Documents that Changed the World
The 19th Amendment, 1920
Narrated by Professor Joe Janes
Introduction
Is there anything in the US Constitution written by women? Since all the members of the
Constitutional Convention were men, there’s little likelihood there, though I wouldn’t put it
past Dolly Madison or Abigail Adams to have a go. So if there are, it’d probably have to be
in an amendment. Article V lays out the amendment process, and it’s not easy; it requires
2/3 of both houses of Congress, plus ratification by ¾ of the states, now usually with a
deadline, so that’s probably why there has only been 27 successful attempts so far.
Which hasn’t stopped people from trying; others have been proposed to abolish death
penalty or the electoral college, to prevent interracial or same-sex marriage, flag
desecration, or abortion; to require a balanced budget, to deny citizenship to native-born
unless their parents are already citizens…none of these got anywhere near the states.
Curious, isn’t it, in a document all about liberty, how many of these are meant to stop
people from doing something?
One amendment maybe, just maybe, flowed from a female pen. It came as part of a two-
decade period when fundamental changes seemed almost common, from the authorization
of income tax to direct election of senators, Prohibition and its repeal. Along with
Prohibition, it’s one of the first amendments to come as a result of popular demand for
change rather than from within the government apparatus itself. It’s only 39 words, but
powerful words they are, opening the door to half a nation to fully participate in civic life.
A document that changed the world
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution
perhaps written by Susan B. Anthony and others, ratified and adopted by the states
1920
It isn’t entirely clear Anthony wrote this; some sources say yes, others say it was co-written
with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a few say somebody else or that nobody knows. If we’re not
certain of who wrote it, we definitely know how and when. This amendment was first
introduced in 1878 with no success. A number of states, largely in the West, passed
referenda in the early 20th century granting suffrage to women, which re-energized the
push for an amendment. It was reintroduced several times beginning in 1914, failed by one
vote in the Senate in February of 1919 and then finally was passed that June and sent to the
states. Ratification began within the week in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan; a steady
stream followed until March of 1920, one state short of the 36 needed. That 36th vote,
somewhat surprisingly at the time, came from Tennessee, after several days of
parliamentary chicanery and nail-biting drama. But by one vote it succeeded, and the deed
was done.
That leaves the question of where, as in where did it go? Up until 1818 there was no actual
process for the states to let anybody know they’d ratified an amendment. The Constitution
doesn’t say, and it’s a sobering thought that the adoption of the Bill of Rights was a
haphazard, make-do kind of affair. From 1818 to 1951, the Secretary of State was
designated to receive these notices, so Governor Roberts of Tennessee signed a
certification of the legislature’s action, dated August 24, 1920 (he wrote in the time, 10:17
a.m.) and off it went.
Now, the process is housed in National Archives. When the Congress passes an
amendment, it’s the Archivist of the United States who sends copies to the states and
receives notification of their actions, examines those and then verifies that the amendment
is valid and therefore now part of the Constitution, finally adding the records to the
Archives’ collection for safekeeping. That includes the amendment itself, in the form of a
joint resolution of Congress, in this case a single parchment page signed by the Speaker of
the House and Vice President. Even though the President has nothing to do with
constitutional amending at all, that didn’t stop LBJ and Richard Nixon from horning in on
certification ceremonies as “witnesses.”
Now the big one: Where is the Constitution? That’s not as ridiculous a question as it
sounds.
There are specific documents, at the National Archives, that record and memorialize the
stages of constitutional development, from the original version and Bill of Rights, in large
glass cases in the rotunda, to these amendment resolutions and certifications, all kept safe
from harm and protected from physical degradation. This is what an archive does, what it’s
for, specifically to keep and maintain the records of an organization, corporation, or
government.
You could, theoretically, construct it from those pieces, connecting up how it all happened
and demonstrating the validity of the process, if anybody thought it was necessary.
However, there is no unique, tangible, singular, definitive “Constitution.”
The one you
find in a textbook or web site somewhere, assuming it’s correct, is just as valid, just as
useful, just as “authentic” as one sitting on the desk of the President or the Chief Justice. So
from a purely documentary perspective, the Constitution just is. A text that underlies and
undergirds the entire American system of law and society, doesn’t really exist.
Well, that’s not quite right; it’s more that it exists everywhere. There doesn’t have to be a
single version for it to work. The public and overt nature of the processes renders that
unnecessary; we all have access to the process and results, there’s nothing secret or hidden
involved. Even though very few of us have ever seen these critical documents that together
make up the Constitution, we know they’re there or that they can be produced, and that
suffices. Lots of eyes keep it honest.
In an era when there’s so little agreement, so little apparent common ground, the idea of
new amendments that would require such a broad national consensus seems almost
fanciful today; the most recent amendment, limiting Congressional pay raises, pales in
comparison and grandeur, not to mention it took over 200 years to ratify. And even if we
do, often passionately, disagree about what the words in the Constitution mean, we all
agree on what they are, a testament to the power of documents, even when you can’t see
them.
References:
Brian P. Smentkowski & Michael Levy. (n.d.). Nineteenth Amendment. Encyclopedia Britannica.
David E. Kyvig. (1996). Explicit and Authentic Acts: Amending the U. S. Constitution, 1776-1995. Lawrence:
University Press of Kansas.
Eleanor Clift. (2003). Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
National Archives. (n.d.). Constitutional Amendment Process. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from
www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution/