The Nineteenth Amendment. Women’s right to vote

The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.

VotingProposed 1919Ratified August 18, 1920

What it does: The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.
Decision it answered: Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875). No. Citizenship did not carry the right to vote, and states could limit suffrage to men.
Time to ratify: 1 year from proposal to ratification.
Era: The Progressive Era and World War I (1901–1920)
Source: National Archives: the amendment’s text and ratification

Around 1920. What else was in the record.

Decisions and events within six years of ratification.

1917

Espionage Act

Rights and powers · June 15, 1917 · Restriction of rights

Two months after the United States enters World War I, Congress makes it a crime to interfere with military operations or recruitment. The Sedition Act of 1918 extends it to “disloyal” speech about the government; that extension is repealed in 1920.

Source: National Archives

1918

Hammer v. Dagenhart

Landmark cases · 247 U.S. 251 (1918) · 5–4

No. Manufacturing was not commerce, and the law reached into matters reserved to the states.

Source: Opinion of the Court

1919

Schenck v. United States

Landmark cases · 249 U.S. 47 (1919) · 9–0

No. Speech that creates a “clear and present danger” of evils Congress may prevent can be punished, especially in wartime.

Source: Opinion of the Court

1919

Abrams v. United States

Landmark cases · 250 U.S. 616 (1919) · 7–2

Yes, the convictions stood. Justice Holmes, joined by Justice Brandeis, dissented in an opinion later cited as a foundation of modern free speech law.

Source: Opinion of the Court

1920

Palmer Raids

Rights and powers · January 2, 1920 · Restriction of rights

Justice Department raids under Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer arrest thousands of suspected radicals in more than thirty cities, many without warrants; hundreds of non-citizens are deported.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

1924

Immigration Act of 1924

Rights and powers · May 26, 1924 · Restriction of rights

Sets national-origin quotas based on the 1890 census and bars immigration from most of Asia.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

1924

Indian Citizenship Act

Rights and powers · June 2, 1924 · Expansion of rights

Grants citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. Some states continue to bar Native Americans from voting until 1957.

Source: Library of Congress

1925

Gitlow v. New York

Landmark cases · 268 U.S. 652 (1925) · 7–2

Yes, the conviction stood, but the Court assumed that freedom of speech and press are protected against the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Source: Opinion of the Court