Polarized Times: Woodrow Wilson and Women's Suffrage
As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, the issue of women's suffrage was a controversial political and human rights issue. Some of the state legislature, primarily in the West, but also in some states east of the Mississippi River, began to consider suffrage bills. Several states held voter referendums, but they were unsuccessful. The suffrage movement gained some momentum in the 1890s. Full women's suffrage had bee in existence in Wyoming when it had been a territory and this continued after it became a state in 1890. Colorado granted partial voting rights that allowed women to vote in school board elections in 1893 and Idaho granted women suffrage in 1896. Several more states passed legislation for women's suffrage beginning with Washington in 1910. Seven more western states followed wuit including California in 1911, Oregon, Arizona, and Kansas in 1912, Alaska Territory in 1913, and Montana and Nevada in 1914. All of the states that were successful in securing full voting rights for women prior to 1920 were in the West.
The first proposal for a federal amendment intended to grant women the right to vote was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 1878 by Aaron A. Sargent, a Senator from California and an advocate for women's suffrage. Famed suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women testified before the Senate in support of the amendment. The proposal sat in a committee until it was considered by the full Senate in 1887. The measure failed to pass by a vote of 16 in favor to 34 against. In 1888 an amendment was proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for limited suffrage for women who were spinsters or widows who owned property, but this measure also failed to pass.
In 1890 two organizations merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). This group tried to get state-level support for suffrage. One of the biggest problems was apathy among women themselves. The movement appeared to be losing momentum as no state granted women suffrage between 1896 and 1910. In 1900, Carrie Chapman Catt succeeded Susan B. Anthony as the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Catt's leadership revitalized the organization and its focus turned to the passage of a constitutional amendment allowing women the vote, while simultaneously supporting those who were fighting for the vote for women at the state level. Some states already already allowed women the right to vote for President and in thise state, Catt focused on passing a federal suffrage amendment. In other states, the focus would be on influencing state legislatures to amend their state constitutions. The organization also worked to elect congressmen who supported suffrage for women. By 1915, NAWSA was a large, powerful organization, with 44 state chapters and over 2 million members.
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns broke from NAWSA and founded the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage in 1913. Their main goal was to pressure the federal government to take legislative action. One of their first acts was to organize a women's suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. The procession attracted over 5,000 participants, the first of its kind. It also attracted a crowd of an estimated 500,000, as well as national media attention. Wilson largely ignored the protest and took no immediate action.
By the time World War I began in 1914, support for a federal amendment was still not present in any great strength. In 1914 a proposal for a constitutional amendment, nicknamed the "Susan B. Anthony Amendment", was once again considered by the Senate, and it was once again rejected.
In 1917, when the U.S. entered World War I, Catt decided to support the war effort, despite the widespread pacifist sentiment of many in her organization. Women were joining the labor force to replace men serving in the military. Catt argued that women's sacrifices made during the war had earned them the vote. them deserving of the vote. In March 1917, the Congressional Union joined with Women's Party of Western Voters to form the National Woman's Party (NWP). The NWP argued that it was hypocritical for the United States to be fighting for democracy abroad while restricting it at home.
The NWP employed tactics that included acts of civil disobedience and controversial demonstrations to draw more attention to the women's suffrage issue. In 1917, the NWP began picketing the White House to bring attention to the cause of women's suffrage. In April 1917 the "Anthony Amendment," which eventually became the Nineteenth Amendment, was reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate. Members of the NWP known as "Silent Sentinels", continued their picketing on the sidewalks outside the White House. Wilson would frequently take rides in his motor vehicle and was annoyed at their persistence. On July 4, 1917, Wilson ordered police to arrest the picketers and 168 of these women were arrested and sent to prison in Lorton, Virginia. Some of these women, including Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, went on hunger strikes. Some of these women were force fed. Others were otherwise brutally treated by prison guards. News of their treatment attracted public outrage and a few months later they were ordered to be released.
In 1918, President Wilson faced a difficult midterm election. The issue of women's suffrage was a significant issue in the election. By this time fifteen states had extended equal voting rights to women. Wilson realized that public opinion was shifting and that he was on the wrong side of the issue. He changed his tune and decided to support the federal amendment.
The issue was still a polarizing one. A proposal brought before the House in January 1918 and it passed by only one vote. The vote was then carried into the Senate where Wilson made a personal appeal on the Senate floor. In his brief speech, Wilson asked, "Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?" Despite his appeal, on September 30, 1918, the proposal fell two votes short of passage.
The failure of the bill to pass led the NWP to target its campaign resources against senators who had voted against the amendment. Further efforts to pass the amendment persisted. From January 1918 to June 1919, the House and Senate voted on the federal amendment five times. Each vote was extremely close. Southern Democrats continued to oppose giving women the vote.
The suffragist leaders pressured Wilson to call a special session of Congress. He scheduled such a session for May 19, 1919. On May 21, 1919, the amendment passed the House 304 to 89, 42 votes more than was necessary. On June 4, 1919, it was brought before the Senate and, initially was filibustered by Southern Democrats abandoned a filibuster. When the measure was voted on, 37 Republican Senators were joined by 19 Democrats to pass the amendment with 56 in favor and 25 against. 76% of Republican Senators voted in favor, while 60% of Democrat Senators voted against.
Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul mobilized the membership of their organizations to pressure states to ratify the amendment. In short order, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan did so, their legislatures being in session. By July, Montana, Arkansas, and Nebraska had approved ratification. Other states support proved more difficult to secure, with much of the opposition to the amendment came from Southern Democrat. The only one southern state to vote for ratification was Texas. Alabama and Georgia were the first states to defeat ratification. The governor of Louisiana worked to organize 13 states to resist ratifying the amendment. The Maryland legislature refused to ratify the amendment and attempted to prevent other states from doing so.
By the end of 1919, a total of 22 states had ratified the amendment. Meanwhile, opponents to ratification filed lawsuits requiring the federal amendment to be approved by state referendums. But by June, 1920, after intense lobbying by suffragist organizations, the amendment was ratified by 35 of the necessary 36 state legislatures. Ratification would be determined by Tennessee. In July, 1919, both opponents and supporters of the Anthony Amendment arrived in Nashville to lobby the General Assembly. Leading the opposition to the amendment was Josephine Pearson, state president of the Southern Women's Rejection League of the Susan. B. Anthony Amendment, who had served as dean and chair of philosophy at Christian College in Columbia. In the South, the question of women's suffrage was closely connected to issues of race. Some white suffragists tried to appease southerners by arguing that votes for women could counter the strength of the African-American vote, strengthening the cause of white supremacy. The anti-suffragists in the south told their audience that the federal amendment wasa "Force Bill", which Congress would use to give the vote not only to women, but also to African-American men who were still effectively disenfranchised through Jim Crow laws.
Tennessee's Democratic Governor Albert H. Roberts, supported ratification, but most lawmakers were undecided. On August 12, the legislature held hearings on the suffrage proposal. The next day the Senate voted 24-5 in favor of ratification. As the House prepared to take up the issue of ratification on August 18, lobbying intensified. House Speaker Seth M. Walker attempted to table the ratification resolution, but was defeated twice with a vote of 48-48. When it became clear that he did not have enough votes to carry the motion, representatives opposing suffrage boarded a train for Decatur, Alabama hoping to block a vote by preventing a quorum. Thirty-seven legislators fled to Decatur. The tactic failed. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee narrowly approved the Nineteenth Amendment, with 50 of 99 members of the Tennessee House of Representatives voting yes. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby received notice at 4:00 a.m. on August 26, 1920. Once certified as correct, Colby signed the Proclamation of the Women's Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, making the Nineteenth Amendment officially law as of that date.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the amendment's validity in Leser v. Garnett. Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised 26 million American women in time for the 1920 U.S. presidential election. Few women turned out to vote in the first national elections after the Nineteenth Amendment gave them the right to do so. In 1920, 36 percent of eligible women turned out to vote (compared with 68 percent of men). By 1960, women were turning out to vote in presidential elections in greater numbers than men and a trend of higher female voting engagement has continued into 2018.
The first proposal for a federal amendment intended to grant women the right to vote was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 1878 by Aaron A. Sargent, a Senator from California and an advocate for women's suffrage. Famed suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women testified before the Senate in support of the amendment. The proposal sat in a committee until it was considered by the full Senate in 1887. The measure failed to pass by a vote of 16 in favor to 34 against. In 1888 an amendment was proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for limited suffrage for women who were spinsters or widows who owned property, but this measure also failed to pass.
In 1890 two organizations merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). This group tried to get state-level support for suffrage. One of the biggest problems was apathy among women themselves. The movement appeared to be losing momentum as no state granted women suffrage between 1896 and 1910. In 1900, Carrie Chapman Catt succeeded Susan B. Anthony as the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Catt's leadership revitalized the organization and its focus turned to the passage of a constitutional amendment allowing women the vote, while simultaneously supporting those who were fighting for the vote for women at the state level. Some states already already allowed women the right to vote for President and in thise state, Catt focused on passing a federal suffrage amendment. In other states, the focus would be on influencing state legislatures to amend their state constitutions. The organization also worked to elect congressmen who supported suffrage for women. By 1915, NAWSA was a large, powerful organization, with 44 state chapters and over 2 million members.
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns broke from NAWSA and founded the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage in 1913. Their main goal was to pressure the federal government to take legislative action. One of their first acts was to organize a women's suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. The procession attracted over 5,000 participants, the first of its kind. It also attracted a crowd of an estimated 500,000, as well as national media attention. Wilson largely ignored the protest and took no immediate action.
By the time World War I began in 1914, support for a federal amendment was still not present in any great strength. In 1914 a proposal for a constitutional amendment, nicknamed the "Susan B. Anthony Amendment", was once again considered by the Senate, and it was once again rejected.
In 1917, when the U.S. entered World War I, Catt decided to support the war effort, despite the widespread pacifist sentiment of many in her organization. Women were joining the labor force to replace men serving in the military. Catt argued that women's sacrifices made during the war had earned them the vote. them deserving of the vote. In March 1917, the Congressional Union joined with Women's Party of Western Voters to form the National Woman's Party (NWP). The NWP argued that it was hypocritical for the United States to be fighting for democracy abroad while restricting it at home.
The NWP employed tactics that included acts of civil disobedience and controversial demonstrations to draw more attention to the women's suffrage issue. In 1917, the NWP began picketing the White House to bring attention to the cause of women's suffrage. In April 1917 the "Anthony Amendment," which eventually became the Nineteenth Amendment, was reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate. Members of the NWP known as "Silent Sentinels", continued their picketing on the sidewalks outside the White House. Wilson would frequently take rides in his motor vehicle and was annoyed at their persistence. On July 4, 1917, Wilson ordered police to arrest the picketers and 168 of these women were arrested and sent to prison in Lorton, Virginia. Some of these women, including Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, went on hunger strikes. Some of these women were force fed. Others were otherwise brutally treated by prison guards. News of their treatment attracted public outrage and a few months later they were ordered to be released.
In 1918, President Wilson faced a difficult midterm election. The issue of women's suffrage was a significant issue in the election. By this time fifteen states had extended equal voting rights to women. Wilson realized that public opinion was shifting and that he was on the wrong side of the issue. He changed his tune and decided to support the federal amendment.
The issue was still a polarizing one. A proposal brought before the House in January 1918 and it passed by only one vote. The vote was then carried into the Senate where Wilson made a personal appeal on the Senate floor. In his brief speech, Wilson asked, "Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?" Despite his appeal, on September 30, 1918, the proposal fell two votes short of passage.
The failure of the bill to pass led the NWP to target its campaign resources against senators who had voted against the amendment. Further efforts to pass the amendment persisted. From January 1918 to June 1919, the House and Senate voted on the federal amendment five times. Each vote was extremely close. Southern Democrats continued to oppose giving women the vote.
The suffragist leaders pressured Wilson to call a special session of Congress. He scheduled such a session for May 19, 1919. On May 21, 1919, the amendment passed the House 304 to 89, 42 votes more than was necessary. On June 4, 1919, it was brought before the Senate and, initially was filibustered by Southern Democrats abandoned a filibuster. When the measure was voted on, 37 Republican Senators were joined by 19 Democrats to pass the amendment with 56 in favor and 25 against. 76% of Republican Senators voted in favor, while 60% of Democrat Senators voted against.
Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul mobilized the membership of their organizations to pressure states to ratify the amendment. In short order, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan did so, their legislatures being in session. By July, Montana, Arkansas, and Nebraska had approved ratification. Other states support proved more difficult to secure, with much of the opposition to the amendment came from Southern Democrat. The only one southern state to vote for ratification was Texas. Alabama and Georgia were the first states to defeat ratification. The governor of Louisiana worked to organize 13 states to resist ratifying the amendment. The Maryland legislature refused to ratify the amendment and attempted to prevent other states from doing so.
By the end of 1919, a total of 22 states had ratified the amendment. Meanwhile, opponents to ratification filed lawsuits requiring the federal amendment to be approved by state referendums. But by June, 1920, after intense lobbying by suffragist organizations, the amendment was ratified by 35 of the necessary 36 state legislatures. Ratification would be determined by Tennessee. In July, 1919, both opponents and supporters of the Anthony Amendment arrived in Nashville to lobby the General Assembly. Leading the opposition to the amendment was Josephine Pearson, state president of the Southern Women's Rejection League of the Susan. B. Anthony Amendment, who had served as dean and chair of philosophy at Christian College in Columbia. In the South, the question of women's suffrage was closely connected to issues of race. Some white suffragists tried to appease southerners by arguing that votes for women could counter the strength of the African-American vote, strengthening the cause of white supremacy. The anti-suffragists in the south told their audience that the federal amendment wasa "Force Bill", which Congress would use to give the vote not only to women, but also to African-American men who were still effectively disenfranchised through Jim Crow laws.
Tennessee's Democratic Governor Albert H. Roberts, supported ratification, but most lawmakers were undecided. On August 12, the legislature held hearings on the suffrage proposal. The next day the Senate voted 24-5 in favor of ratification. As the House prepared to take up the issue of ratification on August 18, lobbying intensified. House Speaker Seth M. Walker attempted to table the ratification resolution, but was defeated twice with a vote of 48-48. When it became clear that he did not have enough votes to carry the motion, representatives opposing suffrage boarded a train for Decatur, Alabama hoping to block a vote by preventing a quorum. Thirty-seven legislators fled to Decatur. The tactic failed. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee narrowly approved the Nineteenth Amendment, with 50 of 99 members of the Tennessee House of Representatives voting yes. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby received notice at 4:00 a.m. on August 26, 1920. Once certified as correct, Colby signed the Proclamation of the Women's Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, making the Nineteenth Amendment officially law as of that date.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the amendment's validity in Leser v. Garnett. Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised 26 million American women in time for the 1920 U.S. presidential election. Few women turned out to vote in the first national elections after the Nineteenth Amendment gave them the right to do so. In 1920, 36 percent of eligible women turned out to vote (compared with 68 percent of men). By 1960, women were turning out to vote in presidential elections in greater numbers than men and a trend of higher female voting engagement has continued into 2018.