Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex, securing the vote for women nationwide. It was the culmination of a decades-long women's suffrage movement in the United States that operated at both the state and national levels and formed part of a wider international movement for women's rights; the first such amendment had been introduced in Congress as early as 1878. After decades of setbacks, the amendment finally passed the House of Representatives on 21 May 1919 and the Senate on 4 June 1919, before being sent to the states for ratification; it achieved the necessary support of thirty-six states and took effect on 18 August 1920, with its adoption formally certified on 26 August 1920.