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"Delegates to the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association" in 1916 (Kansas Historical Society)

"Women's Suffrage." (Kansas Historical Society)

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The Women's Suffrage Movement, edited by Sally Roesch Wagner

Book

Victory for the Vote: The Fight for Women's Suffrage and the Century that Followed, by Doris Weatherford

The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women's Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898, by Lisa Tetrault

The Woman Suffrage Movement in America: A Reassessment, by Corrine M. McConnaughy

Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot, by Winifred Conkling

The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, by Elaine Weiss

100 Years of the Nineteenth Amendment: An Appraisal of Women's Political Activism, edited by Holly J. McCammon and Lee Ann Banaszak

Votes for Women! The American Woman Suffrage Movement and the Nineteenth Amendment: A Reference Guide, by Marion W. Roydhouse

Constitutional Orphan: Gender Equality and the Nineteenth Amendment, by Paula A. Monopoli

Women's Suffrage: The Complete Guide to the Nineteenth Amendment, edited by Tiffany K. Wayne

A Vote for Women: Celebrating the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the 19th Amendment (St. James's House)

Kansas was the first state to hold a referendum on women voting in 1867, but the idea was defeated. Afterwards, the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association formed to gain the vote in local elections. Twenty years later (1887), Kansas women gained the ability to vote in local elections and elected the first female mayor in the U.S., Susanna Salter. Kansas approved the Equal Suffrage Amendment to the state constitution in 1912, becoming the 8th state to grant suffrage to women. The state voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on June 16, 1919.

Kansas Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 16, 1919

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." The United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment, or "Susan B. Anthony Amendment" on June 4, 1919 and sent it to the states for ratification. At the time, women needed 36 states to ratify the 19th Amendment for it to be signed into law. Between June 1919 and August 1920 states argued, ratified, and rejected the 19th Amendment which was ultimately made official on August 26, 1920. The last ratification did not occur until 1984.

Ratification of the 19th Amendment: Timeline and Story Map

The suffrage movement in Illinois began in 1869 with the founding of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association. In 1912 Grace Wilbur Trout and Jane Addams took over leadership of the Association and lobbied for the right to vote within Illinois. The following year, in 1913, Illinois women earned the right to vote in presidential and municipal elections. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919 there was a race to be the first state to ratify it. Illinois was the first to vote to ratify the Amendment on June 10, beating Wisconsin by one hour. The vote was unanimous in the state Senate and only three opposing votes were cast in the House. Unfortunately, in the rush to vote on the amendment the Illinois legislature voted on the wrong wording, and they had to do another vote on June 17, 1919. In some places Illinois is listed as the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment and in others it is listed as the 7th because of the necessity of revoting.

Illinois Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 10/17, 1919

Wisconsin women saw some early success in gaining limited access to voting within the state. Starting in 1869 women could run for school board positions and in 1884 legislation passed allowing women to vote on issues related to schools and education. Unfortunately, this access to the vote was largely eliminated by the courts by 1887 and it would not be restored until 1901. Despite the work of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA) the state legislature again took away women’s ability to vote in education matters and eliminated their elected positions on school boards in 1913. Despite these setbacks, when the 19th Amendment passed Congress Wisconsin was one of the first states to ratify it, competing with Illinois for the #1 spot.

Wisconsin Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 10, 1919

Michigan women were petitioning for the right to vote even before the Civil War and in the 1870s reformers founded the Michigan State Woman Suffrage Association (MSWSA) to campaign for the vote. Like many other states, Michigan women won some limited voting rights in school board elections and education matters. The MSWSA and Michigan Equal Suffrage Association campaigned for state suffrage for the next few decades until in 1912 Governor Chase Osborne actively called on the state legislature to consider granting women the vote. In 1918 Michigan women were granted the vote and in 1919 Michigan was the third state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Michigan Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 10, 1919

After the Civil War Ohio counties and communities created local women’s suffrage groups. In 1885 the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association (OWSA) was founded to focus on Ohio local and state laws. Women earned the right to vote in board of education elections in 1894, but did not earn the right to vote in all elections until the 19th Amendment. Ohio ratified the 19th Amendment on June 16, 1919, and also passed a state bill allowing women to vote in the 1920 presidential election in case the amendment did not go into effect before then.

Ohio Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 16, 1919

In many ways New York is the birthplace of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The July 1848 Seneca Falls Convention is largely considered the start of the suffrage movement, even though women had been calling for increased political rights since the Revolution and Early National period. In addition, leading suffragette Susan B. Anthony called New York home and she led the movement of lobbying Congress for a national amendment (the 19th Amendment is often called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment). After a campaign by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to get individual states to give the vote to women, New York granted the vote to women in November 1917. New York voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on June 16, 1919.

New York Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 16, 1919

Pennsylvania was the center of reform movements starting in the antebellum period, but it was a state that did not grant the vote to women until the 19th Amendment. After the Civil War several organizations formed in the state to advocate for the right to vote. Carrie Burnham attempted to vote in 1871 and took her case to the state Supreme Court; however, the only result was the state amending the constitution to specify “male citizens” in terms of voting rights. Pennsylvania women came close to the vote in 1915 with a state referendum. The state legislature passed an amendment to the state constitution allowing women to vote in 1913 and it went to voters for ratification in 1915. The referendum failed and Pennsylvania women would not get the vote until 1920. Pennsylvania ratified the 19th Amendment on June 24, 1919.

Pennsylvania Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 24, 1919

Because of the association between the women’s suffrage movement and abolitionist movement prior to the Civil War, suffrage was not a popular cause in the south. Georgia did not see a formal suffrage movement until 1890 when a small group of women founded the Georgia Women’s Suffrage Association in Columbus, GA. The group’s leader, Helen Augusta Howard, worked hard to build a movement in Georgia and convinced the National American Women’s Suffrage Association to hold its 1895 convention in Atlanta. Georgia’s movement was divided by race. To gain support in the state the national suffrage movement distanced itself from its Black allies when campaigning in the state. African Americans were excluded from the main state organizations and instead organized through the National Association of Colored Women. For white Georgians, the Georgia Woman Equal Suffrage League formed in 1913 and, for more aggressive suffragettes, the Equal Suffrage Party of Georgia organized in 1914. Opposition in Georgia was particularly strong, and the suffrage movement was small compared to other states. Georgia’s chapter of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, founded in 1914, had far more members than the pro-suffrage organizations. The General Assembly did hear arguments about women’s suffrage starting in 1914, but legislation never made it out of committee. When the 19th Amendment passed Congress suffragists knew that Georgia would not ratify it, but Georgia wanted to more demonstrably reject women’s suffrage. The Georgia Senate voiced their opposition to the 19th Amendment for about a week, claiming that giving women the vote would break down the fundamental social and racial order of the south. Both houses introduced resolutions about suffrage with the only intent being to strike them down on record. While states in the Midwest raced to be the first to ratify the 19th Amendment, states in the south raced to be the first to reject it. Georgia was the first to refuse ratification on July 24, 1919. Once the 19th Amendment was successful ratified in August 1920, Georgia still did not give easy access to the vote. Most states waived requirements that would block women from voting in the 1920 presidential election, but Georgia kept in place the requirement that voters register six months prior to the election. This meant that women could not vote in state elections for another two years. Georgia finally ratified the 19th Amendment in 1970.

While Georgia did have a women's suffrage movement, the state was largely opposed to granting women the vote. When the 19th Amendment passed Congress Georgia was the first to reject ratification and called on the other southern states to also stand against ratification. Georgia did not ratify the 19th Amendment until 1970.

Georgia Rejects the 19th Amendment, July 24, 1919 (Ratifies February 20, 1970)

The state of Massachusetts was both an early site for suffrage advocacy and had one of the strongest anti-suffrage organizations in the nation. The National Woman’s Rights Convention met in Worchester, MA in 1850 and the first meeting of the American Equal Rights Association was held in Boston after the Civil War. While Massachusetts women could not vote under the state constitution, they could be elected to school committees starting in 1868 and about a decade later could vote for school committee members. Referendums on allowing women’s suffrage were voted on and defeated in 1895 and 1915. The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women (the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association of Massachusetts) was founded in 1895 and opposed the state’s suffrage movement and referendums. Massachusetts women did not gain the right to vote prior to 1920. The state ratified the 19th Amendment on June 25, 1919.

Massachusetts Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 25, 1919

Texas considered constitutional amendments to allow women to vote in both 1868-69 and 1875, neither successful. Despite the early activism, support for the movement slowed down in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Women were active in other reform movements (like temperance), but suffrage organizations saw low membership. The movement saw another rise in interest in the 1890s when the Texas Equal Rights Association was founded in 1893, but it was not until the 1910s that the movement really gained traction in the state. In 1913 reformers reenergized the defunct Texas Woman Suffrage Association and in 1915 opponents organized the Texas Association Opposed to Women Suffrage. Suffragists worked to pass a suffrage resolution in 1915 but it failed to get the necessary number of votes. After some political dealings and a new governor, Governor William Hobby called a special session of the state legislature to introduce a bill for women’s suffrage in state primaries. The bill passed the legislature once a literacy test was added, and the governor signed it into law on March 26, 1918. Governor Hobby also supported a full amendment to the state constitution allowing for women’s suffrage in the beginning of 1919, but it was defeated in a referendum vote in May. The very next month, however, the 19th Amendment went to the states for ratification and Texas voted to ratify on June 28, 1919.

Texas Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 28, 1919

Immediately after the Civil War there were discussions about changing the constitutional language about voters in Iowa and in 1868 they took racial language out to allow all men to vote but kept the word “male” in the constitution. The next year the first women’s suffrage organizations met in the state and the first statewide convention was held in 1870. Women first attempted to get a constitutional change in 1870 and did so several times over the next few decades. In Iowa a constitutional change required two legislatures to vote on approval and the legislature only met every two years; this made passing women’s suffrage difficult. Iowan women did get partial suffrage in 1894 and were allowed to vote in elections on issues. Finally, in 1916, the legislature passed a constitutional amendment allowing women to vote, however it was defeated in the general referendum. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Iowa voted to ratify it on July 2, 1919.

Iowa Ratifies the 19th Amendment, July 2, 1919

Missouri women quickly organized to advocate for suffrage, utilizing their networks from previous reform and war aid work. The Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri formed in 1867, one of the earliest such organizations in the United States. Missouri women asked the state legislature for a suffrage amendment eighteen times between 1867 and 1901 with no success. In 1868 the 14th Amendment was ratified to the Constitution and Missouri suffrage leaders argued that the 14th Amendment protected a women’s right to the vote. Virginia Minor and her husband Frank advocated for a strategy where women showed up to polling places and asked to register for the vote. After Virginia Minor was turned away from the St. Louis County Courthouse in 1872, the Minors sued the city registrar, Reese Happersett, in a case that advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case Minor v. Happersett (1874) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution did not grant suffrage to anyone and reaffirmed that it was the power of the states to decide who could vote. In the 1910s Missouri women continued to push for suffrage and in March 1919 the state passed legislation allowing women to vote only in presidential elections. A few months later Missouri was the 11th state to ratify the 19th Amendment on July 3, 1919.

Missouri Ratifies the 19th Amendment, July 3, 1919

Discussion of women’s suffrage began in Arkansas after the Civil War but did not spread widely to rural areas. Early reform focus remained on temperance in the state, although many women used the temperance movement to also advocate for suffrage. In 1868 Miles Ledford Langley proposed a motion to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention that “all citizens 21 years of age, who can read and write the English language, shall be eligible to the elective franchise and entitled to equal political rights and privileges.” Langley addressed the convention on the need of women’s suffrage but was laughed at by his colleagues. After this initial attempt to advance women’s suffrage, the movement ebbed and waned over the decades as several organizations tried to gain traction. The Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association organized between 1881 and 1885, the Arkansas Equal Suffrage Association between 1888 and 1899, and the Political Equality League in 1911. A new reiteration of the Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) formed in 1914 and partnered with the Political Equality League and national suffrage organizations to campaign more actively in the state. In the late 1910s Arkansas women gained the support of Governor Charles Brough and his wife Anne and in 1917 the state legislature voted to allow women to vote in primary elections. More than 40,000 women voted in the 1918 primaries and 50 women were elected as delegates to the Democratic State Convention. Suffragists tried to get full suffrage included in the constitution again that year, but their attempt failed when it went to a popular vote. Governor Brough remained an open supporter of full women’s suffrage and when Congress passed the 19th Amendment he called a special session of the General Assembly to ratify it. Arkansas ratified the 19th Amendment on July 28, 1919.

Arkansas Ratifies the 19th Amendment, July 28, 1919

Montana achieved statehood in 1889 and quickly debated the issue of women’s suffrage during its state constitutional convention. The initial effort was defeated, but the suffrage movement in Montana continued to gain support. Suffragist leaders such as Emma Ingalls and Jeanette Rankin continued to advocate for the right to vote until Montana voted on November 3, 1914 to give women the full vote in the state. Not only did Montana achieve women’s suffrage prior to the 19th Amendment, the state also elected Emma Ingalls and Maggie Smith Hathaway to the state legislature in 1916. That same year Montana elected Jeannette Rankin to the U.S. House of Representatives, the first woman elected to Congress. While in Congress, Rankin used her seat to advocate for the “Susan B. Anthony Woman Suffrage Amendment” and pushed for the creation of a Woman Suffrage Committee in the House. After Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Montana voted to ratify the amendment on June 30, 1919. A few days later, on August 2, 1919, the governor certified the state’s ratification.

Montana Ratifies the 19th Amendment, August 2, 1919

Immediately upon becoming a state in 1867 the Nebraska state legislature debated women’s suffrage in every session. While women did earn the right to vote in school board elections in 1869 there was no other progress made. In 1881 Erasmus Correll (Nebraska House of Representatives) introduced a bill to take the word “male” out of the state constitution, thus allowing women to vote. There was very little support for this measure, but he negotiated with fellow lawmakers to pass the change if it was approved by Nebraska voters. Suffragists campaigned into the next year to gain support for the measure, but it was defeated in the popular vote in November 1882. The Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association continued to work towards extending voting rights, but there were strong anti-suffrage sentiments in the state (especially from religious leaders and also from the alcohol industry due to women’s work in the temperance movement). Progress came in 1917 when pro-suffrage governor Keith Neville took office. In that year both municipal and presidential suffrage for women passed the legislature and became law. Opponents tried to challenge the new law but were not successful prior to the 19th Amendment passing Congress. Nebraska voted unanimously to ratify the amendment on August 2, 1919.

Nebraska Ratifies the 19th Amendment, August 2, 1919

Women in Minnesota began to organize for suffrage in the 1870s and could vote in school board elections starting in 1875. Fourteen women founded the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association in 1881 and quickly grew in numbers into the 1890s. The MWSA gained enough support by 1893 that the state Senate considered and approved a resolution to remove the word “male” from the state’s voting requirements. However, the change did not pass the House before its session ended and the motion failed. Despite the setback, the women’s suffrage movement continued to grow in the 1910s and in 1919 Governor J. A. A. Burnquist supported a resolution to support the federal suffrage amendment being considered in the U.S. Congress. While the federal amendment was in debate Minnesota granted women the right to vote in presidential elections in January 1919. Just a few months later Congress passed the 19th Amendment and Minnesota voted to ratify on September 8, 1919.

Minnesota Ratifies the 19th Amendment, September 8, 1919

After the Civil War and the success of the abolition movement, many female reformers turned to the women’s suffrage cause. In New Hampshire abolitionists Armenia S. and Nathaniel White founded the New Hampshire Woman Suffrage Association in 1868. Women immediately advocated for the right to vote in the state and some—such as Marilla Marks Young Ricker—tried to vote and hold office (unsuccessfully). In 1871, New Hampshire women could serve on school committees and in 1878 they could vote in school elections. However, attempts to pass legislation for full suffrage were defeated in 1887 and 1903. There was strong opposition to women’s suffrage in the state, formalized in the New Hampshire Association Opposed to Further Suffrage for Women. With little progress in the state, New Hampshire suffragists focused on supporting the passage of a federal amendment. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, New Hampshire voted to ratify it on September 10, 1919.

New Hampshire Ratifies the 19th Amendment, September 10, 1919

Suffrage was not a popular cause in Alabama in the nineteenth century, although women did work in the temperance movement and for reforms dealing with children. The first period of suffrage organization began in 1892 with the formation of the Alabama Woman Suffrage Association. For the next several years suffragists worked to convince Alabama politicians to add an equal suffrage clause to the state constitution when they met in the 1901 constitutional convention. Delegates to the convention refused to add the clause because their main focus was restricting African American suffrage, not expanding voting rights in the state. This defeat largely ended the suffrage movement in Alabama for about a decade. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs reinvigorated the suffrage movement in 1911 by organizing the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association because she wanted the vote to be able to address needed labor reforms. As the movement grew Jacobs helped found the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association on October 9, 1912. Initially, suffragists focused on getting an amendment in the state constitution to extend voting rights but in 1915 the state legislature rejected even putting the amendment on the ballot. Afterwards, suffragists turned their support to the national campaign for a federal suffrage amendment.The United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919 and sent it to the states for ratification. While the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association began their campaign to support ratification, the Alabama Woman’s Anti-Ratification League organized to oppose the amendment. In addition to the usual arguments about women’s societal roles, many of the opposition arguments centered on race and denying the vote to African Americans. In a letter from the Anti-Ratification League the women equated the suffrage movement to abolitionists and mentioned keeping strong barriers between “Anglo-Saxon civilization and those who would mongrelize and corrupt it.” They argued that the majority of white women in Alabama did not want suffrage and that “we believe that to adopt it will nullify the work of those who are wise and patriotic men who have purified the ballot box from the contamination of negro votes…” The anti-suffrage campaigns won. When the Alabama legislature convened on July 8, 1919 Representative from Butler County, J. Lee Long, introduced a resolution to reject the 19th Amendment. If passed the resolution would not only defeat the ratification of the amendment, it would also adopt a resolution on the record that rejected it. In the final vote on September 22, 1919 Alabama rejected the 19th Amendment.Alabama finally ratified the 19th Amendment on September 19, 1953 with the state legislature stating that they needed to “record its approval of extending the right of suffrage to women.”

While Alabama suffragists campaigned for a state amendment for voting rights, there was a strong anti-suffrage campaign that defeated attempts at state legislature and opposed the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Alabama fully rejected the suffrage amendment and refused ratification on September 22, 1919. The state did not ratify the 19th Amendment until 1953.

Alabama Rejects the 19th Amendment, September 22, 1919 (Ratifies September 8, 1953)

Suffrage in Utah was closely tied to issues of religion and Mormonism in the 1800s. While still a territory most Utah men supported women’s suffrage for a variety of reasons and in 1870 Utah passed legislation giving the vote to women. Utah’s women voted for 17 years, but then they were disenfranchised in 1887. The practice of polygamy among Utah Mormons was highly controversial and Congress passed the Edmund-Tucker Anti-Polygamy Act. This legislation put restrictions on polygamy and the power of the Mormon Church, but also took the vote away from Utah women. Consequently, women quickly formed suffrage associations to advocate for regaining the franchise. Utahns largely supported universal suffrage so when the Church of Latter-Day Saints ended polygamy and the United States allowed Utah to apply for statehood in 1894, the issue of women’s suffrage was included in the state’s constitution. Utah became a state in 1896 and women were again given the vote. At the time only three states allowed women full suffrage: Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment Utah ratified it on September 30, 1919.

Utah Ratifies the 19th Amendment, September 30, 1919

In the 1800s California suffragists proposed several suffrage bills to the state legislature. They almost had success in 1893 when the legislature passed a suffrage bill, but the governor vetoed it. A popular referendum in 1896 also defeated women’s suffrage, largely due to voters fearing women would pass temperance laws. Suffrage organizations advocated for the vote until in 1911 another referendum narrowly passed and gave California women the vote. The vote held on October 10, 1911 initially looked as if the motion would be defeated, but as the count came in from rural counties the measure passed by only 3,587 votes. California became the 6th state to grant suffrage to women and in 1918 the first four women were elected to the California State Assembly. California ratified the 19th Amendment on November 1, 1919.

California Ratifies the 19th Amendment, November 1, 1919

The suffrage movement in Maine began prior to the Civil War when a group of women sent a petition to the state legislature asking for a constitutional amendment to enfranchise women. The Maine Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) formed in August, ME in 1873 and they again approached the state legislature about voting rights. This time the legislature paid attention to their petitions, but still voted them down. In 1917, the Maine state legislature passed a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage, but it was defeated in an electorate vote later that year 36,713 votes to 19,428. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Maine Governor Miliken called a special session of the legislature to vote. On November 5, 1919 Maine voted 72-68 to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Maine Ratifies the 19th Amendment, November 5, 1919

Prior to statehood, women earned the right to vote in school elections in 1883 and that continued after statehood in 1889. North Dakota was close to enfranchising women in 1893; a bill granting women suffrage passed both chambers of the state legislature, but the speaker of the House refused to sign it. Women hoped that the governor would still sign it into law, but the bill was “lost” on its way to his office. The House then expunged the record of mentions of the bill. Legislation about women’s suffrage continued to be introduced to the legislature, but the women’s suffrage movement in North Dakota was relatively quiet until 1912. With new support for the movement, suffragists finally saw a bill passed by the state legislature in 1913 but law was then defeated in a 1914 general election 40,209 to 49,348 votes. Another attempt in 1915 did not pass through the legislature. In 1917 North Dakota Women were granted limited suffrage: women could vote for presidential electors, county officials, some city officials, and township officers, but not for members of the state or national legislature. North Dakota ratified the 19th Amendment on December 1, 1919.

North Dakota Ratifies the 19th Amendment, December 1, 1919

As a territory, South Dakota considered the issue of women’s suffrage several times starting in 1868, but only allowed women to vote in school district elections. In the 1889 state constitution the word “male” was used to define voting eligibility in the new state of South Dakota, however, it also called for the population to vote in 1890 on an amendment that would extend the vote to women. The South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association formed to advocate for the vote, but the amendment was defeated in 1890 (and again in 1895, 1898, and 1910). Campaigning for the vote proved difficult for suffragists because South Dakota was so rural and there was also a lot of opposition due to the connection between suffragists and the temperance movement. In the 1910s, Mary Shields “Maime” Pyle organized a new suffrage organization, the South Dakota Universal Franchise League, and separated the cause from the temperance movement. In 1916 suffragists tried to again get a constitutional amendment passed; the prohibition amendment on the ballot passed, but the suffrage amendment was again defeated. South Dakota women won the vote in 1918 with the “Citizenship Amendment” which removed the word “male” from the voting eligibility but added a requirement of U.S. citizenship. The following year South Dakota ratified the 19th Amendment on December 4, 1919.

South Dakota Ratifies the 19th Amendment, December 4, 1919

Colorado became a state in 1876 and quickly held a referendum to vote on the issue of women’s suffrage. Colorado narrowly voted down women’s suffrage that year, largely due to fears that women voters would ban alcohol. Between 1876 and 1893 women organized into organizations such as the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association to advocate for women’s rights. In a referendum vote in 1893 Coloradans voted by a margin of 6,000 votes in support for women’s suffrage. Colorado was the first state to enact women’s suffrage through a referendum. After Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Colorado ratified it on December 15, 1919.

Colorado Ratifies the 19th Amendment, December 15, 1919

Members of the abolitionist movement started the women’s suffrage movement in Rhode Island prior to the Civil War. Paulina Wright Davis was the first suffrage leader in the state, chairing the 1850 national women’s rights convention in Massachusetts and publishing a newspaper devoted to women’s issues. Davis and Elizabeth Buffum Chace (another abolitionist) founded the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association (RIWSA) and helped found the New England Woman Suffrage Association. Suffragists attempted to pass a suffrage constitutional amendment in 1887; the amendment was passed by the state legislature but defeated by voters. Through the next few decades reformers continued to press for women’s suffrage and other reform issues. In addition, African American suffragists formed their own suffrage organizations. The suffrage movement continued in the early twentieth century with the creation of a College Equal Suffrage League chapter, the formation of a Woman Suffrage Party in 1912, and the activism of Alva Belmont. In 1917 Rhode Island women gained partial suffrage and were able to vote in presidential elections, but full suffrage would not come until the 19th Amendment. Rhode Island ratified the 19th Amendment on January 6, 1920.

Rhode Island Ratifies the 19th Amendment, January 6, 1920

Kentucky was unique in that women who were taxpayers could vote on certain issues as early as 1838, which was the first partial suffrage for women in the U.S. after New Jersey women lost the vote in 1807. The Kentucky Equal Rights Association formed in 1888 and pushed for suffrage as well as other rights and protections for women. Like many other states, women also earned the right to vote in school elections in 1894. Kentucky reversed the access to school votes in 1902 because they wanted to restrict African American voting, and then reestablished the school vote in 1912 with a literacy test meant to prevent African American women from participating. Despite being an early leader in voting rights for women, Kentucky would not grant full suffrage before the 19th Amendment. Kentucky voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on January 6, 1920 and in March also passed an additional law allowing women to vote in presidential elections (this was made unnecessary by the full ratification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920).

Kentucky Ratifies the 19th Amendment, January 6, 1920

Organizing for suffrage rights began in the early 1870s with small, local women’s groups, attempts to vote in the 1872 presidential election, and publication of Abigail Scott Duniway’s New Northwest newspaper which advocated for women’s rights. In 1873 the Oregon Woman Suffrage Association formed and suffrage leaders engaged in both the state and national suffrage movements. Like many states women did win the right to vote in school elections in 1878, but did not gain full suffrage for many more years. The Oregon state legislature debated women’s suffrage as early as 1872 but the vote was first put to a ballot in 1884. Voters rejected giving women the right to vote on five ballots: 1884, 1900, 1906, 1908, and 1910. Suffragists coordinated again to get the issue on the ballot a sixth time in 1912 and by a vote of 52% approval women gained full suffrage. After 1912, Oregon suffragists continued to work on a national scale to support the passage of a women’s suffrage amendment. Oregon voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on January 14, 1920.

Oregon Ratifies the 19th Amendment, January 14, 1920

Indiana resident Amanda Way organized a women’s rights convention in 1851, and soon after, suffragists organized the Indiana Woman’s Rights Association. Women sent their first petition about voting to the state legislature in 1859, but the Civil War interrupted much of the movement. After the Civil War ended, suffragists got back to work. They were hampered by the structure of the state constitution amendment process. To change the constitution, an amendment needed to be approved by two separate legislative sessions (which only met every other year). This proved to be a problem in the 1880s when the state legislature approved a suffrage amendment in 1881. However, when the legislature reconvened in 1883, the law had mysteriously not been recorded in the official record, and they could not act on it.Indiana suffragists continued campaigning into the twentieth century and again almost won the vote in 1917. Partially due to the national suffrage movement and the participation of women in war efforts, the Indiana General Assembly passed several pro-women's suffrage measures. One such measure called for a convention to draft a new state constitution, one was an amendment to grant women’s suffrage in the current constitution, and the third granted partial suffrage to women, allowing them to vote in certain elections that year. 40,000 Indiana women registered to vote, but the victory was temporary.Opponents of women’s suffrage challenged two of the laws passed by the General Assembly, and the Indiana Supreme Court found both to be unconstitutional. Women lost their partial suffrage in October 1917, and there would be no convention to change the state constitution. The law granting full suffrage still needed to go through a second legislative session in 1919 to pass. With this second major setback, many women focused on the national campaign that led to the passage of the 19th Amendment. Indiana ratified the 19th Amendment on January 16, 1920.

This historical marker was dedicated in 2022 and recognizes Indiana’s women’s suffrage movement, which began shortly after the Seneca Falls convention in 1848. Although several measures to recognize women's right to vote were passed in 1917, the state Supreme Court intervened, and the women of the Hoosier State could not legally vote until Indiana ratified the 19th Amendment on January 16, 1920.

Indiana Women's Suffrage Historical Marker (Ratification on January 16, 1920)

Wyoming was the first state to give women full suffrage. As a territory, legislators passed the Wyoming Suffrage Act of 1869 which gave women the right to vote and hold office if they were a citizen. In 1870, Louisa Swain was the first woman in the world to cast a ballot under a law that granted equal political rights as men. Wyoming officially became a state in 1890 and women retained their political rights in the new state constitution. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Wyoming ratified the amendment on January 27, 1920.

Wyoming Ratifies the 19th Amendment, January 27, 1920

The topic of women’s suffrage was first brought into political discussion by members of the free Black community during Reconstruction. Black Republican politician William Whipper, a delegate to the 1868 State Constitutional Convention, called for the word “male” to be removed from voting requirements and the Rollin sisters spoke publicly about women’s suffrage. Suffragist allies in South Carolina held a convention in 1870 and petitioned the state General Assembly for voting rights. Whipper and other pro-suffrage Republicans did recommend an amendment to the state constitution in 1872, but the state legislature rejected it. By the time the women’s suffrage movement gained new momentum Reconstruction had ended and African American suffragists were no longer welcome in the mainstream movement.Virginia Durant Young rejuvenated the women’s suffrage movement by forming the South Carolina Equal Rights Association (SCERA) in April 1890. Young worked with state senator Robert R. Hemphill to introduce petitions and resolutions about women’s suffrage into the state legislator and built the state’s suffrage movement into one connected with the national movement. The SCERA dismantled at Young’s death in 1906, but the movement continued a few years later. The South Carolina Equal Suffrage League, founded in 1914, aligned with the National American Woman Suffrage Association and focused on small scale and local advocacy for a state amendment about suffrage. While many South Carolinian women wanted to stay with more conservative tactics, some suffragists, such as Susan Pringle Frost and Eulalie Chaffee Salley, aligned with Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party.Despite the work of South Carolina suffragists, the state did not grant voting rights to women prior to the 19th Amendment. Women traveled to Charleston to convince the state legislators to ratify the amendment, but the state rejected suffrage. The South Carolina House voted against the 19th Amendment 93-21 and the State Senate by 32-3. After the amendment was ratified in August 1920, South Carolina reluctantly passed a law giving women the right to vote. The state finally voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on July 1, 1969. Suffragist Eulalie Salley, then in her 80s, was able to witness the 1969 ratification and quipped “Well, boys, I’ve waited 50 years to tell you what I think about you for taking so long to pass this.” Even though the vote occurred in 1969 it was not properly certified, a mistake that was discovered in 1973 by Keller Barron of the League of Women Voters. She was researching state codes and noticed that the 19th Amendment ratification had not been added to the law books. Governor John West’s office confirmed that the ratification was not confirmed with the House Speaker or Secretary of State in 1969 and the error was fixed.

The women's suffrage movement in South Carolina began during the period of Reconstruction and then reemerged in the 1890s. Despite the work of suffragists, South Carolina did not grant voting rights to women at the state level and rejected the 19th Amendment on January 28, 1920. South Carolina voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on July 1, 1969, although the vote was not certified until 1973.

South Carolina Rejects the 19th Amendment, January 28, 1920 (Ratifies July 1, 1969; vote certified August 22, 1973)

The state of Mississippi considered the issue of women’s suffrage relatively early for the American south, debating granting the vote in 1890. Following a common suggestion in the south, suffrage activists thought that giving the vote to white women would strengthen the overall white vote and work with attempts to restrict the African American vote. While the proposal did get serious attention, it was defeated in committee by one vote.The Mississippi Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) organized on May 5, 1897 under the leadership of Nellie Nugent Somerville, Belle Kearney, and Lily Wilkinson Thompson. While some Mississippi suffragists supported the push for a national amendment, most supported the state’s rights approach and distanced themselves from some of the more radical tactics and African American allies of northern suffragists. Nellie Nugent Somerville was the president of the MWSA from 1897 until 1906 and then Belle Kearney took up the position. Most of their tactics focused on emphasizing their roles as upstanding ladies, wives, and mothers. The women in the MWSA were white and middle or upper class. They chose to demonstrate the expectations of a women of their social status to prove that they were fit for suffrage. The women succeed in getting a suffrage resolution introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1914 with a public hearing, but the House voted the measure down 80 to 42.After the 1914 defeat some Mississippi women, including Kearney and Somerville, supported the movement for a federal amendment. Somerville took a leadership position in the National American Woman Suffrage Association and worked with Carrie Chapman Catt on the national campaign. As part of the national strategy Catt asked many of the southern organizations not to push state campaigns because they would likely not receive support and might create negative attention while women pressed for the constitutional amendment. Mississippi suffragists were surprised when Neshoba County’s Senator Earl Richardson introduced a suffrage amendment in 1918, and while it did not pass it did receive more support and a 21-21 tied vote.When Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment Mississippi strongly opposed it. Similar to many of the southern states, Mississippi opposed a federal amendment that would change voting regulations within their state, a right that constitutionally lies with the states. In addition to the state’s rights argument, they feared that by ratifying the 19th Amendment it would force the southern states to fully support the 14th and 15th Amendments which had granted rights to African Americans, rights which southern states restricted through Jim Crow laws. There was very little support for ratification among Mississippi politicians and in late January 1920 Representative William A. Winter introduced a resolution to reject the 19th Amendment. The House quickly voted to reject the suffrage amendment 106 to 25 and in February the Senate followed by rejecting it 29 to 14.Interestingly, Mississippi held two ratification votes on the 19th Amendment. After having rejected the suffrage amendment in February, several more states voted for ratification until women only needed one state left to vote for suffrage. After Washington became the 35th state to ratify, the next state to vote would be Delaware. Suffragists had high hopes for Delaware since there was general support for suffrage there, but since it was a “Republican” state Democrats worried that a seeming lack of support for suffrage in Democratic states would hurt the party in the 1920 election. The Mississippi Senate decided to recall the House bill to reject the amendment, amended it to ratify, and voted. The late March vote in the Senate was a tie and on March 30 Lieutenant Governor H. H. Casteel broke the tie in favor of ratification. The Mississippi Senate had switched its vote for ratification, but the House did not follow. In its second vote on March 31, the House rejected ratification 90 to 23. Mississippi had rejected the 19th Amendment for a second time.The 19th Amendment was ratified by the 36th state (Tennessee) and signed into law at the end of August 1920. However, Mississippi did not allow women to vote in the 1920 election. It was one of the few states that did not change their regulations or approve women to vote in the electorate in time for the fall elections.Mississippi finally ratified the 19th Amendment on March 22, 1984, the last of the states existing in the nation in 1920 to do so. Mississippi legislators called the ratification a “housekeeping measure” and a “symbolic affirmation” of women’s rights.

Mississippi was strongly apposed to the 19th Amendment and voted twice to reject it, in February and March of 1920. The state finally ratified the 19th Amendment in March 1984. It was the last of the 1920 United States (excluding states like Alaska and Hawaii that were territories at the time).

Mississippi Rejects the 19th Amendment, February 1920 and March 29, 1920 (Ratifies March 22, 1984)

In the 1864 Nevada state constitution the right to vote was specifically for men. In 1869, a women’s suffrage bill was introduced and passed by both houses of the legislature, but it failed to pass again at the next legislative session two years later (as required by the state constitution). The women’s suffrage movement did not gain new momentum until the 1900s. In 1911 women organized the Nevada Equal Franchise Society and under the leadership of Jeanne Elizabeth Weir, Anne Martin, and Bird Wilson women again pushed for the right to vote. The state legislature passed an amendment to allow women’s suffrage in 1911 and again in 1913, allowing the issue to go to a general vote. The Nevada suffrage movement faced a fierce anti-suffrage movement that included prominent women and business leaders. Several businessmen threatened to pull their businesses out of the state if women’s suffrage was approved. Because much of the opposition was concentrated in urban areas, the Nevada Equal Franchise Society focused their campaigning on rural areas where voters would not face the same economic pressure. As a result, when the issue of women’s suffrage went to a general vote in 1914, the suffrage amendment was approved by a vote of 10,936 to 7,258. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Nevada ratified it on February 7, 1920.

Nevada Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 7, 1920

Early in United States history New Jersey was a leader in suffrage, with both women and African Americans able to vote if they met residency and property requirements. Both groups lost the right to vote in 1807 when the state changed their voting eligibility to only white, male, tax-paying citizens. In 1867 Lucy Stone founded the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association and the following year women petitioned the state legislature for suffrage. Women petitioned the legislature for the vote again in 1884 and were granted the ability to vote in school elections in 1887, but the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed that in 1894. Despite the work of New Jersey suffragists, women in the state did not receive the vote before the 19th Amendment. In 1912 a new resolution for women’s suffrage and it passed both houses of two successive legislatures but was defeated in the public election in 1915. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, New Jersey ratified it on February 9, 1920.

New Jersey Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 9, 1920

In 1871, one year after the 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote, Representative Joseph William Morgan proposed women’s suffrage for the first time in the Idaho territory. The proposal was defeated in a tie vote and similar proposals were defeated in 1885 and 1887. When Idaho requested statehood, they specifically excluded women’s suffrage from the new constitution, fearing that it would hinder the acceptance of statehood. When women’s suffrage was not included in the state constitution, the first suffrage organization formed in 1893. The Idaho Equal Suffrage Association organized in 1895 and a year later a constitutional amendment granted Idaho women full suffrage. Idaho ratified the 19th Amendment on February 11, 1920.

 Idaho Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 11, 1920

Arizona became a territory in 1863 and did not achieve statehood until 1912. During the territorial period, women did press for suffrage and several bills were introduced into the legislature in the 1880s but were defeated. In 1891 Arizona decided to apply for statehood and Josephine Brawley Hughes, Frances Willard Munds, and other suffragists organized the state’s first women’s suffrage organization to campaign for the inclusion of suffrage in the new state constitution. Arizona’s attempt at statehood failed. The Arizona Suffrage Association continued to campaign and got a suffrage bill passed through the legislature in 1903, but the governor vetoed it. Arizona faced difficulty getting Washington to accept their statehood, and the governor (and other politicians) feared that including women’s suffrage would further decrease their chances. Finally in 1910 Congress told Arizona to write a new state constitution and submit it for statehood. Suffragists appealed to the constitutional convention to include women’s suffrage in the new constitution, but the delegates did not include the issue because they were afraid it would cause the constitution to be rejected again. However, most Arizonians generally supported women’s suffrage. Arizona finally gained statehood on February 14, 1912 and just five months later suffrage qualified to be on the ballot for voters to decide. In November 1912 male voters overwhelmingly approved of women’s suffrage in Arizona. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Arizona voted to ratify the amendment on February 12, 1920.

Arizona Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 12, 1920

There was an attempt to begin a women’s suffrage movement in Virginia in the 1870s but it did not gain traction. The state did not see an effective campaign for women’s voting rights until Richmond women established the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909. Suffragists campaigned at public events, canvassed door to door, and enlisted allies to form a Men’s Equal Suffrage League in 1912. Suffrage support was rather large for a southern state; by 1919 the membership of the Equal Suffrage Leage was 32,000 which was likely the largest such organization in the south. Between 1912 and 1916 Virginia women succeeded in bringing suffrage to the General Assembly three times, but the Virginia legislature remained staunchly anti-suffrage and did not grant any suffrage rights.Similar to many of the southern states, race was a complicating factor in the Virginia women’s suffrage movement. The anti-suffrage movement was very strong in Virginia with the Women’s Anti-Suffrage Association forming in 1870. Many of the anti-suffrage arguments centered on fears that women’s suffrage would allow Black women to also vote. Virginia suffragists addressed these fears by arguing that current laws would prevent Black women from voting in the same ways that Black men were prevented from voting, and that adding white women to the voting rolls would strengthen white supremacy. African American women were excluded from most suffrage organizations and formed their own within Virginia.In February 1920 Virginia rejected the 19th Amendment. On February 6, the Senate voted against ratification 24-16 and the House defeated ratification 62-22 on February 12, 1920. Several delegates stated that they were not necessarily against women’s suffrage but considered the amendment in opposition to the right of states to maintain regulations for voting.Virginia finally ratified the 19th Amendment on February 21, 1952.

Virginia had possibly the largest suffrage organization of the southern states, but the state legislature remained anti-suffrage. Virginia rejected bills about women's suffrage in 1912, 1914, and 1916, and voted to reject the 19th Amendment on February 12, 1920. Virginia did not ratify the 19th Amendment until February 21, 1952.

Virginia Rejects the 19th Amendment, February 12, 1920 (Ratifies February 21, 1952)

New Mexico became a territory in 1850 but the women’s suffrage movement did not gain traction until the 1890s with the formation of the Albuquerque Suffrage Club in 1893 and New Mexico Woman Suffrage Association in 1896. In 1910 New Mexico drafted a constitution to apply for statehood. Within the constitution was a provision that granted women some rights to vote in school elections if their local communities approved, but the legislature rejected including full suffrage for women. When New Mexico became a state in 1912 only men were able to vote. While most other western states granted suffrage by 1912, New Mexico did not give women the right to vote before the 19th Amendment. With little support from state politicians, New Mexican suffragists focused on the national campaign for the 19th Amendment in the years between statehood and 1920. After the passage of the 19th Amendment by Congress, New Mexico ratified in on February 21, 1920.

New Mexico Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 21, 1920

There was a short-lived suffrage movement within Maryland from 1867 to 1874, but the fight for the vote really escalated in the twentieth century. Three major Maryland organizations worked for women’s suffrage: the Maryland State Suffrage Association, the Just Government League of Maryland, and the Equal Suffrage League. Having several leading organizations was due to disagreements over whether to focus efforts on gaining rights at the state level or pushing for a national amendment, as well as segregation between white and African American suffragists. Maryland women did not gain much progress within the state as many legislators were anti-suffrage, particularly in urban areas where men were concerned that women voters would support prohibition and hurt the alcohol industry. In 1916 the Maryland Senate did pass a suffrage bill, but it was overwhelmingly defeated in the House. In some towns and localities women had some limited voting rights for bond or special elections, but it was a very small number of women in the state.During the ratification process of the 19th Amendment (1919-1920), Maryland rejected the amendment on February 24, 1920. The Maryland General Assembly rejected the 19th Amendment on the grounds of state’s rights. In Joint Resolution No. 3, the Maryland Assembly wrote: “Be it resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland that we deny that the Congress of the United States has any lawful right or power to propose such an amendment to the Constitution of the United States; we deny that the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States have any lawful right or power to adopt such an amendment; and we deny that such an amendment would be validly a part of the Constitution of the United States if thus adopted.” The argument was that states had the power to determine voting regulations within their borders and the 19th Amendment would change the voting population of the state without their consent. In the resolution, Maryland protested the states who had already voted to ratify and encouraged further states to not ratify women’s suffrage. Despite the state’s protests 36 states ultimately ratified the 19th Amendment and it was signed into law August 26, 1920.After the ratification of the 19th Amendment, Maryland women registered to vote along with women across the United States. On October 12, 1920 Cecilia Streett Waters and Mary D. Randolph registered to vote in Baltimore. By the end of the month Oscar Leser, an anti-suffrage Baltimore attorney, challenged the women’s voter registrations in court. He claimed that the Maryland state constitution limited voting to only men and the state had not ratified the 19th Amendment, thus the 19th Amendment did not apply to Maryland and the women were not legal voters. The Court of Appeals case in Maryland went through to the United States Supreme Court and ultimately upheld the constitutionality of the 19th Amendment. In his arguments, Leser restated the Maryland state’s rights claim that the subject of the amendment (changing the voting population) could not be added to the Constitution since voting regulations were the power of the state. He also argued that several states could not have ratified the federal amendment since their state constitutions prevented women from voting. Third, Leser challenged the ratifications from Tennessee and West Virginia on claims that legislative procedures were not correctly followed. The Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in 1922 that the 19th Amendment and its ratification was constitutional and that even if there were issues with the process in Tennessee and West Virginia the states had accepted and certified the ratifications. In addition, two more states (Connecticut and Vermont) had ratified the 19th Amendment so that even without Tennessee and West Virginia there would still be the necessary 36 states.Maryland finally ratified the 19th Amendment on March 29, 1941 although the vote was not certified until February 25, 1958.

Maryland rejected ratifying the 19th Amendment on February 24, 1920 and encouraged other states to also reject the amendment on the grounds of states' rights. After the 19th Amendment was ratified Maryland challenged the constitutionality of the 19th Amendment in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Leser et al. v. Garnett et al. Maryland finally ratified the 19th Amendment in 1941.

Maryland Rejects the 19th Amendment, February 24, 1920 (Ratifies March 29, 1941; vote certified February 25, 1958)

The territory of Oklahoma (at the time separate from Indian Territory) organized in 1890 and the same year the territorial legislature considered the issue of women’s suffrage and voted down full suffrage. Women were able to vote in school elections as well as serve in public offices in rural areas. Suffrage organizations formed in the 1890s to campaign for the vote and sent several bills and petitions through the territorial legislature. In 1904 the Woman Suffrage Association of Oklahoma and Indian Territory organized and as Oklahoma prepared to apply for statehood women pushed for the issue of suffrage again. In the 1906-1907 constitutional convention suffrage was hotly debated and there were many delegates in favor of granting women the vote. However, white Oklahomans were more united behind the idea of restricting the African American vote in the state. Full suffrage would extend the vote to blank women as well as white, and that ultimately meant that full suffrage was not granted by the 1907 state constitution. Between 1907 and 1917 suffragists continued to pressure the state legislature to pass an amendment for suffrage. In 1917 the state legislature approved the suffrage issue for a general vote in November 1918. Although there was a strong anti-suffrage campaign and election officials tried to rig the vote against suffrage, the suffrage amendment passed on November 5, 1918 and Oklahoma granted women full suffrage. Less than two years later, Oklahoma ratified the 19th Amendment on February 28, 1920.

Oklahoma Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 28, 1920

West Virginia suffragists had faced severe defeat at the state level in 1916 and the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association had switched its focus to supporting a national amendment for suffrage. Suffragists led by Julia Ruhl and Lenna Lowe Yost campaigned for ratification.When the 19th Amendment was passed from Congress to the states for ratification, the West Virginia legislature was not supposed to meet until after the 1920 elections. To ratify the amendment the governor would need to call a special session, but suffragists were initially hesitant to press for that since there had been a special session in 1919 and there was demoralization from 1916. Lenna Lowe Yost worked as the chairman of the ratification committee and she quietly began petitioning politicians to see how much support was there for the amendment and by September 1918 the suffragists felt that there was at least majority support in both the House and Senate.While West Virginia women were hesitant to put heavy pressure on the governor, the National American Woman Suffrage Association needed West Virginia to address ratification for their larger strategy. Carrie Chapman Catt wrote directly to Governor John Cornwell to encourage him to call a special session for the amendment in early 1920. Support for women’s suffrage was mixed in West Virginia and with the costs of calling a special session, Governor Cornwell was hesitant to call a session only for the 19th Amendment. Cornwell assured Catt that it was likely he would call a special session for another tax issues and he could probably include the amendment in that session. Cornwell called for a special session to begin on February 27, 1920 and dozens of petitions with thousands of signatures started pouring into both houses of the legislature on the matter of suffrage.The West Virginia state legislature met in special session for 12 days with heavy lobbying from both pro- and anti-suffrage delegations. On March 1, the state senate vote ended in a tie 14-14. Two days later, the House approved ratification 47-40, but the Senate deadlocked at 14-14 again. It appeared that West Virginia was not going to ratify the 19th Amendment, but pro-suffragists contacted state Senator Jesse Bloch who was vacationing in California and was for suffrage. While Republican colleagues kept the special session from adjourning, the national Republican party and private donors arranged for Bloch to travel by train from California to Charleston to cast his vote and break the tie. While Bloch was on his way, more drama unfolded when former senator A.W. Montgomery, who had resigned and moved out of state prior to the session, tried to reclaim his seat in order to break the tie against ratifying the amendment. His attempt failed however due to his official resignation months before. Senator Bloch arrived in Charleston in the early morning of March 10 and later that day cast his vote in favor of ratification, making West Virginia the 34th state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

West Virginia’s 1863 state constitution limited the vote to white men (African American men were given the vote with the 15th Amendment, but WV laws largely prevented them from voting). In 1867, state senator Samuel Young attempted to introduce a resolution in favor of women’s suffrage, but it failed. The West Virginia women’s suffrage movement formalized in 1895 with the organization of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA). The work of the WVESA in tandem with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union created enough support that the House of Delegates passed a women’s suffrage amendment in 1913. It failed to pass the Senate, but when introduced again in 1915 the amendment was passed by both houses of the state legislature. The amendment then went to a statewide referendum in 1916 where it was soundly defeated. Once Congress passed the 19th Amendment in 1919, West Virginia had possibly the most dramatic ratification process. The tension was already high because women needed three more states to ratify the 19th Amendment and it was not clear which way West Virginia would vote.

West Virginia Ratifies the 19th Amendment, March 10, 1920 

Washington territory’s first outspoken suffragist was Catharine Paine Blaine, a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls, who moved to Seattle in 1853. The following year, Blaine’s acquaintance state representative Arthur Denny, proposed a bill to allow women to vote in the very first territorial legislative session. The bill failed in a close vote. In 1867 the territorial legislature removed the word “male” from the voting law so that it stated that “all white American citizens” that met the age requirement could vote. Women tried to vote after this change but were still turned away. 1871 saw the formation of a more organized suffrage movement, with another attempt at passing a bill in the legislature, Washington’s first suffrage convention, and the establishment of the Washington Territory Woman Suffrage Association. Unfortunately, the anti-suffrage legislature responded by passing a law stating "Hereafter, no female shall have the right of ballot, or vote at any poll or election precinct in this territory until the Congress of the United States of America shall, by direct legislation, declare the same to be the supreme law of the land." Suffragists continued their campaigning, but with little success for more than a decade. Surprisingly (considering the 1871 law) Washington women gained the right to vote in 1883 and the majority of women flocked to the polls in 1884. Only a few years later, women again lost the right to vote when the Territorial Supreme Court revoked the 1883 law. A revitalized suffrage movement emerged in 1905 led by Emma Smith DeVoe and May Arkwright Hutton. The work of Washington suffragists resulted in a suffrage amendment being passed by the legislature and signed by the governor in February 1909. On November 8, 1910 the male voters of Washington ratified the constitutional amendment and women gained the right to vote. Almost a decade later, Washington was the 35th state to ratify the 19th Amendment on March 22, 1920.

Washington Ratifies the 19th Amendment, March 22, 1920

Delaware held its first women’s rights conventions in 1869 and the state was strongly connected to the national suffrage movement through the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. In 1881 Delaware suffragette Mary Ann Stuart along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony addressed the Delaware General Assembly in support of suffrage. In 1895 the two main suffrage organizations formed in the state: the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association (associated with the National American Woman Suffrage Association) and the Wilmington Equal Suffrage Association. Because Delaware was a segregated state African American and white women had their own organizations. In 1897, suffragists attempt to get a suffrage amendment through the Delaware constitutional convention, but it is voted down. Several more attempts in the 1900s/1910s would also be rejected.Despite several failed attempts to gain suffrage at the state level, Delaware women were prominent in the national suffrage movement. When Alice Paul took over leadership of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1912, she worked with Delaware suffragists Mable Vernon and Florence Bayard Hilles. Both Vernon and Hilles planned suffrage events within Delaware but also led groups of the “Silent Sentinels” at the White House, met with President Wilson, and openly protested during some of Wilson’s events. Vernon once heckled Wilson on a train platform over women’s rights and both Vernon and Hilles were part of the group that unfurled a suffrage banner while Wilson was addressing Congress. Both women were also arrested and jailed during the “Silent Sentinel” protests.

After Washington ratified the 19th Amendment on March 22, 1920, all focus turned to Delaware which would be next to vote on ratification. Suffragists were confident that Delaware would be the 36th state to ratify the suffrage amendment into law. The governor supported suffrage, no major organizations opposed the amendment, and most legislators had indicated that they would vote in support of suffrage. Nevertheless, when the special session of the Delaware Assembly convened on March 22, 1920 there was strong lobbying on the part of both pro- and anti-suffrage factions. On May 5, 1920 the Delaware Senate voted 11-6 to ratify the 19th Amendment, strengthening suffragists' hope that the vote would soon be secured for women. Many were surprised when about a month later, the Delaware House of Representatives voted against the amendment 24-10, rejecting women’s suffrage. With defeat in Delaware the women’s suffrage movement had to shift their hopes on the few states left, such as Tennessee and North Carolina. The 19th Amendment achieved ratification in August 1920 with the state of Tennessee and women’s suffrage became law. Mostly a symbolic act since the 19th Amendment was already official, Delaware voted to ratify the 19th Amendment on March 6, 1923.

Delaware Rejects the 19th Amendment, June 2, 1920 (Ratifies March 6, 1923)

The first instance of Louisiana women advocating for better rights was not specifically related to suffrage, but instead in response to an incident where a woman in St. Ann’s Asylum wrote up a will on her deathbed and the court declared the will invalid because only women had witnessed the will. Outraged by the display of inequality, Caroline Merrick and Elizabeth Lyle Saxon appeared before the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1879 with a petition outlining the grievances of women. While the women were generally well received and supported at the convention, no major change resulted. The only concession given in 1879 was that women could be eligible for positions related to schools, however even this opportunity remained closed to Louisiana women for many years. For several years, Merrick and Saxon focused on the temperance movement in Louisiana and nationally. The women returned to the matter of women’s suffrage in 1892 when they organized the Portia Club. In 1895 there was a division in the organization and the Equal Rights for All Club (ERA) also formed by Kate Gordon, but in 1898 the two clubs coordinated to establish the Louisiana Woman Suffrage Association (LWSA). Also in 1898, Louisiana voters called for a Constitutional Convention to amend the suffrage laws to prevent African Americans from voting. The women of the ERA and LWSA saw an opportunity to press for suffrage for white women. Caroline Merrick, as president of the LWSA, argued that granting white women the vote would strengthen white supremacy in the state. This was an argument similar to that used in most of the other southern states. In the end, women received very little progress in the new suffrage laws, which were generally more restrictive overall to prevent Black men and poor whites from voting. Taypaying women were allowed to vote on tax issues, but the women who had held school board positions were now disqualified from those positions. Kate Gordon and the Equal Rights for All Club immediately used the new opening of taxpayer suffrage for women. In 1899 the ballot included a sewage and drainage bond issue, and an opportunity for taxpaying women to vote. Gordon and her allies held meetings about the issue, educated women about voting, and collected proxies to vote for women who were unable to make it to the polls. The bond issue passed during the election and Gordon became a national name within the suffrage movement. Gordon became the secretary of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association and moved to New York. While Kate Gordon worked with the NAWSA, her sister Jean Gordon continued to work in Louisiana to expand the rights and opportunities for women. Kate Gordon was a leader for women’s suffrage, but she was also a produce of Louisiana, and she was staunchly supportive of white supremacy and state’s rights. As the NAWSA directed more energy towards passing a federal amendment instead of a state-by-state strategy, Gordon left the organization to focus on the south. She formed the Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference (SSWSC) in 1913 which advocated only for a state approach. Those in Louisiana who still wanted to work with the NAWSA organized the Woman Suffrage Party of Louisiana. Between 1914 and 1918 Louisiana’s competing suffrage organizations tried several times to get a state amendment passed granting suffrage. Kate and Jean Gordon got the closest to success in 1918 when they presented a suffrage amendment to the state legislature, and it passed. The Haas-Powell Bill granting women’s suffrage was approved 32-4 in the Louisiana Senate and 80-21 in the House of Representatives. The governor signed the bill and sent it to the voters that November. However, anti-suffragists organized the Men’s Anti-Woman Suffrage League and prominent businessmen and politicians rallied opposition to the amendment. When the referendum occurred in November women’s suffrage was defeated by voters. With defeat at the state level, attention turned to the federal 19th Amendment which passed through Congress in June 1919. The block of southern states was opposed to the amendment, largely due to arguments about state’s rights. Louisiana’s Governor Pleasant sent a telegram to the other southern states asking them to reject the 19th Amendment and grant women’s suffrage through state action. Southern states wanted to retain control over voting regulations to prevent African Americans from voting. In June 1920, the Louisiana Legislature considered both the federal and a state suffrage amendment. Kate Gordon was against the federal amendment and worked with both those supporting state suffrage and anti-suffragists to defeat the 19th Amendment. She even traveled to other states to oppose ratification. In June the Senate voted against the 19th Amendment 22-19 and the House by 67-44. Democratic presidential candidate James M. Cox urged Louisiana to reconsider ratifying the amendment to no avail. The state suffrage amendment was also defeated in the Senate 27-13 and the legislature adjourned in early July with suffrage fully rejected. Louisiana finally ratified the 19th Amendment on June 11, 1970.

Louisiana had several women's suffrage organizations in the state, but most of the population preferred suffrage to come through state action instead of a federal amendment. When the Louisiana State Legislature considered the 19th Amendment in 1920 it voted to defeat ratification and the Louisiana governor urged other states to reject it. Louisiana finally ratified the 19th Amendment in 1970.

Louisiana Rejects the 19th Amendment, July 1, 1920 (Ratifies June 11, 1970)

The women’s suffrage movement in Tennessee began in the 1870s and 1880s through the work of Elizabeth Meriwether and Lide Meriwether and the first suffrage organizations appeared in the 1880s and 1890s. After a lull in momentum, women again actively campaigned for suffrage starting in 1905 but Tennessee was a very divided state on the subject. There was a strong-anti suffrage movement in the state and the suffrage movement itself was extremely split after an argument in 1913. After the rift, there were two organizations that called themselves the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) (one was Incorporated and the other was not), and both considered themselves the official suffrage organization of the state. With several suffrage organizations working within the state, suffragists made some progress in getting legislation approved in 1915 and 1917, but these attempts were ultimately rejected by voters in 1917. In 1918 the two versions of TESA reunited and tried again to lobby the legislature for suffrage. That year Tennessee women were granted partial suffrage and could vote in municipal and presidential elections. Two months later Congress passed the 19th Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification.By the summer of 1920 suffragists focused their hopes for the 19th Amendment on just a few states like Tennessee and North Carolina. Tennessee still had a strong anti-suffrage movement, which included the governor who was responsible to calling a special session to even consider ratification. Women from both the state and national suffrage movements converged on the capitol to convince Governor Albert H. Roberts to call the session, which he finally agreed to do at the end of June. Through July both the pro- and anti- suffrage movements focused all their attention in convincing members of the legislature to commit to their side. Sometimes the fight to win support for each side is called the “War of the Roses” because when a legislator committed to voting one way or the other women would give them a rose to pin on their lapel. Supporters of suffrage wore yellow roses while those for anti-suffrage wore red.The special session of the Tennessee legislature convened on August 9, 1920. The Senate was majority pro-suffrage and quickly voted to ratify the amendment within a couple of days. The House was divided and seemed to be in the hands of anti-suffrage supporters. After a delay in the proceedings the House finally debated the amendment on August 17 and the House vote was scheduled for August 18. Two times the House voted, with the anti-suffrage supporters voting to table the amendment (thus killing the amendment by not voting on it). Each vote ended in a deadlock tie, 48-48. Finally, the House commenced a roll-call vote on ratification of the 19th Amendment. The anti-suffragists believed that they had enough votes to stop ratification and the suffragists needed one vote to change to their side to approve the amendment.Twenty-four-year-old freshman delegate Harry T. Burn initially supported the anti-suffrage side. He wore a red rose to the vote on August 18 and voted twice to table the amendment. However, when the roll call vote occurred Burns switched his vote to supporting ratification. This was the tiebreaking vote that suffragists needed and when two other legislators switched their votes at the end of the roll call, it gave a constitutional majority that sealed the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Apparently, Burns’ mother, Febb Burn, had not heard anything about where her son stood on the issue and decided to write him a letter, which he received shortly before the vote. “Hurrah and vote for suffrage,” Febb Burns wrote, “and don’t keep them in doubt.” He decided to follow his mother’s wishes rather than caving to the political pressure of the anti-suffrage campaign. With the Tennessee vote on August 18, 1920, 36 of the states had ratified the 19th Amendment and on August 26, 1920 the U.S. Secretary of State signed the amendment into law.

The fate of the 19th Amendment ended up resting with Tennessee in 1920. After March 1920 35 states had ratified the amendment for women’s suffrage. Suffragists needed one more state for ratification, but eight states had already rejected the amendment and a few others were either undecided or had decided not to vote.

Tennessee Ratifies the 19th Amendment, August 18, 1920

Helen Morris Lewis of Asheville attempted to start a suffrage movement in North Carolina with the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association (NCESA) in 18941. Lewis advocated for a suffrage amendment to the state constitution and was successful in having Senator J.L. Hyatt introduce a bill in 1897. The bill went nowhere, however, as the Senate promptly referred it to the Committee on Insane Asylums.The women’s suffrage movement was largely dormant until 1913 when Gertrude Weil organized the North Carolina Equal Suffrage League. The NCESA revived under Bardara Henderson who affiliated the group with the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The more radical National Woman’s Party also had a branch in North Carolina starting in 1915. Women sent proposals for suffrage to the state legislature in 1913, 1915, and 1919 but all were rejected. Like the other southern states, lawmakers did not want to grant women’s suffrage due to fears of African Americans voting. Southern states as a whole wanted to retain control over voting regulations at the state level to ensure that only elite whites could hold political power.The United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment in June 1919 and sent it to the states for ratification. Anti-suffragists in North Carolina rallied to oppose the federal amendment through the Southern Rejection League, National Association Opposed to Women’s Suffrage, and the men’s State’s Rights Defense League. Meanwhile, Gertrude Weil and the NCESA suffragettes went to work in Raleigh to convince the legislators to vote for ratification. By the end of March 1920 35 states had ratified the 19th Amendment and suffragists needed one more state to approve it for it to be signed into law. Once Delaware rejected ratification in June all eyes turned to North Carolina and Tennessee who both held special sessions in August to determine the fate of women’s suffrage. Both states were split on the issue of suffrage and neither seemed to want to become the 36th state to ratify. While North Carolina’s Governor Thomas W. Bickett encouraged his legislature to consider ratification to accept the inevitable situation gracefully, he also openly hoped that Tennessee would act first and take the pressure off North Carolina. On August 11, 1920 63 members of the North Carolina House of Representatives sent a telegram to the Tennessee State Legislature telling them that NC would not ratify the amendment and encouraging TN not to ratify it either.On August 17, 1920 the North Carolina Senate voted to postpone the suffrage issue until the 1921 legislative session. Tennessee also appeared to be deadlocked and about to table the amendment when a last-minute switched vote on August 18 caused Tennessee to be the 36th state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. Even though the amendment was now ratified, the North Carolina legislature decided to meet on August 19th and reject the 19th Amendment 71 to 41. They argued that women’s suffrage would threaten southern society, specifically the family, state’s rights, and white supremacy.North Carolina finally ratified the 19th Amendment on May 6, 1971.

In August 1920 both North Carolina and Tennessee held special sessions to consider the 19th Amendment for ratification and women waited to see which state would become the 36th to ratify the amendment into law. North Carolina delayed until Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920 and then voted to reject the amendment on August 19. North Carolina did not ratify the 19th Amendment until 1971.

North Carolina Rejects the 19th Amendment, August 19, 1920 (Ratifies May 6, 1971)

When Congress passed the 19th Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification in June 1919, Connecticut suffragists were hopeful. A more progressive majority was elected into the general assembly in 1918 and the legislature was actively in session when ratifications were occurring across the country. However, the legislature adjourned without taking up the issue of ratification and it was not scheduled to meet again until 1921. Suffragists were outraged and called on the governor, Marcus H. Holcomb, to call the assembly back for a special session to ratify the amendment. Initially Holcomb, bolstered by political and anti-suffrage support, refused to call the special session. Meanwhile, Tennessee voted to ratify the 19th Amendment in August 1920 and it was signed into law on August 26. After the 19th Amendment was officially ratified, Governor Holcomb changed course and convened the Connecticut legislature in a special session on September 14, 1920. While mostly symbolic since the amendment had already been ratified, Connecticut voted to ratify the 19th Amendment and reconfirmed the vote on September 21.

A formal women’s suffrage movement began after the Civil War when Frances Ellen Burr and Isabella Beecher Hooker formed the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. Like many suffrage associations, there was division in the last decades of the nineteenth century over tactics and there was a strong anti-suffrage portion of the population. Women in the state gained the right to vote in school elections in 1893 and on library issues in 1909 (although this was never put into practice). Support for the suffrage movement declined severely by the early 1900s, but under the new leadership of Katharine Houghton Hepburn the movement gained new momentum. In the 1910s Connecticut women worked in the national campaign for a suffrage amendment, gathering petitions and several CT women picketed at the White House with the “Silent Sentinels.” Fourteen Connecticut suffragists were arrested during the pickets.

Connecticut Ratifies the 19th Amendment, September 14, 1920 

Vermont women began calling for more rights in the 1850s and again in the 1870s. In 1880 Vermont women who were taxpayers could vote in school elections and hold limited public positions. Also, in the 1880s the Vermont Equal Suffrage Association organized to call for voting rights within the state as well as increasingly working with the national movement. As women became more active in war efforts during World War I it seemed that they were also making progress for state suffrage. In 1917 new legislation allowed female taxpayers to vote in town meetings and the call for a federal suffrage amendment was steadily gaining traction. The roadblock stopping full suffrage in Vermont ended up being the state’s governor, Percival Clement, who was opposed to women’s suffrage and a strong ally to the liquor industry. In 1919 the Vermont state legislature passed a bill to give women the right to vote in presidential elections, but Clement vetoed it. After Congress passed the 19th Amendment, supporters of suffrage called on the governor to call a special session in summer 1920 to ratify it. Clement refused. Ultimately 36 states ratified the 19th Amendment, and it was signed into law in August 1920. Vermont women went to the polls in November 1920 and in the next legislative session the Vermont legislature ratified the 19th Amendment on February 8, 1921.

Vermont Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 8, 1921

Ella Chamberlain organized Florida’s first suffrage organization in 1893, but her Florida Woman Suffrage Association only lasted for about 4 years. The movement restarted in 1912 and the Florida Equal Suffrage Association and Florida Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs advocated for voting rights. The movement was smaller than other states, but suffragists campaigned locally for suffrage and lobbied legislators for the vote. For the most part, Florida politicians remained anti-suffrage. Like the other southern states, Floridians supported states rights and did not want a federal amendment changing voting regulations within their state. They also feared the 19th Amendment would expand voting to more African Americans, something that most southern states were restricting. Neither of Florida’s US Senators voted in favor of the 19th Amendment when it passed Congress. Congress sent the 19th Amendment to the states for ratification at the end of Florida’s legislative session. Suffragists traveled to Tallahassee to urge legislators to vote on the amendment before the session ended but found that there was very little support for suffrage among the politicians. The legislative session ended before the 19th Amendment could be discussed and since there was very little support for suffrage Governor Sidney Catts did not call a special session for ratification. As a result, Florida did not vote on the 19th Amendment during the 1919-1920 ratification process. Florida symbolically ratified the 19th Amendment on May 13, 1969.

Ratification of the 19th Amendment: Timeline and Story Map

Kansas Ratifies the 19th Amendment, June 16, 1919

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