90 years ago today -- on August 26, 1920 -- 20 million American women won the right to vote.
Tennessee became the deciding vote on August 18, 1920, when legislator Harry T. Burn changed his NAY vote to YAY, after receiving a letter from his mother, which said in part:
Dear Son:
Hurrah and vote for suffrage! Don't keep them in doubt!
I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter.
I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not
noticed anything yet. Don't forget to be a good boy and
help Mrs. Catt put the "rat" in ratification.
Your mother
Harry Burn, the youngest member of the Tennessee legislature, explained his change of heart, saying, "I know that a mother's advice is always the safest for a boy to follow."
It had been a long, hard struggle, thwarted at every turn by husbands, police, politicians.... yes, even Presidents.
"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours."
- Former President Grover Cleveland, 1905, Ladies' Home Journal
Women were beaten, jailed, ridiculed, for trying to claim what should have long been a civil right.... and still, they had a sense of humor.
WHY WE DON'T WANT MEN TO VOTE
by Alice Duer Miller, 1915
- Because man's place is in the army.
- Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it.
- Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them.
- Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms, and drums.
- Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them unfit for government.
"What you want, I suppose," said Mr. Woolsley, "is to vote, just like the men do."
"Certainly not," replied Mrs. Woolsley. "If we couldn't do any better than that, there would be no use of our voting."