John
Bunyan, 69, preaches his last sermon, before dying 13 days
later. In 1678 he had authored The
Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory describing the difficulties
encountered in the Christian life, while journeying through
this world.
BUNYAN ONLINE: |
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A
Book for Boys and Girls
Christ a Complete Saviour: or, The Intercession of Christ,
and Who Are Privileged in It
Christian Behaviour
Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ: or, A Plain and Profitable
Discourse on John 6:37
A Discourse Upon the Pharisee and the Publican
The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
The
Holy War
The
Holy War (another site)
|
I
Will Pray With the Spirit, and I Will Pray With the Understanding
Also
The Life and Death of Mr. Badman
The
Pilgrim's Progress
The
Pilgrim's Progress (another site)
The Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment
The Saints' Knowledge of Christ's Love: or, The Unsearchable
Riches of Christ
Seasonable Counsel: or, Advice to Sufferers
The Strait Gate: or, Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven
A Treatise of the Fear of God
The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate
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1686 Cassini reports seeing a satellite orbiting Venus
1590 Roanoke Colony found deserted.
John White, the governor of the
Roanoke Island colony in present-day North Carolina, returns
from a supply-trip to England to find the settlement deserted.
White and his men found no trace of the 100 or so colonists
he left behind, and there was no sign of violence. Among the
missing were Ellinor Dare, White's daughter; and Virginia Dare,
White's granddaughter and the first English child born in America.
18 August was to have been Virginia's third birthday. The only
clue to their mysterious disappearance was the word "CROATOAN"
carved into the palisade that had been built around the settlement.
White took the letters to mean that the colonists had moved
to Croatoan Island, some 50 miles away, but a later search of
the island found none of the settlers.
The Roanoke Island colony, the
first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English
explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585. The first Roanoke
colonists did not fare well, suffering from dwindling food supplies
and Indian attacks, and in 1586 they returned to England aboard
a ship captained by Sir Francis Drake. In 1587, Raleigh sent
out another group of 100 colonists under John White. White returned
to England to procure more supplies, but the war with Spain
delayed his return to Roanoke. By the time he finally returned
in August 1590, everyone had vanished. In 1998, archaeologists
studying tree-ring data from Virginia found that extreme drought
conditions persisted between 1587 and 1589. These conditions
undoubtedly contributed to the demise of the so-called Lost
Colony, but where the settlers went after they left Roanoke
remains a mystery. One theory has them being absorbed into an
Indian tribe known as the Croatans. |
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