# 3184e - 1998 32c Celebrate the Century - 1920s: 19th Amendment

US #3184e
1998 19th Amendment – Celebrate the Century (1920s)

• Part of the third sheet in the Celebrate the Century stamp series issued from 1998-2000
• Honors the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution
• Includes text on the back with historical details

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: Celebrate the Century
Value: 32¢ First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: May 28, 1998
First Day City: Chicago, Illinois
Quantity Issued: 188,000,000
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset, Intaglio
Format: Panes of 15
Perforations: 11.6
Tagging: Block Tagging

Why the stamp was issued: To commemorate American women finally earning the right to vote after decades of advocacy.

About the stamp design: Pictures a painting by David Meltzer of a woman voting. Includes the following text on the back “The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified August 26, 1920. The fight for woman’s suffrage had been won, ending a struggle that began in the mid-nineteenth century.”

First Day City: The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held at Chicago’s Celebrate on State Street festival.

About the Celebrate the Century series: The USPS launched the Celebrate the Century series in 1998 to mark the end of the 20th century and herald the arrival of the 21st. The series includes 10 sheets of 15 stamps (150 in total), with each honoring important moments from a different decade (1900s, 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s). At the time of completion, it was the longest and most ambitious commemorative stamp series in US history.

History the stamp represents: It all began in 1848, in the small town of Seneca Falls, New York. There, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized a Woman’s Rights Convention, after not being allowed to vote at the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention. The purpose of the Woman’s Rights Convention was to forever change the role of women, from sheltered and silent wives and mothers to productive and contributing members of society.

Some opponents of the suffrage movement felt that women did not possess the common sense to vote. Other people used the argument that men were somehow saving women from the “contaminating and demoralizing” responsibility of having to vote.

On the other hand, supporters believed that women were more qualified than men to vote based on a somewhat higher moral character. Others thought that, as white people born in this country, women had more right to vote than newly emancipated slaves or recently naturalized immigrants, both of whom had the right to vote by the late 1800s.

Finally, on August 18, 1920, after years of protest on both sides, the 19th amendment to the US Constitution gave women the right to vote – an important step toward equality for American women.