The Nineteenth Amendment
A federal women’s suffrage amendmentwas first introduced in Congress in 1868; the one that finally passed both House and Senate in June 1919 mirrored language from 1878. In the months leading up to June 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment several times, but the Senate continued to vote it down. Even President Wilson’s full-throated support, finally given in mid-1918, did not immediately sway senators that argued that it violated states’ rights and could induce “sectional anarchy.” At last, in a special summer session of Congress (called to settle the question before the general elections of 1920), the Senate passed the suffrage amendment on June 4, 1919.
Suffrage activists—particularly the National Women’s Party—had made skilled use of lobbying to press their cause nationally. In their “congressional card index” they had collected the views, previous votes, and personal preferences of congressmen to craft individualized lobbying strategies for each legislator. The effort was so successful—lobbyist Maud Younger, for example, noted that “twenty-two senators have changed their position since I came to Washington”—that the New York Times ran several news articles focusing on the card index itself (“Her Pressure on Congress,” March 2, 1919, New York Times). As the ratification effort moved to the states, suffrage lobbyists worked diligently to compile the same level of detail for local campaigns.
Almost immediately after the amendment passed Congress, the state legislatures of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan ratified it. To amend the Constitution required acceptance by 3/4ths of the states—which at that time was 36 of the total 48. Since 28 states had enacted full suffrage before the amendment passed, ratification in those was expected to be relatively smooth. The last 8 would require real political work, especially with the goal in mind of full suffrage by the 1920 presidential election. Several states opted to hold special or extra sessions, or to move up the vote.
By August 1920, supporters of the suffrage amendment needed just one more state to complete the ratification. Of the remaining 13, eight had already rejected it and four refused to consider it. Tennessee’s legislature gallantly took up the question, aiming for a decision in time for the 1920 presidential election. From across the country, suffragists, wearing yellow roses, and their opponents, wearing red ones, descended on Tennessee to lobby the legislators there. In the State Senate, the amendment passed easily, but in the House the vote was extremely close.
Harry T. Burn, the youngest member of the Tennessee legislature, broke the tie. Although he represented a conservative district, was running for re-election, and even wore a red rose on his lapel, he answered “aye” in support of ratification. When the anti-suffragists demanded an explanation, Burns pulled a letter out of his suit pocket written to him by his mother, Febb E. Burn. He told the press “I knew that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification,” and he noted “an opportunity such as seldom comes to a mortal man to free 17 million women from political slavery was mine” (Statement read before Sixty-First General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, August 19, 1919, House Journal).
The 19th amendment to the US Constitution was certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby on August 26, 1920, adding 10 million voters to the American electorate.
