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The Story of

the Equal Rights Amendment

It was customary that women and children were considered under the protection of male relatives, with few legal rights of their own.

Medieval times to Colonial years - English Common Law 
1787 - U.S. Constitution

The U.S. Constitution was written by and for a minority of white men of property. Women, enslaved people, Native Americans, and people who did not own land were excluded.

Jonathan Fisher landscape of Blue Hill

1820

Maine gained its statehood from Massachusetts in 1820 with a state constitution of its own.

1848 - Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention

For the first time, American women assembled publicly to demand their full rights of citizenship.

Susan B. Anthony

Women's rights activist 

Frederick Douglass

Abolitionist     

1865 - 1870 - Reconstruction Amendments
 

the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments

Slavery was abolished. ‘Equal protection’ was introduced but did not explicitly include women. Voting rights were granted to formerly enslaved men.

 

Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony were friends and they  fought together for the rights of African Americans and women. After the Civil War, states reluctantly granted rights to African American men, but not to women.

After Reconstruction, African American men in southern states were stripped again of their voting rights through white supremacist terror tactics, during the Jim Crow era. 

Fight for Womens’ Suffrage continued

After the exclusion of women from the 14th Amendment, the suffrage movement fought for decades, in every state of the union. Women's suffrage was repeatedly defeated in the individual state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress. The protests became more assertive, more visible and in some cases, more dangerous for the women protesting.

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1915 -19 - Suffragists picket the White House
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1920 – the 19th Amendment is ratified

Women finally won the

right to VOTE!

Alice Paul
author of the ERA

1923 –
The Equal Rights Amendment 

was written by Alice Paul, a young suffragist and equal rights activist.

1923 – 1972 - Fight for legal equality

The ERA was proposed in every session of Congress, gaining support first from Republicans, then joined by the Democrats, as women demanded equal treatment under the law.

1972 – Congress passes ERA.

The U.S. Congress passed the ERA and sent it to the states for ratification. A ten-year time limit was placed on the Amendment’s ratification by the 1972 Congress.  

1974

Maine ratified the federal ERA in 1974.

1972-1982

Thirty-five states ratified the ERA within the time limit. It was 3 states short of meeting the 3/4 requirement to become an amendment... 

1982 – 2017
ERA waits

Legislation was proposed in every session of Congress to lift the time limit that had been placed on it. Five state legislatures with flipped majority leadership (NE, TN, ID, KY, SD) attempted to ‘rescind’ their previous ratification – a move with no legal precedent.

2017
Women's March on D.C.

Following the 2016 elections, a surge of activism brought women's demands for equality into clear focus. 

2017

Women's March

Augusta, ME

2017
Nevada ratifies

In a stunning move, Nevada's state legislature ratified the federal ERA, giving hope to the movement to finally complete ratification and make the ERA a part of the U.S. Constitution..

2018
Illinois ratifies

Illinois followed close behind Nevada.

2020
Virginia ratifies

Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the federal ERA., thereby satisfying all requirments to become a constitutional amendment!

2025...the 28th Amendment
 

On January 17, 2025, President Biden declared the 28th Amendment to be valid as part of the U.S. Constitution.

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Until the ERA is fully recognized as the 28th Amendment, states are looking to their own state constitutions to protect equal rights.

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Growing trend of State ERAs

A new campaign to include an Equality Amendment in Maine's Constitution is growing fast!

 

Maine ERA for All!

2025

Maine aims for

a State ERA

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

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Preamble to the Declaration of Independence (1776)

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Our U.S. Constitution (1787) and the Bill of Rights (1795) became the legal basis for our government and laws. At that time, women had few rights under the law. Women could not vote, could not own land, could not represent themselves in court, could not inherit, and could not have custody of their children.

Mirroring the U.S. Constitution, the Maine Constitution also excluded women from the rights held by men.

During the 1800's women worked tirelessly to gain their basic rights. The battles for those rights took place in every state: to hold property, to control their property (including wages), to have custody of children, and most of all - to VOTE.

The 14th Amendment (1868) and its Equal Protection clause:

 

“...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law: nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. 

The Equal Protection clause was the first mention of ‘rights’ in the Constitution. It would take 100 more years for the United States to force the southern states to allow the descendants of enslaved people to vote (Civil Rights Act of 1964). 

 

The 14th Amendment was not intended to address the rights of women. Over the years, many court cases have shown that it does not provide protection against sex discrimination. 

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It would take another 52 years for women to vote (1920).

The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, but no other rights. This was the first mention of women in the Constitution.

Alice Paul was one of the young suffragists who went to England to learn suffrage tactics - and returned to the U.S. with new ideas for activism. Picketing the White House, engaging in hunger strikes, and making pointed attacks on President Wilson were strategies that helped result in women's winning the vote with the 19th Amendment.

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Paul attended Law School, though as a woman, she was barred from practicing law until 1922.

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She wrote the 24-word amendment that would put women's equal legal rights into the Constitution: 

"Equality of rights under the law
shall not be denied or abridged

by the United States or
by any State on account of sex.”

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The Republican Party included the ERA in its party platform starting in 1940 and ending its support in 1980. The Democratic Party has included the ERA in its platform since 1946.   

After an amendment is passed by Congress, it must be ratified by 3/4 of the states' legislatures (38 states) before it can be added to the U.S. Constitution.

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There are no rules about time limits on ratification in the U.S. Constitution. The 1982 time limit was imposed by Congress, but it does not have constitutional backing.

Although Maine's legislature ratified the federal ERA in 1974, it has not yet amended its own state constitution with a state ERA. 

The states that did not ratify the ERA between 1972 and 1982 were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois*, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada*, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia*

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*now ratified

While the ERA was being debated, laws were passed as attempts to patch together what is missing in the Constitution:

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Every one of these laws, over time, has been challenged, diluted, and threatened  in court and by Congress.

Women's activism soared after the 2016 election. Work on the ERA resumed after a 40 year pause. Three state legislatures, with record numbers of female representatives, revived the ERA.

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The 2017 Women's March in D.C. was the largest single protest in the history of the U.S.

In solidarity with the march on Washington, citizens raised awareness about women's rights in Maine, too.

The American Bar Association issued a statement advising President Biden that the ERA has met all requirements of Article V of the U.S. Constitution and should be considered the 28th Amendment.

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However, serious legal challenges lie ahead. The ERA will be contested in court in the coming years.

Twenty-eight states now have ERAs in their state constitutions. Maine is not one of them - not yet!

Although Maine ratified the federal ERA in 1974, its state constitution still does not prohibit treating a person unfairly on account of sex.

 

A state ERA would correct that.​

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