With the many celebrations planned on this very special day in history…
I believe it’s important to understand that the 19th Amendment did not give women the right to vote. Women always had the right to vote.
What the 19th Amendment did was to finally acknowledge and honor that right, which until then had been cruelly denied them.
While this may seem like semantics I promise you it is not. A right is something that one has by Nature (hence the term, “Natural Rights”).
In the United States we (all individuals) have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Rights are not granted to individuals by government, and they cannot legitimately be voted on…nor removed by vote.
Rights are not privileges, they are rights; they belong to that citizen.
Yes, in the United States, women always had the right to vote, indeed, from the very moment men* had the right to vote.
Unfortunately it was not until August 18th, 1920 that that right was in fact finally honored.
Fortunately, exactly 100 years ago today…it finally was.
* The asterisk after “men” a few sentences above is due to the monstrous institution of slavery where Black men were obviously also denied the vote.
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