August 18 - The 19th Amendment is Ratified

This Day in History: 18 August 2020

 

18 August 1920

 

100 years ago, today, the 19^th Amendment was ratified to the United States Constitution, after decades of struggle and protest by suffragettes across the country. The decisive vote was cast by a 24-year-old representative who supposedly changed his vote after receiving a note from his mother. By March 1920, only one more state needed to ratify the amendment for it to become law. The State Senate of Tennessee voted to ratify, but the House failed to do so twice. Harry T. Burn was one of the against votes, but once he had received a letter from his mother, Febb Ensminger Burn, he changed his mind. Thanks to his single vote, Tennessee ratified the 19^th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

 

The suffrage movement in America was founded in the mid 19^th century, with a key meeting occurring in July 1848 between 200 woman suffragists, at Seneca Falls. For proclaiming a woman's right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected to public ridicule, and some supporters of women's rights were now against it. As World War One broke out, the National American Woman Suffrage Association urged women to prove their worth to the war effort. Meanwhile, the National Women's Party engaged in civil disobedience and targeted President Woodrow Wilson with protests. After pressure grew on multiple fronts, Wilson finally called a special session of Congress in May 1919 and personally appealed for women's suffrage.

 

Want to find out more about the history of the 19^th Amendment? Click here for more information, or here for more about Burn's mother who saved suffrage.