Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Nineteenth Amendment

The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 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.

The Nineteenth Amendment was enacted in 1920, after a 70-year struggle led by the women's suffrage movement.

The groundwork for the suffrage movement was laid in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, now considered the birthplace of the women's movement. Here ELIZABETH CADY STANTON drafted the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, which demanded VOTING RIGHTS, property rights, educational opportunities, and economic