Vermont Ratifies the 19th Amendment, February 8, 1921
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
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.
Images
In the summer of 1920, women needed one more state to ratify the 19th Amendment to make it law. Vermont suffragists pressured Governor Clement to call a special session for Vermont to be the 36th ratification.
Suffragists from Vermont and New Hampshire at the Vermont States Fair, 1912
Pro-suffrage postcard (Vermont Historical Society)
Governor Percival Clement
Protesters at the 1920 National Republican Convention claiming the Republican Party was blocking ratification in states like Vermont.
Sources
Bushnell, Mark. "The Again: Vermont missed being the deciding vote on women's suffrage--or did it?" VTDigger. February 16, 2020. https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/16/then-again-vermont-missed-being-the-deciding-vote-on-womens-suffrage-or-did-it/.
Grayson, Margaret. "Vermont Commemorates Victories and Inequities of the 19th Amendment." Seven Days. August 24, 2020. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/vermont-commemorates-victories-and-inequities-of-the-19th-amendment/Content?oid=31070914.
"Vermont and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 23, 2019. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/vermont-women-s-history.htm.
"Vermont and the Fight for Suffrage." Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. October 30, 2020. https://www.lcmm.org/vermont-and-the-fight-for-suffrage/.
"Women Get the Vote, 1920." Vermont History. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://vermonthistory.org/women-get-vote-1920.
Bushnell, Mark. "The Again: Vermont missed being the deciding vote on women's suffrage--or did it?" VTDigger. February 16, 2020. https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/16/then-again-vermont-missed-being-the-deciding-vote-on-womens-suffrage-or-did-it/.
Bushnell, Mark. "The Again: Vermont missed being the deciding vote on women's suffrage--or did it?" VTDigger. February 16, 2020. https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/16/then-again-vermont-missed-being-the-deciding-vote-on-womens-suffrage-or-did-it/.
Grayson, Margaret. "Vermont Commemorates Victories and Inequities of the 19th Amendment." Seven Days. August 24, 2020. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/vermont-commemorates-victories-and-inequities-of-the-19th-amendment/Content?oid=31070914.
Bushnell, Mark. "The Again: Vermont missed being the deciding vote on women's suffrage--or did it?" VTDigger. February 16, 2020. https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/16/then-again-vermont-missed-being-the-deciding-vote-on-womens-suffrage-or-did-it/.
Bushnell, Mark. "The Again: Vermont missed being the deciding vote on women's suffrage--or did it?" VTDigger. February 16, 2020. https://vtdigger.org/2020/02/16/then-again-vermont-missed-being-the-deciding-vote-on-womens-suffrage-or-did-it/.