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After the Civil War many male abolitionists voiced fears that the demands of women suffragists might impede the campaign to gain voting rights for male ex-slaves. The issue came to a head in 1868, when the abolitionists pressed for a constitutional amendment including all Americans regardless of race, creed, or color. Suffragists argued that the proposed amendment made no mention of women. The abolitionists answered that the suffragists should hold onto their claims rather than endanger …

…in 1917; and Michigan, Oklahoma and South Dakota in 1918. The American suffragist movement scored its biggest victory shortly after World War I. In 1919 Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provided that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment became the law of the land.