Woodrow Wilson

According to the U.S. Constitution, amending the document requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress before it can be sent to the states for their ratification. In this address to the Senate on September 10, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson hoped to persuade wavering senators to pass the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which would grant women the right to vote. Although Wilson had previously seemed hesitant to deliver on his promises to suffragists, this address was meant to signal the renewed importance that he placed on giving women the legal right to vote throughout the United States.

APPEAL OF PRESIDENT WILSON TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES TO SUBMIT THE FEDERAL AMENDMENT FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE DELIVERED IN PERSON SEPT. 30, 1918.

Gentlemen of the Senate: The unusual circumstances of a World War in which we stand and are...