Final answer:
The Nineteenth Amendment was passed by Congress in 1919 and ratified by the states in August 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote. It marked a historic moment in the struggle for gender equality and expanded American democracy by prohibiting voter discrimination based on sex.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that Congress ratified the nineteenth amendment giving women the vote in 1920 is indeed true. The 19th Amendment, which extended the right to vote to women across the United States, was passed by Congress in 1919 and subsequently ratified by the required number of states by August 1920. This significant amendment prohibited voter discrimination based on sex and took effect in time for millions of women to cast their ballots in the presidential election of November 1920.
Prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment, women were not considered a legal person on their own with the same voting rights as men. The movement for women's suffrage was bolstered by women's contributions during World War I and the recognition that women’s rights were lagging behind those in other countries. Tennessee became the pivotal thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment, thanks to the vote of Harry Burn, influenced by a letter from his mother, which led to the adoption of the amendment as part of the U.S. Constitution.