North Carolina Rejects the 19th Amendment, August 19, 1920 (Ratifies 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.

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 19^th 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 19^th 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 36^th 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 36^th state needed to ratify the 19^th Amendment. Even though the amendment was now ratified, the North Carolina legislature decided to meet on August 19^th and reject the 19^th 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 19^th Amendment on May 6, 1971.

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