If you heard that last week marked the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in the United States, you heard incomplete information.
Indeed, a constitutional amendment resolution to that effect 44 years in the making was passed by the U.S. Senate on June 4, 1919, but three-fourths of the 48 state legislatures still had to ratify the amendment.
More on the ratification effort in a moment.
Officially, the Senate passed the resolution 56-25, getting two more votes than necessary. The U.S. House had passed the bill roughly two weeks earlier 304-89. President Woodrow Wilson’s signature was said to be unnecessary but was expected.
The resolution had been drafted by Susan B. Anthony in 1875 and introduced by Sen. Aaron Sargent, R-California, in 1878.