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By sunshinecavalluzzi
On November 17, 2018
Bell Ringer: The Nineteenth Amendment
"The Last Chamber of the Last Legislature of the Last State" - Ratification of the 19th Amendment
Smithsonian Associates program coordinator and author Rebecca Roberts details the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Description
The Nineteenth Amendment, providing that "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," was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919 and ratified August 18, 1920. Its ratification was the culmination of decades of effort on the part of American suffragettes, a movement launched at a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, and was the single largest extension of democratic voting rights in the history of the United States.
Bell Ringer Assignment
- Why was New York's enfranchisement of women a significant milestone for the women's suffrage movement?
- What did the stars Alice Paul sewed on the women's suffrage flag represent?
- What was the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment? Where were most of the states who immediately voted the amendment down and what was their motivation?
- What events surrounded the 19th Amendment's passage in the Tennessee state legislature?
- AP Government - Questions to Consider: What elements of political activism/political participation were present in the fight for 19th Amendment ratification? What similarities and differences existed between this movement and the 1960s civil rights movement? What elements of the Declaration of Independence are reflected in the women's suffrage movement?
Additional Resources
Participants
Vocabulary
- 19th Amendment
- Constitution
- Enfranchisement
- Lobbying
- Political Participation
- Ratification
- Suffrage
- Suffragette