"We the People," begins the U.S. Constitution. The authors set some lofty goals, and we took a while to reach them... and there's some debate about whether that's happened yet.
Women and non-white people did not get full rights at the birth of the nation, and the struggle just to get to vote took a long time.
For women, it culminated in a debate in the Tennessee legislature over the ratification of the 19th amendment, a debate chronicled by Elaine Weiss in her book The Woman's Hour.
All the key players of the time (1920) converged on Nashville for the action. The author sets the scene and the players, working so hard for something taken for granted today.
