August 18, 1920: Women Get the Right to Vote

August 18, 1920: The legislature of the State of Tennessee ratifies an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, granting women the right to vote in all American elections.

Previously, only 4 States had granted women the right to vote, and that was just in State and local elections, not for federal offices such as President and Congress.

The Constitution prescribes a procedure for amending it: A proposed Amendment must pass each house of Congress by a 2/3rds majority, and then must pass 3/4 of the State legislatures. Under today's format, that means 290 out of 435 in the U.S. House of Representatives, 67 out of 100 in the U.S. Senate, and 38 out of the 50 State legislatures.

In 1920, there were 48 States, and Tennessee became the 36th State to ratify the proposal, making it the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. At least, all women at least 21 years of age who were U.S. Citizens could vote. (The 26th Amendment, in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18.)

In 1999, PBS premiered Ken Burns' documentary Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony. The 2 leading advocates for women's rights in the 19th Century did not live to see the great moment: Stanton died in 1902, and Anthony in 1906. For the film's ending, Burns interviewed 2 women who were 1st-time voters in 1920, and were, by the time of the interview, 100 years old.

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August 18, 1920 was a Wednesday. It is fitting that the most famous person born on this day was a woman, actress Shelley Winters.

Major League Baseball scores on this historic day:

* New York Yankees 4, Cleveland Indians 3, at the Polo Grounds in New York. This was a continuation of the series in which, 2 days earlier, Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head with a pitch by Carl Mays. He died the next day, August 17.

* Philadelphia Athletics 1, Chicago White Sox 0, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* St. Louis Browns 13, Washington Senators 2, at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* Boston Red Sox 6, Detroit Tigers 5, in 11 innings, at Fenway Park in Boston.

So all of the Amercan League teams played on this day, but none of the National League teams did: The Boston Braves, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals were all idle.