Three woman suffragists cast votes in New York City around 1917. Woman suffragists fought for the right of women to vote. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed on Aug. 18, 1920, granted this right to women throughout the country.
Credit: © Everett Collection/Shutterstock

Aug. 18, 2020, is the 100th anniversary of the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The amendment granted women the right to vote. It 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.”

During colonial times, the right to vote was generally limited to adult males who owned property. After the United States became an independent nation, the Constitution gave the states the right to decide who could vote. One by one, the states abolished property requirements. By 1830, nearly all the states had given all white male adults the vote.

In the mid-1800’s, such leaders as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone began speaking out for equal rights for women. Suffrage (the right to vote) soon became their chief goal. People who supported the drive for suffrage were called suffragists. The woman suffrage movement gained strength after 1870, when the 15th Amendment extended voting rights to Black men.

The House of Representatives approved the 19th Amendment in 1918, but the Senate defeated it. The House passed the amendment again on May 21, 1919. The Senate finally passed it on June 4. However, the amendment still needed the approval of three-fourths of the states. On Aug. 18, 1920, the Tennessee legislature approved the amendment, giving the measure the support it needed. On August 26, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment.

By the late 1900’s, women had the vote in almost every country where men had it. In 2015, women in Saudi Arabia voted in and won elections for the first time. Vatican City is the only country in which women are not allowed to vote but men have the right. However, some countries still deny voting rights to many or all their people.

December 14, 2018

Tomorrow, December 15, is Bill of Rights Day in the United States. The  observation commemorates the day the Bill of Rights came into effect on Dec. 15, 1791. The Bill of Rights is a document that describes the fundamental liberties of the people and includes the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The purpose of Bill of Rights Day is to make Americans increasingly aware of their rights and responsibilities as citizens. President Franklin D. Roosevelt first proclaimed December 15 as Bill of Rights Day in 1941.

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Bill of Rights Day marks the Dec. 15, 1791, approval of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The original draft of the Bill of Rights is seen here. Credit: National Archives

The Bill of Rights lays out fundamental rights and also forbids the government to violate these rights. The constitutions of many democratic countries have bills of rights that guarantee everyone the freedoms of speech, of religion, and of the press, and the right of assembly (elements of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution).

The Bill of Rights and other important documents are on display at Exhibition Hall in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Credit: © Dennis MacDonald, Alamy Images

Individuals are considered to be born with certain inalienable rights—that is, rights that governments may not take away from them. These rights are considered to be part of a “higher law,” a body of universal principles of right and justice that is superior to laws created by governments. Some of these rights, such as the freedoms of speech and of the press, support democracy. Others, such as the right to trial by jury (Seventh Amendment), are essential to justice.

The U.S Constitution, adopted in 1788, contained few personal guarantees. Statesman and future president James Madison pushed for the adoption of the 10 amendments that became known as the Bill of Rights. The first eight amendments contain the fundamental rights and freedoms of every citizen. The Ninth Amendment forbids the government to limit freedoms and rights that are not listed in the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment limits the powers of the federal government to those that are granted to it in the Constitution.

November 5, 2018

Tomorrow, November 6, is election day in the United States and voters will have the chance to choose the people who decide the direction and tone of government. Today, most U.S. citizens over 18 years of age have the right to vote. This was not always so, however. Voting rights have been won gradually—and with much difficulty—over the history of the United States. In most places, only white men who owned property were originally allowed to vote. The property requirement was gradually dropped, but it was not until 1870 that the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States ensured that men of all races could vote. To the dismay of many Americans, however, the amendment excluded women from voting. This exclusion fueled the woman suffrage movement that fought for decades to get women the right to vote. A few states and territories began giving women the right to vote in 1870, but for most American women, voting was illegal. On Nov. 5, 1872, 146 years ago today, a woman named Susan B. Anthony dared to vote—and she was arrested for it.

Susan B. Anthony helped organize the woman suffrage movement, which worked to get women the right to vote. Credit: Library of Congress

Anthony, a steadfast reformer who had already campaigned against slavery and the drinking of alcohol, helped organize the woman suffrage movement. In November 1872, Anthony and a group of women cast their ballots for president in Rochester, New York, days after persuading election inspectors to register them. The women were arrested for illegal voting, but Anthony, the “ringleader,” alone went to trial. 

Women on horseback participate in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., in 1914. Women at last gained the right to vote in 1920. Credit: Library of Congress

The trial’s presiding judge, Ward Hunt, did not let Anthony argue on her own behalf, and he directed the jury to find her guilty (instead of letting the jury decide). Judge Hunt fined Anthony $100 (a large sum at the time), but she vehemently refused to pay it. At the end of the trial, which attracted nationwide attention, Anthony made a speech that ended with the slogan “Resistance to Tyranny Is Obedience to God.” She was then released and faced no further prosecution.

The Anthony dollar, minted for circulation in 1979 and 1980, honored woman suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony. Credit: WORLD BOOK photo by James Simek

In the following decades, Anthony published several books arguing for woman suffrage. She also established the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Unfortunately, Anthony died in 1906—14 years before women finally won the right to vote with ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. In 1979 and 1980, the U.S. government honored Anthony by minting $1 coins bearing her likeness. She was the first woman to be pictured on a U.S. coin in general circulation.

U.S. voting rights were not exactly settled as of 1920, however. The Twenty-third Amendment (1961) allowed citizens in Washington, D.C., to vote for president. The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) prohibited the forced payment of poll taxes to vote. The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1966) lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. And, to counter voter suppression of minority groups, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination (with regard to voting and many other things) because of a person’s color, race, national origin, religion, or sex. 

In a landmark decision this morning, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. The ruling establishes a new civil right in a long and hard-fought battle for the gay rights movement and makes the United States the 21^st country to legalize same-sex marriage.

Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrate outside of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2015, after the court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. © Jacquelyn Martin, AP Photo

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the 5 to 4 decision. “[The hope of same-sex couples] is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions,” he wrote. “They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, however, wrote that the decision had nothing to do with the Constitution. “If you are among the many Americans—of whatever sexual orientation—who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal,” he wrote. “Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.”

Speaking at the White House later this morning, President Barack Obama said “America should be very proud” because “small acts of courage” … “slowly made an entire country realize that love is love.”

Today’s decision came nearly 46 years to the day after a riot at New York City’s Stonewall Inn ushered in the modern gay rights movement. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. In October 2014, the Supreme Court justices refused to hear appeals from rulings allowing same-sex marriage in five states. That non-decision delivered a tacit victory for gay rights, immediately expanding the number of states allowing same-sex marriage to 24, along with the District of Columbia. By 2015, more than half of all American states had legalized same-sex marriage.

Additional World Book articles:

• Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
• Civil rights (2010-a Back in Time article)
• Civil rights (2012-a Back in Time article)
• Civil rights (2014-a Back in Time article)
• Supreme Court of the United States (2013-a Back in Time article)
• Supreme Court of the United States (2014-a Back in Time article)

January 14, 2013

The administration of President Barack Obama has officially rejected an online petition from citizens urging the United States to add a Star Wars-like Death Star to the country’s military arsenal. The Death Star, which appeared in several of the movies in the Star Wars series, is a moon-sized space vehicle equipped with an energy-emitting superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet with one blast.

The request was submitted to the White House’s “We the People” website, established in 2011 “to create and sign petitions that call for the federal government to take action on a range of issues.” Petitions that receive a certain number of signatures within a specified period of time are guaranteed an answer from the White House. The Death Star petition collected 34,435 signatures. The right of the people “to petition the government for a redress of grievances” is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, rejected the petition with an answer titled, “This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For.” In his response, Shawcross listed three main reasons for the rejection.

“The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:
•    The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We’re working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
•    The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
•    Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?”

Imperial storm troopers from the Star Wars movies appear on a United States stamp. (Credit: United States Postal Service)

After listing some existing space projects, Shawcross wrote, “We are living in the future! Enjoy it. … If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star’s power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Bill of Rights
• George Lucas
• Science fiction
• Strategic Defense Initiative