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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/15376/archive/files/aa8d44ce94b948b4c1ce5ea992f5d21b.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=eyq%7EKeEgJ8YItHMfVsDHmCUXY%7Eq8EJrkTpYuIKDbgaETN8w8U4KokAPFMvUWOuDS44Pk2Ji-7Gtawraq7L8Y8IJhZGHOg1y8taojTlY04ZprQaqU2LkYKgwherSeh0awE7pmb6PmVt%7EpEWsNKUwGpznZgTsTeR9j-jiHTotZ0nR7Bt17VRohBYgI3wJ51RaWKMMFnoFmu9gmrw5g78357XWAqzDGjV4n7Dc-kP87ROHULrJwz4%7ECclgaqyF9aO%7EVLQ9mA4l58G5PfmXdYTmicterdl6C0g9272L9sIvHNAk8Ue1ZqeQLh2YKI%7EfFLN8k9OWjttkpRP66h-z9Svp9bQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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Politics
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Politics, 2016
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The University of Memphis Libraries
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<p class="Body1" align="center"><span>"Political Women: Before, During, and After the 19th Amendment"</span></p>
<p class="Body1"><br /> When asked, most people will say that women’s political roles began with the passing of the 19th amendment to the United States constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, women were active in politics long before that. Throughout history there has been a fight for women to gain a legal place in the political sphere; in fighting, women were already informally taking action in politics. From the common woman to more notable, women have worked together across centuries and numerous barriers to be formally included in politics. Women have been political beings long before the government recognized them as such. When the 19th amendment was passed, women’s participation in politics continued yet was still obstructed by discrimination.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> From the very formation of American democracy, women were left out of political processes. The new Republic held onto the notion of a “political father.” <a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> In this new nation where individualism and democracy were praised, women were overlooked politically. Though they held no formal political rights, women found themselves in the political sphere. The idea of Republican Motherhood promoted the notion that women should raise their sons to be good citizens, which placed an emphasis on women’s political nature. Women were expected to raise good voters but were denied the right to vote themselves. Despite their disenfranchisement, women still pushed for reform in legislation for issues such as child labor laws, education, healthcare, and more progressive issues such as women’s labor laws and birth control.<a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> Abigail Adams is one figure that exemplified the idea of Republican Motherhood. She was considered the "colonial foremother” of feminism and fought for abolition and universal suffrage.<a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Though women had no formal political rights, Abigail Adams was one of the first female presences that had significant influence in the history of women’s rights.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Even more well-known than Adams are the duo known for women’s progress in politics was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. When first meeting in 1851, Stanton was already well-versed in the world of reform. She had married antislavery orator Henry B. Stanton in 1840 along with having had an informal legal education from her father, Daniel Cady, a notable law instructor in New York. Instead of attending reform meetings, she worked behind the scenes as her role as a mother kept her busy. <a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> </p>
<p class="BodyA">Susan B. Anthony’s background significantly influenced her morale and her belief that women should have a say in political matters.<a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> Growing up Quaker, Anthony was brought up in a family with experience in abolitionist activism. After a failed attempt to speak at a temperance rally to discourage alcohol consumption, she realized that she needed to lobby with the suffragettes for women’s political rights. When she met Stanton in 1851, the pair immediately began moving to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became known as an inseparable duo.<a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> Anthony was the more versatile, working more with recruitment. Stanton wrote moving speeches and served as a firm foundation for Anthony to build from. The pair realized their combined potential and worked to create a suffrage movement that would change the course of history.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> The path to the 19th Amendment was anything but simple. Stanton and Anthony, as well as others, circulated petitions and urged Congress to pass an amendment to give women voting rights. Women picketed and campaigned because they realized quickly they not only had to fight for the right to vote, they had to win it.<a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see their Amendment passed, their work was fundamental in getting the amendment passed. After the American civil war, women’s rights leaders saw emancipation as one of the most important of their goals. They believed that it would be useful as both a symbol of women’s equality and individuality to help improve women’s legal and social conditions. The fight fell short when the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments only granted voting rights to black men.<a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In January of 1878, Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment (dubbed the Anthony Amendment) to the senate, but it sat in committees until 1887 when it was rejected by a 16 to 34 vote. As the number of states supporting suffrage grew, so did the number of supporters in Congress. In 1918, President Wilson endorsed the amendment and urged Democrats on Capitol Hill to give their support. In January 1918, the House of Representatives approved the amendment. However, in the Senate it failed to give 2/3 vote required for adoption. On February 10, 1919, it again failed by only one vote, but on June 4, 1919, the Congress of the United States finally approved the woman’s suffrage amendement.<a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Following that momentous approval, the suffragists needed to get three-quarters (36) of the states to ratify the amendment. The ratification process was anything but easy. Every state’s ratification (with the exception of four) met a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. The article “Has Ratification Been Easy?” from the <em>Suffragist</em><em>,</em> goes in details of the struggles women faced during this time. By the middle of June of 1920, a year after congress sent the amendment to the states for approval, 35 states had ratified, needing only one more to pass. In <em>One Woman, One Vote</em>, historian Anastasia Sims stated that the suffragist leaders were shocked when Delaware unexpectedly defeated the amendment. No other state was slated to hold a legislative session before the November 1920 election and many politicians from both side of the party wanted the proposal to be made part of the Constitution before the election. Some states, anti-suffragist, governors intentionally refused to call into session legislatures because they knew they were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Polls of the legislatures in Connecticut and Vermont suggested they would have ratified if called into Special Session, so the President called a Special Session of Congress to be brought before the House again. However, the anti-suffragist, anti-prohibition governors of the two states refused to do so. The cartoon “They Say”, illustrates the demand from Vermont legislatures who was constantly requesting a Special Session, but Governor Clement denied them based on his own anti-suffrage viewpoint, along with statements from him within the <em>Suffragist</em>. The people of Vermont were eager to support the amendment and wanted to be the 36th state but President Woodrow Wilson found an alternative.<a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Woodrow Wilson was able to convince the governors in North Carolina and Tennessee to call Special Sessions, but North Carolina defeated the amendment and urged Tennessee to follow their example. Suffragists were hoping on Tennessee legislatures would vote in their favor but were not sure of the outcome. The letters from President Woodrow Wilson, William L. Fierson and Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in the Suffragist. The <em>Suffragist</em> published letters from Wilson asking Roberts for a Special Session and asking Fierson for advice on ratification, along with responses from both. After long lobbying/debates in Nashville, TN, the final campaign for ratification took place. In the article, “TN 36th!” the <em>Suffragist</em> editors detailed the campaign for ratification. The article emphasizes the role of Sue White, the Tennessee State Chairman of the Women’s Party, and the leader in the final campaign. The result of the Tennessee legislature came to a tie of 48-48. The Speaker called the measure to a ratification vote (a recall vote), where most people assumed the vote was defeated by the ant-suffragist red flowers pinned to them.<a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Anti-suffragist representative, Harry Burn received a letter from his mother, Pheobe Ensminger Burn (also known as Miss Febb in the community). In the letter she wrote, “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. Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. Burn voted in favor of the amendment, resulting in Tennessee’s ratification. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920. The cartoon from the <em>Suffragist</em>, “Now All Together for the 36!” is an image of both parties standing on each side of a woman with a sash, with a banner above them reading “Tennessee”. This represents the two parties coming together supporting the amendment, and viewing women as equals. That following November 2, more than eight million women voted in the election. <a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1920, the passage of the 19th amendment changed the role of women in politics forever; for the first time in the country they were awarded the right to vote universally. Women showed up at the polls and “. . .were voting for and interested in the same issues that men were.” With the formal right to vote, women were still supporting many of the same issues; increased spending for schools and healthcare rights were two issues women involved themselves in right after winning the right to vote.<a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> The vast issues women were involved in kept them very busy politically as could be seen demonstrated in political cartoons of the day. One in particular shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by papers, each with an issues women were fighting for such as birth control, health care, and tax reform.<a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a>As time moved forward into the 1950s and 1960s women were still supporting similar issues and still are today. More recently, the gender gap in political interests have begun to break down. No longer are women primarily confined to domestic political issues; men and women alike are supporting the same issues and having differing views regardless of sex.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> To get a sense of what was happening with women in politics all over the nation we can specifically look at Tennessee, one of the pivotal and most controversial states in the passing of the 19th Amendment. Tennessee women generally followed the trend of other women all over the nation. Moving into the mid to late 1900s Tennessee women were finding ways to make their voices heard. The Tennessee League of Women Voters pushed two major issues: the revision of the Tennessee Constitution and reapportionment of the Tennessee state legislature. The league was greatly interested in state affairs. Their focus on reapportionment extended to overall efficiency of the state government. In the 1950s, the league extended their focus to matters of children and school board member selection and reform for the juvenile justice system. The women began promoting “personal democracy”.<a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> These Tennessee women were making the effort to establish a core of educated women voters and to make sure their voices were being heard.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1963, Tennessee Governor Frank Clement established the Government Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was tasked with exploring four specific areas of women’s lives: employment, different treatment under the law, educational policies concerning women, and the effect of insurance and tax laws on the income of women. The commission was composed of both women and men of both African American and white races. The commission ultimately came to call for an end to discriminatory pay policies, that women serve on juries, and to repeal the luxury tax specific to women (i.e. jewelry, make up and feminine products). Due to the pay gap and luxury taxes still remaining to this day, the commission was not successful in all of its goals, but in some it did make head way.<a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the 21st century, the role of women in politics was beginning to change. No longer was it new for women to be seen as political beings, and newer issues were beginning to interest women. One of the biggest issues that women took up was combatting violence against women. Though women’s violence has always existed and has to some degree been addressed by the law, the rising rape rates and their subsequent trials or lack thereof deeply concerned women. Besides their concern over violence towards women, women continued to support social services and child care, education, health care, and reproduction and family planning laws.<a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the most recent decade, women’s political participation has begun to fall; the novelty of being able to vote has worn off. Women don't remember the fight for suffrage, and the women who championed the 19th amendment are long gone. Children and grandchildren are no longer hearing the stories of how their ancestors fought to give them the right to vote. The lower voter turnout rates are not to blame solely on the lack of novelty of being a woman voter; voter turnout across the board has decreased in both men and women. However, despite this overall downwards trend in political participation, a gender division still exists. At the turn of 20th to 21st century, Tennessee was ranked particularly low in women’s political participation. In 1992-1996 the state ranked 46th out of the 50 states in both the percentage of women registered to vote and voter turnout amongst women. One area in which Tennessee was above average was in women’s resources ranking, 21st out of 50. Women officials in office were relatively low, however. There was only one woman in a statewide executive elected office in Tennessee and no women representing the state in congress by 2000. The state legislature boasted a 16.7 percent of women in 1999 and women made up 36.4 percent of the appointed officials in the state.<a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> In 2015, the number has only slightly increased to 17.4 percent in the state legislature but has gone back to 16.7 percent for 2016.<a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> Currently, there are now two women serving as congresswomen in the House of Representatives.<a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> One might think that the fight for equality and women’s rights would have long since been accomplished, and yet in our time of convenience it seems we have forgotten what a privilege it is to vote. There are countries in our world that still deny their women basic rights as human beings. To think that there are women in the world that do not know the triumph of having a say in such a male-dominated field seems inconceivable to the average American woman. It would seem that we view the world through rose-colored glasses and take for granted our advantage in the politics of the world, let alone the entire country. Some may say that we do not face the same hardships as our suffragette heroes of the past, but by careful examination of today’s political atmosphere, one might come to a vastly different conclusion. We must each use our earned right as intelligent and able women to distinguish ourselves not only in our country but also our homes. The modern woman must come to the realization that the battle was won, but the war is far from over.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> </p>
<div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> Linda K. Kerber <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship </em>(New York: Hill & Wang, 1998) Chapter 1.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920; Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”; Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : women, law, and policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994 pg 229 ; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Levin, P.L. (1996). Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), American first ladies Their lives and their legacy (pp. 16-45). New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> "Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement.</em> Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 9-11,81-88, 333; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation</em>: “Why?”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, 333-335.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a>“They Say” <em>The Suffragist,</em> pg 181; “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>pg 19;</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a><em> Suffragis</em>t: Special Session pg. 121-122; Suffragist: TN 36th (1&2) pg. 199-201 Sept. 1920; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville</em>: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a> Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a>; <em>Suffragist</em>: “Now All Together for the 36!”; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement</em>. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 338, 342-348</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994, 186-229</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 242-244</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a> Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : Politics, Economics, Health, Demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 21</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a>. "Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="BodyA" align="center">Works Cited</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Kerber, Linda K. <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, </em>New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women at the Polls." <em>The Suffragist</em>, December 1920. Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“Women’s Party, Busy!” <em>The Suffragist, </em>December 1920 Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Thompson, R.A. “After Suffrage: Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1994.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics, </em>Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Levin, P.L. Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), A<em>merican first ladies Their lives and their legacy New York</em>, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html">http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905">http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo">http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in the Progressive Era." Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement, </em>Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the</em></p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>South, and the Nation,</em> Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“They Say” <em>The Suffragist, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: Special Session, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: TN 36th (1&2) Sept. 1920, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a></span></p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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Date
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2016
Contributor
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Nadiya Workman, Jamey Wolf, Kate Wells
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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"Special Session in Tennessee"
Subject
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Special Session, Tennessee, 19th amendment, Woodrow Wilson, Albert H. Roberts, William L. Fierson
Description
An account of the resource
This article is in <em>The Suffragist,</em> that consist of letters/telegrams from President Wilson to Governor Albert H. Roberts of Tennessee appealing for a special ratification session. Govenor Roberts stated that he owuld comply with President Wilson, in support of the amendment and that a session will be called. the article also has a letter President Woodrow Wilson wrote to acting attorney general William L. Frierson, asking his opinion on the constatutionality of ratification by a special session of Tennessee Legislature. Attorney General responded quickly and stated, "After the Ohio case, this leaves no doubt in my mind taht Tennessee Legislature if called in session, will have the clear power to ratify the amendment not withstanding any provision of the Tennessee Constitution." I chose this article, with these letters because it shows proof of the complication of the state of Tennessee consitution and the Federal constitution. This article also shows the major role President Wilson had in the women's suffrage movement, involving the 19th amendment. He constantly was fighting for their rights and doing everything in his power to help.
Creator
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<em>The Suffragist</em>
Wilson, Woodrow
Roberts, Albert H.
Frierson, William L.
Source
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<em>The Suffragist. </em>June 1920 "Special Session in Tennessee"
Publisher
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The University of Memphis Libraries
Date
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June 1920
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
politics
Spring 2016
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Politics
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Politics, 2016
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The University of Memphis Libraries
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<p class="Body1" align="center"><span>"Political Women: Before, During, and After the 19th Amendment"</span></p>
<p class="Body1"><br /> When asked, most people will say that women’s political roles began with the passing of the 19th amendment to the United States constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, women were active in politics long before that. Throughout history there has been a fight for women to gain a legal place in the political sphere; in fighting, women were already informally taking action in politics. From the common woman to more notable, women have worked together across centuries and numerous barriers to be formally included in politics. Women have been political beings long before the government recognized them as such. When the 19th amendment was passed, women’s participation in politics continued yet was still obstructed by discrimination.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> From the very formation of American democracy, women were left out of political processes. The new Republic held onto the notion of a “political father.” <a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> In this new nation where individualism and democracy were praised, women were overlooked politically. Though they held no formal political rights, women found themselves in the political sphere. The idea of Republican Motherhood promoted the notion that women should raise their sons to be good citizens, which placed an emphasis on women’s political nature. Women were expected to raise good voters but were denied the right to vote themselves. Despite their disenfranchisement, women still pushed for reform in legislation for issues such as child labor laws, education, healthcare, and more progressive issues such as women’s labor laws and birth control.<a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> Abigail Adams is one figure that exemplified the idea of Republican Motherhood. She was considered the "colonial foremother” of feminism and fought for abolition and universal suffrage.<a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Though women had no formal political rights, Abigail Adams was one of the first female presences that had significant influence in the history of women’s rights.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Even more well-known than Adams are the duo known for women’s progress in politics was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. When first meeting in 1851, Stanton was already well-versed in the world of reform. She had married antislavery orator Henry B. Stanton in 1840 along with having had an informal legal education from her father, Daniel Cady, a notable law instructor in New York. Instead of attending reform meetings, she worked behind the scenes as her role as a mother kept her busy. <a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> </p>
<p class="BodyA">Susan B. Anthony’s background significantly influenced her morale and her belief that women should have a say in political matters.<a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> Growing up Quaker, Anthony was brought up in a family with experience in abolitionist activism. After a failed attempt to speak at a temperance rally to discourage alcohol consumption, she realized that she needed to lobby with the suffragettes for women’s political rights. When she met Stanton in 1851, the pair immediately began moving to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became known as an inseparable duo.<a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> Anthony was the more versatile, working more with recruitment. Stanton wrote moving speeches and served as a firm foundation for Anthony to build from. The pair realized their combined potential and worked to create a suffrage movement that would change the course of history.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> The path to the 19th Amendment was anything but simple. Stanton and Anthony, as well as others, circulated petitions and urged Congress to pass an amendment to give women voting rights. Women picketed and campaigned because they realized quickly they not only had to fight for the right to vote, they had to win it.<a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see their Amendment passed, their work was fundamental in getting the amendment passed. After the American civil war, women’s rights leaders saw emancipation as one of the most important of their goals. They believed that it would be useful as both a symbol of women’s equality and individuality to help improve women’s legal and social conditions. The fight fell short when the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments only granted voting rights to black men.<a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In January of 1878, Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment (dubbed the Anthony Amendment) to the senate, but it sat in committees until 1887 when it was rejected by a 16 to 34 vote. As the number of states supporting suffrage grew, so did the number of supporters in Congress. In 1918, President Wilson endorsed the amendment and urged Democrats on Capitol Hill to give their support. In January 1918, the House of Representatives approved the amendment. However, in the Senate it failed to give 2/3 vote required for adoption. On February 10, 1919, it again failed by only one vote, but on June 4, 1919, the Congress of the United States finally approved the woman’s suffrage amendement.<a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Following that momentous approval, the suffragists needed to get three-quarters (36) of the states to ratify the amendment. The ratification process was anything but easy. Every state’s ratification (with the exception of four) met a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. The article “Has Ratification Been Easy?” from the <em>Suffragist</em><em>,</em> goes in details of the struggles women faced during this time. By the middle of June of 1920, a year after congress sent the amendment to the states for approval, 35 states had ratified, needing only one more to pass. In <em>One Woman, One Vote</em>, historian Anastasia Sims stated that the suffragist leaders were shocked when Delaware unexpectedly defeated the amendment. No other state was slated to hold a legislative session before the November 1920 election and many politicians from both side of the party wanted the proposal to be made part of the Constitution before the election. Some states, anti-suffragist, governors intentionally refused to call into session legislatures because they knew they were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Polls of the legislatures in Connecticut and Vermont suggested they would have ratified if called into Special Session, so the President called a Special Session of Congress to be brought before the House again. However, the anti-suffragist, anti-prohibition governors of the two states refused to do so. The cartoon “They Say”, illustrates the demand from Vermont legislatures who was constantly requesting a Special Session, but Governor Clement denied them based on his own anti-suffrage viewpoint, along with statements from him within the <em>Suffragist</em>. The people of Vermont were eager to support the amendment and wanted to be the 36th state but President Woodrow Wilson found an alternative.<a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Woodrow Wilson was able to convince the governors in North Carolina and Tennessee to call Special Sessions, but North Carolina defeated the amendment and urged Tennessee to follow their example. Suffragists were hoping on Tennessee legislatures would vote in their favor but were not sure of the outcome. The letters from President Woodrow Wilson, William L. Fierson and Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in the Suffragist. The <em>Suffragist</em> published letters from Wilson asking Roberts for a Special Session and asking Fierson for advice on ratification, along with responses from both. After long lobbying/debates in Nashville, TN, the final campaign for ratification took place. In the article, “TN 36th!” the <em>Suffragist</em> editors detailed the campaign for ratification. The article emphasizes the role of Sue White, the Tennessee State Chairman of the Women’s Party, and the leader in the final campaign. The result of the Tennessee legislature came to a tie of 48-48. The Speaker called the measure to a ratification vote (a recall vote), where most people assumed the vote was defeated by the ant-suffragist red flowers pinned to them.<a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Anti-suffragist representative, Harry Burn received a letter from his mother, Pheobe Ensminger Burn (also known as Miss Febb in the community). In the letter she wrote, “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. Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. Burn voted in favor of the amendment, resulting in Tennessee’s ratification. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920. The cartoon from the <em>Suffragist</em>, “Now All Together for the 36!” is an image of both parties standing on each side of a woman with a sash, with a banner above them reading “Tennessee”. This represents the two parties coming together supporting the amendment, and viewing women as equals. That following November 2, more than eight million women voted in the election. <a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1920, the passage of the 19th amendment changed the role of women in politics forever; for the first time in the country they were awarded the right to vote universally. Women showed up at the polls and “. . .were voting for and interested in the same issues that men were.” With the formal right to vote, women were still supporting many of the same issues; increased spending for schools and healthcare rights were two issues women involved themselves in right after winning the right to vote.<a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> The vast issues women were involved in kept them very busy politically as could be seen demonstrated in political cartoons of the day. One in particular shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by papers, each with an issues women were fighting for such as birth control, health care, and tax reform.<a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a>As time moved forward into the 1950s and 1960s women were still supporting similar issues and still are today. More recently, the gender gap in political interests have begun to break down. No longer are women primarily confined to domestic political issues; men and women alike are supporting the same issues and having differing views regardless of sex.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> To get a sense of what was happening with women in politics all over the nation we can specifically look at Tennessee, one of the pivotal and most controversial states in the passing of the 19th Amendment. Tennessee women generally followed the trend of other women all over the nation. Moving into the mid to late 1900s Tennessee women were finding ways to make their voices heard. The Tennessee League of Women Voters pushed two major issues: the revision of the Tennessee Constitution and reapportionment of the Tennessee state legislature. The league was greatly interested in state affairs. Their focus on reapportionment extended to overall efficiency of the state government. In the 1950s, the league extended their focus to matters of children and school board member selection and reform for the juvenile justice system. The women began promoting “personal democracy”.<a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> These Tennessee women were making the effort to establish a core of educated women voters and to make sure their voices were being heard.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1963, Tennessee Governor Frank Clement established the Government Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was tasked with exploring four specific areas of women’s lives: employment, different treatment under the law, educational policies concerning women, and the effect of insurance and tax laws on the income of women. The commission was composed of both women and men of both African American and white races. The commission ultimately came to call for an end to discriminatory pay policies, that women serve on juries, and to repeal the luxury tax specific to women (i.e. jewelry, make up and feminine products). Due to the pay gap and luxury taxes still remaining to this day, the commission was not successful in all of its goals, but in some it did make head way.<a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the 21st century, the role of women in politics was beginning to change. No longer was it new for women to be seen as political beings, and newer issues were beginning to interest women. One of the biggest issues that women took up was combatting violence against women. Though women’s violence has always existed and has to some degree been addressed by the law, the rising rape rates and their subsequent trials or lack thereof deeply concerned women. Besides their concern over violence towards women, women continued to support social services and child care, education, health care, and reproduction and family planning laws.<a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the most recent decade, women’s political participation has begun to fall; the novelty of being able to vote has worn off. Women don't remember the fight for suffrage, and the women who championed the 19th amendment are long gone. Children and grandchildren are no longer hearing the stories of how their ancestors fought to give them the right to vote. The lower voter turnout rates are not to blame solely on the lack of novelty of being a woman voter; voter turnout across the board has decreased in both men and women. However, despite this overall downwards trend in political participation, a gender division still exists. At the turn of 20th to 21st century, Tennessee was ranked particularly low in women’s political participation. In 1992-1996 the state ranked 46th out of the 50 states in both the percentage of women registered to vote and voter turnout amongst women. One area in which Tennessee was above average was in women’s resources ranking, 21st out of 50. Women officials in office were relatively low, however. There was only one woman in a statewide executive elected office in Tennessee and no women representing the state in congress by 2000. The state legislature boasted a 16.7 percent of women in 1999 and women made up 36.4 percent of the appointed officials in the state.<a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> In 2015, the number has only slightly increased to 17.4 percent in the state legislature but has gone back to 16.7 percent for 2016.<a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> Currently, there are now two women serving as congresswomen in the House of Representatives.<a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> One might think that the fight for equality and women’s rights would have long since been accomplished, and yet in our time of convenience it seems we have forgotten what a privilege it is to vote. There are countries in our world that still deny their women basic rights as human beings. To think that there are women in the world that do not know the triumph of having a say in such a male-dominated field seems inconceivable to the average American woman. It would seem that we view the world through rose-colored glasses and take for granted our advantage in the politics of the world, let alone the entire country. Some may say that we do not face the same hardships as our suffragette heroes of the past, but by careful examination of today’s political atmosphere, one might come to a vastly different conclusion. We must each use our earned right as intelligent and able women to distinguish ourselves not only in our country but also our homes. The modern woman must come to the realization that the battle was won, but the war is far from over.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> </p>
<div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> Linda K. Kerber <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship </em>(New York: Hill & Wang, 1998) Chapter 1.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920; Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”; Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : women, law, and policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994 pg 229 ; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Levin, P.L. (1996). Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), American first ladies Their lives and their legacy (pp. 16-45). New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> "Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement.</em> Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 9-11,81-88, 333; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation</em>: “Why?”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, 333-335.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a>“They Say” <em>The Suffragist,</em> pg 181; “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>pg 19;</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a><em> Suffragis</em>t: Special Session pg. 121-122; Suffragist: TN 36th (1&2) pg. 199-201 Sept. 1920; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville</em>: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a> Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a>; <em>Suffragist</em>: “Now All Together for the 36!”; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement</em>. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 338, 342-348</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994, 186-229</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 242-244</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a> Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : Politics, Economics, Health, Demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 21</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a>. "Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="BodyA" align="center">Works Cited</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Kerber, Linda K. <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, </em>New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women at the Polls." <em>The Suffragist</em>, December 1920. Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“Women’s Party, Busy!” <em>The Suffragist, </em>December 1920 Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Thompson, R.A. “After Suffrage: Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1994.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics, </em>Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Levin, P.L. Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), A<em>merican first ladies Their lives and their legacy New York</em>, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html">http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905">http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo">http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in the Progressive Era." Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement, </em>Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the</em></p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>South, and the Nation,</em> Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“They Say” <em>The Suffragist, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: Special Session, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: TN 36th (1&2) Sept. 1920, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a></span></p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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Date
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2016
Contributor
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Nadiya Workman, Jamey Wolf, Kate Wells
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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"Tennessee, 36th!"
Subject
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politics, Tennessee, 19th amendment,
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"Tennessee--The 36th!" is a article from <em>The Suffragist</em> that was written in September 1920. The article talks about the week's of suspense that gave the final vote for ratification on August 18th. the article mentions Tennessee's intensive state wide campaign under the direction of Miss Sue White, who was the chairman and concentrated their efforts in Nashville. Before Miss White left Washington to head to Nashville, she polled the legislature in both Houses of the legislature for ratificaiton. The members of legislature were convinced that Special Sessions was legal and was ready to vote. However, when the Special Session came alot of the members of legislature changed their mind on their vote for the amendment due to pressure from anti-suffragist. The article goes in detail who changed their mind and who stood firm and resulted in a 48-48 tie. The Speaker of House called the measure to a ratification vote (recall vote) and that Burn stood up and voted in favor of the amendment (based on the letter he recieved from his mother the morning of) which ultimatley made Tennessee pass the ratificaiton and Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920.
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<em>The Suffragist</em>
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<em>The Suffragist</em>. Periodicals. September 1920 "Tennessee--36th!"
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The University of Memphis Libraries.
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September 1920
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
politics
Spring 2016
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/15376/archive/files/06a7ef29da502410786975cba9ec3445.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=DfCES2LJ9Z0tjl6F%7EM-pyIcaGh-oT4%7EvcdXvd2hGq2d6MZbjdgF2NC13HhEvS0FeNc9Hf7rceNT5Lae4kFeCIgeBR2yBhYaDLXUEdJzgXL5V8j6DIm9LYUB66BU1ZOKWJqx5c6JayzKGl4%7EEPcgV2rAvBTa64VOF5af74CMdUpqKaM%7EMZr9H%7EB7PgTIkptHFgGQDHePVUAZlZd6Sm3N7dXbgSMu7wJE91F%7EFORTfNwX8gM0V0K%7EuaadDyrviEoWvf64dKGtVHvohyagYwHTf25CKr5-StaEJo5ol5IBdrN3bm7Uu1EhulKWqYftxUF5GdQLyszL6XSX8oU69odHgcg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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Politics
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Politics, 2016
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The University of Memphis Libraries
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<p class="Body1" align="center"><span>"Political Women: Before, During, and After the 19th Amendment"</span></p>
<p class="Body1"><br /> When asked, most people will say that women’s political roles began with the passing of the 19th amendment to the United States constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, women were active in politics long before that. Throughout history there has been a fight for women to gain a legal place in the political sphere; in fighting, women were already informally taking action in politics. From the common woman to more notable, women have worked together across centuries and numerous barriers to be formally included in politics. Women have been political beings long before the government recognized them as such. When the 19th amendment was passed, women’s participation in politics continued yet was still obstructed by discrimination.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> From the very formation of American democracy, women were left out of political processes. The new Republic held onto the notion of a “political father.” <a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> In this new nation where individualism and democracy were praised, women were overlooked politically. Though they held no formal political rights, women found themselves in the political sphere. The idea of Republican Motherhood promoted the notion that women should raise their sons to be good citizens, which placed an emphasis on women’s political nature. Women were expected to raise good voters but were denied the right to vote themselves. Despite their disenfranchisement, women still pushed for reform in legislation for issues such as child labor laws, education, healthcare, and more progressive issues such as women’s labor laws and birth control.<a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> Abigail Adams is one figure that exemplified the idea of Republican Motherhood. She was considered the "colonial foremother” of feminism and fought for abolition and universal suffrage.<a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Though women had no formal political rights, Abigail Adams was one of the first female presences that had significant influence in the history of women’s rights.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Even more well-known than Adams are the duo known for women’s progress in politics was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. When first meeting in 1851, Stanton was already well-versed in the world of reform. She had married antislavery orator Henry B. Stanton in 1840 along with having had an informal legal education from her father, Daniel Cady, a notable law instructor in New York. Instead of attending reform meetings, she worked behind the scenes as her role as a mother kept her busy. <a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> </p>
<p class="BodyA">Susan B. Anthony’s background significantly influenced her morale and her belief that women should have a say in political matters.<a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> Growing up Quaker, Anthony was brought up in a family with experience in abolitionist activism. After a failed attempt to speak at a temperance rally to discourage alcohol consumption, she realized that she needed to lobby with the suffragettes for women’s political rights. When she met Stanton in 1851, the pair immediately began moving to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became known as an inseparable duo.<a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> Anthony was the more versatile, working more with recruitment. Stanton wrote moving speeches and served as a firm foundation for Anthony to build from. The pair realized their combined potential and worked to create a suffrage movement that would change the course of history.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> The path to the 19th Amendment was anything but simple. Stanton and Anthony, as well as others, circulated petitions and urged Congress to pass an amendment to give women voting rights. Women picketed and campaigned because they realized quickly they not only had to fight for the right to vote, they had to win it.<a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see their Amendment passed, their work was fundamental in getting the amendment passed. After the American civil war, women’s rights leaders saw emancipation as one of the most important of their goals. They believed that it would be useful as both a symbol of women’s equality and individuality to help improve women’s legal and social conditions. The fight fell short when the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments only granted voting rights to black men.<a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In January of 1878, Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment (dubbed the Anthony Amendment) to the senate, but it sat in committees until 1887 when it was rejected by a 16 to 34 vote. As the number of states supporting suffrage grew, so did the number of supporters in Congress. In 1918, President Wilson endorsed the amendment and urged Democrats on Capitol Hill to give their support. In January 1918, the House of Representatives approved the amendment. However, in the Senate it failed to give 2/3 vote required for adoption. On February 10, 1919, it again failed by only one vote, but on June 4, 1919, the Congress of the United States finally approved the woman’s suffrage amendement.<a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Following that momentous approval, the suffragists needed to get three-quarters (36) of the states to ratify the amendment. The ratification process was anything but easy. Every state’s ratification (with the exception of four) met a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. The article “Has Ratification Been Easy?” from the <em>Suffragist</em><em>,</em> goes in details of the struggles women faced during this time. By the middle of June of 1920, a year after congress sent the amendment to the states for approval, 35 states had ratified, needing only one more to pass. In <em>One Woman, One Vote</em>, historian Anastasia Sims stated that the suffragist leaders were shocked when Delaware unexpectedly defeated the amendment. No other state was slated to hold a legislative session before the November 1920 election and many politicians from both side of the party wanted the proposal to be made part of the Constitution before the election. Some states, anti-suffragist, governors intentionally refused to call into session legislatures because they knew they were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Polls of the legislatures in Connecticut and Vermont suggested they would have ratified if called into Special Session, so the President called a Special Session of Congress to be brought before the House again. However, the anti-suffragist, anti-prohibition governors of the two states refused to do so. The cartoon “They Say”, illustrates the demand from Vermont legislatures who was constantly requesting a Special Session, but Governor Clement denied them based on his own anti-suffrage viewpoint, along with statements from him within the <em>Suffragist</em>. The people of Vermont were eager to support the amendment and wanted to be the 36th state but President Woodrow Wilson found an alternative.<a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Woodrow Wilson was able to convince the governors in North Carolina and Tennessee to call Special Sessions, but North Carolina defeated the amendment and urged Tennessee to follow their example. Suffragists were hoping on Tennessee legislatures would vote in their favor but were not sure of the outcome. The letters from President Woodrow Wilson, William L. Fierson and Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in the Suffragist. The <em>Suffragist</em> published letters from Wilson asking Roberts for a Special Session and asking Fierson for advice on ratification, along with responses from both. After long lobbying/debates in Nashville, TN, the final campaign for ratification took place. In the article, “TN 36th!” the <em>Suffragist</em> editors detailed the campaign for ratification. The article emphasizes the role of Sue White, the Tennessee State Chairman of the Women’s Party, and the leader in the final campaign. The result of the Tennessee legislature came to a tie of 48-48. The Speaker called the measure to a ratification vote (a recall vote), where most people assumed the vote was defeated by the ant-suffragist red flowers pinned to them.<a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Anti-suffragist representative, Harry Burn received a letter from his mother, Pheobe Ensminger Burn (also known as Miss Febb in the community). In the letter she wrote, “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. Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. Burn voted in favor of the amendment, resulting in Tennessee’s ratification. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920. The cartoon from the <em>Suffragist</em>, “Now All Together for the 36!” is an image of both parties standing on each side of a woman with a sash, with a banner above them reading “Tennessee”. This represents the two parties coming together supporting the amendment, and viewing women as equals. That following November 2, more than eight million women voted in the election. <a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1920, the passage of the 19th amendment changed the role of women in politics forever; for the first time in the country they were awarded the right to vote universally. Women showed up at the polls and “. . .were voting for and interested in the same issues that men were.” With the formal right to vote, women were still supporting many of the same issues; increased spending for schools and healthcare rights were two issues women involved themselves in right after winning the right to vote.<a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> The vast issues women were involved in kept them very busy politically as could be seen demonstrated in political cartoons of the day. One in particular shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by papers, each with an issues women were fighting for such as birth control, health care, and tax reform.<a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a>As time moved forward into the 1950s and 1960s women were still supporting similar issues and still are today. More recently, the gender gap in political interests have begun to break down. No longer are women primarily confined to domestic political issues; men and women alike are supporting the same issues and having differing views regardless of sex.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> To get a sense of what was happening with women in politics all over the nation we can specifically look at Tennessee, one of the pivotal and most controversial states in the passing of the 19th Amendment. Tennessee women generally followed the trend of other women all over the nation. Moving into the mid to late 1900s Tennessee women were finding ways to make their voices heard. The Tennessee League of Women Voters pushed two major issues: the revision of the Tennessee Constitution and reapportionment of the Tennessee state legislature. The league was greatly interested in state affairs. Their focus on reapportionment extended to overall efficiency of the state government. In the 1950s, the league extended their focus to matters of children and school board member selection and reform for the juvenile justice system. The women began promoting “personal democracy”.<a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> These Tennessee women were making the effort to establish a core of educated women voters and to make sure their voices were being heard.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1963, Tennessee Governor Frank Clement established the Government Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was tasked with exploring four specific areas of women’s lives: employment, different treatment under the law, educational policies concerning women, and the effect of insurance and tax laws on the income of women. The commission was composed of both women and men of both African American and white races. The commission ultimately came to call for an end to discriminatory pay policies, that women serve on juries, and to repeal the luxury tax specific to women (i.e. jewelry, make up and feminine products). Due to the pay gap and luxury taxes still remaining to this day, the commission was not successful in all of its goals, but in some it did make head way.<a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the 21st century, the role of women in politics was beginning to change. No longer was it new for women to be seen as political beings, and newer issues were beginning to interest women. One of the biggest issues that women took up was combatting violence against women. Though women’s violence has always existed and has to some degree been addressed by the law, the rising rape rates and their subsequent trials or lack thereof deeply concerned women. Besides their concern over violence towards women, women continued to support social services and child care, education, health care, and reproduction and family planning laws.<a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the most recent decade, women’s political participation has begun to fall; the novelty of being able to vote has worn off. Women don't remember the fight for suffrage, and the women who championed the 19th amendment are long gone. Children and grandchildren are no longer hearing the stories of how their ancestors fought to give them the right to vote. The lower voter turnout rates are not to blame solely on the lack of novelty of being a woman voter; voter turnout across the board has decreased in both men and women. However, despite this overall downwards trend in political participation, a gender division still exists. At the turn of 20th to 21st century, Tennessee was ranked particularly low in women’s political participation. In 1992-1996 the state ranked 46th out of the 50 states in both the percentage of women registered to vote and voter turnout amongst women. One area in which Tennessee was above average was in women’s resources ranking, 21st out of 50. Women officials in office were relatively low, however. There was only one woman in a statewide executive elected office in Tennessee and no women representing the state in congress by 2000. The state legislature boasted a 16.7 percent of women in 1999 and women made up 36.4 percent of the appointed officials in the state.<a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> In 2015, the number has only slightly increased to 17.4 percent in the state legislature but has gone back to 16.7 percent for 2016.<a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> Currently, there are now two women serving as congresswomen in the House of Representatives.<a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> One might think that the fight for equality and women’s rights would have long since been accomplished, and yet in our time of convenience it seems we have forgotten what a privilege it is to vote. There are countries in our world that still deny their women basic rights as human beings. To think that there are women in the world that do not know the triumph of having a say in such a male-dominated field seems inconceivable to the average American woman. It would seem that we view the world through rose-colored glasses and take for granted our advantage in the politics of the world, let alone the entire country. Some may say that we do not face the same hardships as our suffragette heroes of the past, but by careful examination of today’s political atmosphere, one might come to a vastly different conclusion. We must each use our earned right as intelligent and able women to distinguish ourselves not only in our country but also our homes. The modern woman must come to the realization that the battle was won, but the war is far from over.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> </p>
<div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> Linda K. Kerber <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship </em>(New York: Hill & Wang, 1998) Chapter 1.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920; Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”; Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : women, law, and policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994 pg 229 ; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Levin, P.L. (1996). Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), American first ladies Their lives and their legacy (pp. 16-45). New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> "Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement.</em> Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 9-11,81-88, 333; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation</em>: “Why?”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, 333-335.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a>“They Say” <em>The Suffragist,</em> pg 181; “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>pg 19;</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a><em> Suffragis</em>t: Special Session pg. 121-122; Suffragist: TN 36th (1&2) pg. 199-201 Sept. 1920; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville</em>: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a> Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a>; <em>Suffragist</em>: “Now All Together for the 36!”; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement</em>. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 338, 342-348</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994, 186-229</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 242-244</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a> Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : Politics, Economics, Health, Demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 21</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a>. "Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="BodyA" align="center">Works Cited</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Kerber, Linda K. <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, </em>New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women at the Polls." <em>The Suffragist</em>, December 1920. Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“Women’s Party, Busy!” <em>The Suffragist, </em>December 1920 Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Thompson, R.A. “After Suffrage: Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1994.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics, </em>Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Levin, P.L. Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), A<em>merican first ladies Their lives and their legacy New York</em>, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html">http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905">http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo">http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in the Progressive Era." Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement, </em>Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the</em></p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>South, and the Nation,</em> Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“They Say” <em>The Suffragist, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: Special Session, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: TN 36th (1&2) Sept. 1920, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a></span></p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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Date
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2016
Contributor
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Nadiya Workman, Jamey Wolf, Kate Wells
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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"They Say"
Subject
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Politics, Tennessee, Vermont, 19th amendment
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The drawing, "They Say" was published in 1920, in <em>The Suffragist.</em> The drawing illustrates a donkey holding a sign that says Tennesse and an elephant holding a sign that says Vermont. A woman in front of the two is wearing a suffrage sash and is holding a trophy that is that represents the 19th amendment. Tennessee has a sign that says "Dear lady walk upon this" and Vermont has a sign that says, "My fair lady, I implore you to cross to victory upon my rainment." I chose this drawing because it illustrates how Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment and how the legislature of Vermont wanted to become the 36th state that made the amendment pass. But the Governor Clement of Vermont did not allow them to have a Special Session. Which led President Wilson to try to convince Tennessee to have a Special Session, which they did and led Tennessee to becoming the 36th state and became the state that finalized the amendment.
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<em>The Suffragist</em>
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<em>The Suffragist</em>. Periodicals. July 1920 "They Say"
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University of Memphis Libraries.
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July 1920
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
politics
Spring 2016
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/15376/archive/files/c10eea84b532274f613bb73ecdc9eaea.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=n2CrC0z4GWNDPG8jzzWkje5pG2RYE5a2FR%7E6h30aOrbQ0Y%7EIkaDWfKuwflhjh5pyUPz8ABoB6pTgNcB59owZAQmQnhQV5%7EObpCg-MgGwgN518luY4S9FW9KtthryYhL0bwmxbl8dwa%7EbIkXNl6ZrY9%7Ek%7EEigsejXQReKaKk70TU-UoEtwkHx7SppFrYI1W3iWbS90B5-VcNF0abBXJpa7pR4we8esnJwhJHJGaoKN84v5bPohdJWo4jddZEUJM8AvjOGIXgQ65q0hm4GWGh5pVRv2MGtAFo30ysmjQgZF48TY53hZCmrDSO5CPT7vEwq7Zx09EGp-HWbjP-HYah0TA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
f313576adc28454a40fc043710ab36fc
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Politics
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Politics, 2016
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The University of Memphis Libraries
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<p class="Body1" align="center"><span>"Political Women: Before, During, and After the 19th Amendment"</span></p>
<p class="Body1"><br /> When asked, most people will say that women’s political roles began with the passing of the 19th amendment to the United States constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, women were active in politics long before that. Throughout history there has been a fight for women to gain a legal place in the political sphere; in fighting, women were already informally taking action in politics. From the common woman to more notable, women have worked together across centuries and numerous barriers to be formally included in politics. Women have been political beings long before the government recognized them as such. When the 19th amendment was passed, women’s participation in politics continued yet was still obstructed by discrimination.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> From the very formation of American democracy, women were left out of political processes. The new Republic held onto the notion of a “political father.” <a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> In this new nation where individualism and democracy were praised, women were overlooked politically. Though they held no formal political rights, women found themselves in the political sphere. The idea of Republican Motherhood promoted the notion that women should raise their sons to be good citizens, which placed an emphasis on women’s political nature. Women were expected to raise good voters but were denied the right to vote themselves. Despite their disenfranchisement, women still pushed for reform in legislation for issues such as child labor laws, education, healthcare, and more progressive issues such as women’s labor laws and birth control.<a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> Abigail Adams is one figure that exemplified the idea of Republican Motherhood. She was considered the "colonial foremother” of feminism and fought for abolition and universal suffrage.<a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Though women had no formal political rights, Abigail Adams was one of the first female presences that had significant influence in the history of women’s rights.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Even more well-known than Adams are the duo known for women’s progress in politics was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. When first meeting in 1851, Stanton was already well-versed in the world of reform. She had married antislavery orator Henry B. Stanton in 1840 along with having had an informal legal education from her father, Daniel Cady, a notable law instructor in New York. Instead of attending reform meetings, she worked behind the scenes as her role as a mother kept her busy. <a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> </p>
<p class="BodyA">Susan B. Anthony’s background significantly influenced her morale and her belief that women should have a say in political matters.<a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> Growing up Quaker, Anthony was brought up in a family with experience in abolitionist activism. After a failed attempt to speak at a temperance rally to discourage alcohol consumption, she realized that she needed to lobby with the suffragettes for women’s political rights. When she met Stanton in 1851, the pair immediately began moving to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became known as an inseparable duo.<a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> Anthony was the more versatile, working more with recruitment. Stanton wrote moving speeches and served as a firm foundation for Anthony to build from. The pair realized their combined potential and worked to create a suffrage movement that would change the course of history.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> The path to the 19th Amendment was anything but simple. Stanton and Anthony, as well as others, circulated petitions and urged Congress to pass an amendment to give women voting rights. Women picketed and campaigned because they realized quickly they not only had to fight for the right to vote, they had to win it.<a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see their Amendment passed, their work was fundamental in getting the amendment passed. After the American civil war, women’s rights leaders saw emancipation as one of the most important of their goals. They believed that it would be useful as both a symbol of women’s equality and individuality to help improve women’s legal and social conditions. The fight fell short when the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments only granted voting rights to black men.<a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In January of 1878, Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment (dubbed the Anthony Amendment) to the senate, but it sat in committees until 1887 when it was rejected by a 16 to 34 vote. As the number of states supporting suffrage grew, so did the number of supporters in Congress. In 1918, President Wilson endorsed the amendment and urged Democrats on Capitol Hill to give their support. In January 1918, the House of Representatives approved the amendment. However, in the Senate it failed to give 2/3 vote required for adoption. On February 10, 1919, it again failed by only one vote, but on June 4, 1919, the Congress of the United States finally approved the woman’s suffrage amendement.<a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Following that momentous approval, the suffragists needed to get three-quarters (36) of the states to ratify the amendment. The ratification process was anything but easy. Every state’s ratification (with the exception of four) met a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. The article “Has Ratification Been Easy?” from the <em>Suffragist</em><em>,</em> goes in details of the struggles women faced during this time. By the middle of June of 1920, a year after congress sent the amendment to the states for approval, 35 states had ratified, needing only one more to pass. In <em>One Woman, One Vote</em>, historian Anastasia Sims stated that the suffragist leaders were shocked when Delaware unexpectedly defeated the amendment. No other state was slated to hold a legislative session before the November 1920 election and many politicians from both side of the party wanted the proposal to be made part of the Constitution before the election. Some states, anti-suffragist, governors intentionally refused to call into session legislatures because they knew they were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Polls of the legislatures in Connecticut and Vermont suggested they would have ratified if called into Special Session, so the President called a Special Session of Congress to be brought before the House again. However, the anti-suffragist, anti-prohibition governors of the two states refused to do so. The cartoon “They Say”, illustrates the demand from Vermont legislatures who was constantly requesting a Special Session, but Governor Clement denied them based on his own anti-suffrage viewpoint, along with statements from him within the <em>Suffragist</em>. The people of Vermont were eager to support the amendment and wanted to be the 36th state but President Woodrow Wilson found an alternative.<a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Woodrow Wilson was able to convince the governors in North Carolina and Tennessee to call Special Sessions, but North Carolina defeated the amendment and urged Tennessee to follow their example. Suffragists were hoping on Tennessee legislatures would vote in their favor but were not sure of the outcome. The letters from President Woodrow Wilson, William L. Fierson and Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in the Suffragist. The <em>Suffragist</em> published letters from Wilson asking Roberts for a Special Session and asking Fierson for advice on ratification, along with responses from both. After long lobbying/debates in Nashville, TN, the final campaign for ratification took place. In the article, “TN 36th!” the <em>Suffragist</em> editors detailed the campaign for ratification. The article emphasizes the role of Sue White, the Tennessee State Chairman of the Women’s Party, and the leader in the final campaign. The result of the Tennessee legislature came to a tie of 48-48. The Speaker called the measure to a ratification vote (a recall vote), where most people assumed the vote was defeated by the ant-suffragist red flowers pinned to them.<a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Anti-suffragist representative, Harry Burn received a letter from his mother, Pheobe Ensminger Burn (also known as Miss Febb in the community). In the letter she wrote, “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. Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. Burn voted in favor of the amendment, resulting in Tennessee’s ratification. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920. The cartoon from the <em>Suffragist</em>, “Now All Together for the 36!” is an image of both parties standing on each side of a woman with a sash, with a banner above them reading “Tennessee”. This represents the two parties coming together supporting the amendment, and viewing women as equals. That following November 2, more than eight million women voted in the election. <a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1920, the passage of the 19th amendment changed the role of women in politics forever; for the first time in the country they were awarded the right to vote universally. Women showed up at the polls and “. . .were voting for and interested in the same issues that men were.” With the formal right to vote, women were still supporting many of the same issues; increased spending for schools and healthcare rights were two issues women involved themselves in right after winning the right to vote.<a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> The vast issues women were involved in kept them very busy politically as could be seen demonstrated in political cartoons of the day. One in particular shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by papers, each with an issues women were fighting for such as birth control, health care, and tax reform.<a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a>As time moved forward into the 1950s and 1960s women were still supporting similar issues and still are today. More recently, the gender gap in political interests have begun to break down. No longer are women primarily confined to domestic political issues; men and women alike are supporting the same issues and having differing views regardless of sex.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> To get a sense of what was happening with women in politics all over the nation we can specifically look at Tennessee, one of the pivotal and most controversial states in the passing of the 19th Amendment. Tennessee women generally followed the trend of other women all over the nation. Moving into the mid to late 1900s Tennessee women were finding ways to make their voices heard. The Tennessee League of Women Voters pushed two major issues: the revision of the Tennessee Constitution and reapportionment of the Tennessee state legislature. The league was greatly interested in state affairs. Their focus on reapportionment extended to overall efficiency of the state government. In the 1950s, the league extended their focus to matters of children and school board member selection and reform for the juvenile justice system. The women began promoting “personal democracy”.<a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> These Tennessee women were making the effort to establish a core of educated women voters and to make sure their voices were being heard.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1963, Tennessee Governor Frank Clement established the Government Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was tasked with exploring four specific areas of women’s lives: employment, different treatment under the law, educational policies concerning women, and the effect of insurance and tax laws on the income of women. The commission was composed of both women and men of both African American and white races. The commission ultimately came to call for an end to discriminatory pay policies, that women serve on juries, and to repeal the luxury tax specific to women (i.e. jewelry, make up and feminine products). Due to the pay gap and luxury taxes still remaining to this day, the commission was not successful in all of its goals, but in some it did make head way.<a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the 21st century, the role of women in politics was beginning to change. No longer was it new for women to be seen as political beings, and newer issues were beginning to interest women. One of the biggest issues that women took up was combatting violence against women. Though women’s violence has always existed and has to some degree been addressed by the law, the rising rape rates and their subsequent trials or lack thereof deeply concerned women. Besides their concern over violence towards women, women continued to support social services and child care, education, health care, and reproduction and family planning laws.<a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the most recent decade, women’s political participation has begun to fall; the novelty of being able to vote has worn off. Women don't remember the fight for suffrage, and the women who championed the 19th amendment are long gone. Children and grandchildren are no longer hearing the stories of how their ancestors fought to give them the right to vote. The lower voter turnout rates are not to blame solely on the lack of novelty of being a woman voter; voter turnout across the board has decreased in both men and women. However, despite this overall downwards trend in political participation, a gender division still exists. At the turn of 20th to 21st century, Tennessee was ranked particularly low in women’s political participation. In 1992-1996 the state ranked 46th out of the 50 states in both the percentage of women registered to vote and voter turnout amongst women. One area in which Tennessee was above average was in women’s resources ranking, 21st out of 50. Women officials in office were relatively low, however. There was only one woman in a statewide executive elected office in Tennessee and no women representing the state in congress by 2000. The state legislature boasted a 16.7 percent of women in 1999 and women made up 36.4 percent of the appointed officials in the state.<a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> In 2015, the number has only slightly increased to 17.4 percent in the state legislature but has gone back to 16.7 percent for 2016.<a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> Currently, there are now two women serving as congresswomen in the House of Representatives.<a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> One might think that the fight for equality and women’s rights would have long since been accomplished, and yet in our time of convenience it seems we have forgotten what a privilege it is to vote. There are countries in our world that still deny their women basic rights as human beings. To think that there are women in the world that do not know the triumph of having a say in such a male-dominated field seems inconceivable to the average American woman. It would seem that we view the world through rose-colored glasses and take for granted our advantage in the politics of the world, let alone the entire country. Some may say that we do not face the same hardships as our suffragette heroes of the past, but by careful examination of today’s political atmosphere, one might come to a vastly different conclusion. We must each use our earned right as intelligent and able women to distinguish ourselves not only in our country but also our homes. The modern woman must come to the realization that the battle was won, but the war is far from over.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> </p>
<div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> Linda K. Kerber <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship </em>(New York: Hill & Wang, 1998) Chapter 1.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920; Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”; Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : women, law, and policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994 pg 229 ; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Levin, P.L. (1996). Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), American first ladies Their lives and their legacy (pp. 16-45). New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> "Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement.</em> Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 9-11,81-88, 333; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation</em>: “Why?”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, 333-335.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a>“They Say” <em>The Suffragist,</em> pg 181; “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>pg 19;</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a><em> Suffragis</em>t: Special Session pg. 121-122; Suffragist: TN 36th (1&2) pg. 199-201 Sept. 1920; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville</em>: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a> Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a>; <em>Suffragist</em>: “Now All Together for the 36!”; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement</em>. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 338, 342-348</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994, 186-229</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 242-244</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a> Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : Politics, Economics, Health, Demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 21</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a>. "Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="BodyA" align="center">Works Cited</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Kerber, Linda K. <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, </em>New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women at the Polls." <em>The Suffragist</em>, December 1920. Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“Women’s Party, Busy!” <em>The Suffragist, </em>December 1920 Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Thompson, R.A. “After Suffrage: Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1994.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics, </em>Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Levin, P.L. Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), A<em>merican first ladies Their lives and their legacy New York</em>, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html">http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905">http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo">http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in the Progressive Era." Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement, </em>Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the</em></p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>South, and the Nation,</em> Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“They Say” <em>The Suffragist, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: Special Session, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: TN 36th (1&2) Sept. 1920, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a></span></p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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</div>
Date
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2016
Contributor
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Nadiya Workman, Jamey Wolf, Kate Wells
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Has Ratification Been Easy?
Subject
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The Suffragist, Ratification of 19th amendment, politics
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his is an article in The Suffragist in February of 1920, titled “Has Ratification Been Easy?” by Elizabeth Green Kalb. She talks about the difficulties of the ratification process and the oppositions women were forced to overcome. she goes in detail of the first month after the passage of the amendment by Congress. She emphasis on the difficulties of the south, east and west. Every state ratification (with the exception of four) meant a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. She states that the halfway mark has passed and how the long road of difficulties have just started, but the ratification was on it’s way. This played a role in the politics group paper that emphasized on the difficulties of the ratification and the major role the last state had in the ratification as well.
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<em>The Suffragist</em>
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The University of Memphis Libraries
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February 1920
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
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Kalb, Elizabeth Green
politics
Spring 2016
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3745599aa71635fb71917127c8114789
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Politics
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Politics, 2016
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The University of Memphis Libraries
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
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<p class="Body1" align="center"><span>"Political Women: Before, During, and After the 19th Amendment"</span></p>
<p class="Body1"><br /> When asked, most people will say that women’s political roles began with the passing of the 19th amendment to the United States constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, women were active in politics long before that. Throughout history there has been a fight for women to gain a legal place in the political sphere; in fighting, women were already informally taking action in politics. From the common woman to more notable, women have worked together across centuries and numerous barriers to be formally included in politics. Women have been political beings long before the government recognized them as such. When the 19th amendment was passed, women’s participation in politics continued yet was still obstructed by discrimination.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> From the very formation of American democracy, women were left out of political processes. The new Republic held onto the notion of a “political father.” <a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> In this new nation where individualism and democracy were praised, women were overlooked politically. Though they held no formal political rights, women found themselves in the political sphere. The idea of Republican Motherhood promoted the notion that women should raise their sons to be good citizens, which placed an emphasis on women’s political nature. Women were expected to raise good voters but were denied the right to vote themselves. Despite their disenfranchisement, women still pushed for reform in legislation for issues such as child labor laws, education, healthcare, and more progressive issues such as women’s labor laws and birth control.<a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> Abigail Adams is one figure that exemplified the idea of Republican Motherhood. She was considered the "colonial foremother” of feminism and fought for abolition and universal suffrage.<a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Though women had no formal political rights, Abigail Adams was one of the first female presences that had significant influence in the history of women’s rights.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Even more well-known than Adams are the duo known for women’s progress in politics was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. When first meeting in 1851, Stanton was already well-versed in the world of reform. She had married antislavery orator Henry B. Stanton in 1840 along with having had an informal legal education from her father, Daniel Cady, a notable law instructor in New York. Instead of attending reform meetings, she worked behind the scenes as her role as a mother kept her busy. <a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> </p>
<p class="BodyA">Susan B. Anthony’s background significantly influenced her morale and her belief that women should have a say in political matters.<a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> Growing up Quaker, Anthony was brought up in a family with experience in abolitionist activism. After a failed attempt to speak at a temperance rally to discourage alcohol consumption, she realized that she needed to lobby with the suffragettes for women’s political rights. When she met Stanton in 1851, the pair immediately began moving to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became known as an inseparable duo.<a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> Anthony was the more versatile, working more with recruitment. Stanton wrote moving speeches and served as a firm foundation for Anthony to build from. The pair realized their combined potential and worked to create a suffrage movement that would change the course of history.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> The path to the 19th Amendment was anything but simple. Stanton and Anthony, as well as others, circulated petitions and urged Congress to pass an amendment to give women voting rights. Women picketed and campaigned because they realized quickly they not only had to fight for the right to vote, they had to win it.<a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see their Amendment passed, their work was fundamental in getting the amendment passed. After the American civil war, women’s rights leaders saw emancipation as one of the most important of their goals. They believed that it would be useful as both a symbol of women’s equality and individuality to help improve women’s legal and social conditions. The fight fell short when the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments only granted voting rights to black men.<a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In January of 1878, Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment (dubbed the Anthony Amendment) to the senate, but it sat in committees until 1887 when it was rejected by a 16 to 34 vote. As the number of states supporting suffrage grew, so did the number of supporters in Congress. In 1918, President Wilson endorsed the amendment and urged Democrats on Capitol Hill to give their support. In January 1918, the House of Representatives approved the amendment. However, in the Senate it failed to give 2/3 vote required for adoption. On February 10, 1919, it again failed by only one vote, but on June 4, 1919, the Congress of the United States finally approved the woman’s suffrage amendement.<a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Following that momentous approval, the suffragists needed to get three-quarters (36) of the states to ratify the amendment. The ratification process was anything but easy. Every state’s ratification (with the exception of four) met a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. The article “Has Ratification Been Easy?” from the <em>Suffragist</em><em>,</em> goes in details of the struggles women faced during this time. By the middle of June of 1920, a year after congress sent the amendment to the states for approval, 35 states had ratified, needing only one more to pass. In <em>One Woman, One Vote</em>, historian Anastasia Sims stated that the suffragist leaders were shocked when Delaware unexpectedly defeated the amendment. No other state was slated to hold a legislative session before the November 1920 election and many politicians from both side of the party wanted the proposal to be made part of the Constitution before the election. Some states, anti-suffragist, governors intentionally refused to call into session legislatures because they knew they were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Polls of the legislatures in Connecticut and Vermont suggested they would have ratified if called into Special Session, so the President called a Special Session of Congress to be brought before the House again. However, the anti-suffragist, anti-prohibition governors of the two states refused to do so. The cartoon “They Say”, illustrates the demand from Vermont legislatures who was constantly requesting a Special Session, but Governor Clement denied them based on his own anti-suffrage viewpoint, along with statements from him within the <em>Suffragist</em>. The people of Vermont were eager to support the amendment and wanted to be the 36th state but President Woodrow Wilson found an alternative.<a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Woodrow Wilson was able to convince the governors in North Carolina and Tennessee to call Special Sessions, but North Carolina defeated the amendment and urged Tennessee to follow their example. Suffragists were hoping on Tennessee legislatures would vote in their favor but were not sure of the outcome. The letters from President Woodrow Wilson, William L. Fierson and Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in the Suffragist. The <em>Suffragist</em> published letters from Wilson asking Roberts for a Special Session and asking Fierson for advice on ratification, along with responses from both. After long lobbying/debates in Nashville, TN, the final campaign for ratification took place. In the article, “TN 36th!” the <em>Suffragist</em> editors detailed the campaign for ratification. The article emphasizes the role of Sue White, the Tennessee State Chairman of the Women’s Party, and the leader in the final campaign. The result of the Tennessee legislature came to a tie of 48-48. The Speaker called the measure to a ratification vote (a recall vote), where most people assumed the vote was defeated by the ant-suffragist red flowers pinned to them.<a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Anti-suffragist representative, Harry Burn received a letter from his mother, Pheobe Ensminger Burn (also known as Miss Febb in the community). In the letter she wrote, “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. Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. Burn voted in favor of the amendment, resulting in Tennessee’s ratification. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920. The cartoon from the <em>Suffragist</em>, “Now All Together for the 36!” is an image of both parties standing on each side of a woman with a sash, with a banner above them reading “Tennessee”. This represents the two parties coming together supporting the amendment, and viewing women as equals. That following November 2, more than eight million women voted in the election. <a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1920, the passage of the 19th amendment changed the role of women in politics forever; for the first time in the country they were awarded the right to vote universally. Women showed up at the polls and “. . .were voting for and interested in the same issues that men were.” With the formal right to vote, women were still supporting many of the same issues; increased spending for schools and healthcare rights were two issues women involved themselves in right after winning the right to vote.<a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> The vast issues women were involved in kept them very busy politically as could be seen demonstrated in political cartoons of the day. One in particular shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by papers, each with an issues women were fighting for such as birth control, health care, and tax reform.<a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a>As time moved forward into the 1950s and 1960s women were still supporting similar issues and still are today. More recently, the gender gap in political interests have begun to break down. No longer are women primarily confined to domestic political issues; men and women alike are supporting the same issues and having differing views regardless of sex.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> To get a sense of what was happening with women in politics all over the nation we can specifically look at Tennessee, one of the pivotal and most controversial states in the passing of the 19th Amendment. Tennessee women generally followed the trend of other women all over the nation. Moving into the mid to late 1900s Tennessee women were finding ways to make their voices heard. The Tennessee League of Women Voters pushed two major issues: the revision of the Tennessee Constitution and reapportionment of the Tennessee state legislature. The league was greatly interested in state affairs. Their focus on reapportionment extended to overall efficiency of the state government. In the 1950s, the league extended their focus to matters of children and school board member selection and reform for the juvenile justice system. The women began promoting “personal democracy”.<a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> These Tennessee women were making the effort to establish a core of educated women voters and to make sure their voices were being heard.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1963, Tennessee Governor Frank Clement established the Government Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was tasked with exploring four specific areas of women’s lives: employment, different treatment under the law, educational policies concerning women, and the effect of insurance and tax laws on the income of women. The commission was composed of both women and men of both African American and white races. The commission ultimately came to call for an end to discriminatory pay policies, that women serve on juries, and to repeal the luxury tax specific to women (i.e. jewelry, make up and feminine products). Due to the pay gap and luxury taxes still remaining to this day, the commission was not successful in all of its goals, but in some it did make head way.<a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the 21st century, the role of women in politics was beginning to change. No longer was it new for women to be seen as political beings, and newer issues were beginning to interest women. One of the biggest issues that women took up was combatting violence against women. Though women’s violence has always existed and has to some degree been addressed by the law, the rising rape rates and their subsequent trials or lack thereof deeply concerned women. Besides their concern over violence towards women, women continued to support social services and child care, education, health care, and reproduction and family planning laws.<a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the most recent decade, women’s political participation has begun to fall; the novelty of being able to vote has worn off. Women don't remember the fight for suffrage, and the women who championed the 19th amendment are long gone. Children and grandchildren are no longer hearing the stories of how their ancestors fought to give them the right to vote. The lower voter turnout rates are not to blame solely on the lack of novelty of being a woman voter; voter turnout across the board has decreased in both men and women. However, despite this overall downwards trend in political participation, a gender division still exists. At the turn of 20th to 21st century, Tennessee was ranked particularly low in women’s political participation. In 1992-1996 the state ranked 46th out of the 50 states in both the percentage of women registered to vote and voter turnout amongst women. One area in which Tennessee was above average was in women’s resources ranking, 21st out of 50. Women officials in office were relatively low, however. There was only one woman in a statewide executive elected office in Tennessee and no women representing the state in congress by 2000. The state legislature boasted a 16.7 percent of women in 1999 and women made up 36.4 percent of the appointed officials in the state.<a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> In 2015, the number has only slightly increased to 17.4 percent in the state legislature but has gone back to 16.7 percent for 2016.<a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> Currently, there are now two women serving as congresswomen in the House of Representatives.<a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> One might think that the fight for equality and women’s rights would have long since been accomplished, and yet in our time of convenience it seems we have forgotten what a privilege it is to vote. There are countries in our world that still deny their women basic rights as human beings. To think that there are women in the world that do not know the triumph of having a say in such a male-dominated field seems inconceivable to the average American woman. It would seem that we view the world through rose-colored glasses and take for granted our advantage in the politics of the world, let alone the entire country. Some may say that we do not face the same hardships as our suffragette heroes of the past, but by careful examination of today’s political atmosphere, one might come to a vastly different conclusion. We must each use our earned right as intelligent and able women to distinguish ourselves not only in our country but also our homes. The modern woman must come to the realization that the battle was won, but the war is far from over.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> </p>
<div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> Linda K. Kerber <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship </em>(New York: Hill & Wang, 1998) Chapter 1.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920; Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”; Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : women, law, and policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994 pg 229 ; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Levin, P.L. (1996). Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), American first ladies Their lives and their legacy (pp. 16-45). New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> "Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement.</em> Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 9-11,81-88, 333; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation</em>: “Why?”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, 333-335.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a>“They Say” <em>The Suffragist,</em> pg 181; “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>pg 19;</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a><em> Suffragis</em>t: Special Session pg. 121-122; Suffragist: TN 36th (1&2) pg. 199-201 Sept. 1920; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville</em>: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a> Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a>; <em>Suffragist</em>: “Now All Together for the 36!”; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement</em>. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 338, 342-348</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994, 186-229</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 242-244</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a> Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : Politics, Economics, Health, Demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 21</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a>. "Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx.</p>
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<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="BodyA" align="center">Works Cited</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Kerber, Linda K. <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, </em>New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women at the Polls." <em>The Suffragist</em>, December 1920. Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“Women’s Party, Busy!” <em>The Suffragist, </em>December 1920 Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Thompson, R.A. “After Suffrage: Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1994.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics, </em>Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Levin, P.L. Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), A<em>merican first ladies Their lives and their legacy New York</em>, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html">http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905">http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo">http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in the Progressive Era." Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement, </em>Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the</em></p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>South, and the Nation,</em> Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“They Say” <em>The Suffragist, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: Special Session, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: TN 36th (1&2) Sept. 1920, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a></span></p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
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</div>
Date
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2016
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Nadiya Workman, Jamey Wolf, Kate Wells
Dublin Core
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Title
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Women at the Polls
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Politics, Women at the Polls
Description
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Yet another feature of the Suffragist magazine was this article covering the topic of women at the polls. Due to no author being mentioned, the information and final article is most likely the product of numerous persons from the Suffragist. Women at the polls was a popular topic seeing as how just months before had woman officially won the right to even vote. The article covers many aspects of women’s voting from what they were supporting to how many of them were showing up. The article also covers that very few women were running for office and those that did were mostly unsuccessful. General statements were made about how women voters were supporting the same issues as men and placed their support behind issues such as hospitals for the mentally ill, increased expenditure for schools, better roads and so on. These were found in the features for certain crucial states such as Colorado, California and Connecticut. Delaware was another focus state being that forty precent of the state’s voters were women; this made the state a remarkable victory and testament to the handwork of women. New Hampshire is yet another state of focus due to it’s gaining two women on the state legislature. A number of other states are featured from Ohio to Virginia. Things discussed for states are voting percentages and registration percentages in states where such could be obtained and women running for office. Some states did have women elected though very few, while others had none. It is also important to note that the article makes sure to note the two political parties and how women were involved in such. For women who ran for office it was stated on what ticket they ran. Along with party affiliation, the general support or rather opposition of national issues such as the league of nations and women’s opposition to it are also touched on.
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The Suffragist, Periodical, vol VIII no 11
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The University of Memphis Libraries
Date
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c1920
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The Suffragist Volume VIII no 11.
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
politics
Spring 2016
-
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92f75587d9d39770d9f061d83d15d0c0
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Politics, Woman's Party Cartoon
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Woman's Party "Busy"
Description
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This illustration was featured in the December 1920 issue of the Suffragist magazine, a publication that focused not only on the suffrage movement but the political involvement of women. The publication was in production from before the 19th amendment to after its passing. This particular issue came after the amendment had gone into effect and featured articles and illustrations, much like this one, on the new role in which women were taking in politics. The political cartoon shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by mess of flying papers. Each one of these papers features a topic in which women were fighting for politically. From health care to birth control and child care to tax reform, this illustration features the wide range of subjects in which women were involved with in the 1920s. Some of the topics were ones that women had long been active in while others were relatively new topics for women. The cartoon was perhaps aimed to not only show that women were taking an active role in politics but to simply communicate to the average woman reader what issues were possibilities for them to support. Allender was able to creatively show not only a working woman, though one in a gendered job, but also that the woman’s party wasted no time in getting involved. The title of the cartoon “Woman’s Party Busy” and the cartoon itself communicate that women were increasingly expanding their political interests.
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Nina E. Allender
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The Suffragist, Periodical, vol VIII no 11
Publisher
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The University of Memphis Libraries
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
c1920
Rights
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
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Title
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Politics
Subject
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Politics, 2016
Publisher
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The University of Memphis Libraries
Rights
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
Description
An account of the resource
<p class="Body1" align="center"><span>"Political Women: Before, During, and After the 19th Amendment"</span></p>
<p class="Body1"><br /> When asked, most people will say that women’s political roles began with the passing of the 19th amendment to the United States constitution, which granted women the right to vote. However, women were active in politics long before that. Throughout history there has been a fight for women to gain a legal place in the political sphere; in fighting, women were already informally taking action in politics. From the common woman to more notable, women have worked together across centuries and numerous barriers to be formally included in politics. Women have been political beings long before the government recognized them as such. When the 19th amendment was passed, women’s participation in politics continued yet was still obstructed by discrimination.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> From the very formation of American democracy, women were left out of political processes. The new Republic held onto the notion of a “political father.” <a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> In this new nation where individualism and democracy were praised, women were overlooked politically. Though they held no formal political rights, women found themselves in the political sphere. The idea of Republican Motherhood promoted the notion that women should raise their sons to be good citizens, which placed an emphasis on women’s political nature. Women were expected to raise good voters but were denied the right to vote themselves. Despite their disenfranchisement, women still pushed for reform in legislation for issues such as child labor laws, education, healthcare, and more progressive issues such as women’s labor laws and birth control.<a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> Abigail Adams is one figure that exemplified the idea of Republican Motherhood. She was considered the "colonial foremother” of feminism and fought for abolition and universal suffrage.<a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Though women had no formal political rights, Abigail Adams was one of the first female presences that had significant influence in the history of women’s rights.</p>
<p class="BodyA">Even more well-known than Adams are the duo known for women’s progress in politics was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. When first meeting in 1851, Stanton was already well-versed in the world of reform. She had married antislavery orator Henry B. Stanton in 1840 along with having had an informal legal education from her father, Daniel Cady, a notable law instructor in New York. Instead of attending reform meetings, she worked behind the scenes as her role as a mother kept her busy. <a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> </p>
<p class="BodyA">Susan B. Anthony’s background significantly influenced her morale and her belief that women should have a say in political matters.<a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> Growing up Quaker, Anthony was brought up in a family with experience in abolitionist activism. After a failed attempt to speak at a temperance rally to discourage alcohol consumption, she realized that she needed to lobby with the suffragettes for women’s political rights. When she met Stanton in 1851, the pair immediately began moving to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became known as an inseparable duo.<a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> Anthony was the more versatile, working more with recruitment. Stanton wrote moving speeches and served as a firm foundation for Anthony to build from. The pair realized their combined potential and worked to create a suffrage movement that would change the course of history.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> The path to the 19th Amendment was anything but simple. Stanton and Anthony, as well as others, circulated petitions and urged Congress to pass an amendment to give women voting rights. Women picketed and campaigned because they realized quickly they not only had to fight for the right to vote, they had to win it.<a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> While neither Stanton nor Anthony lived to see their Amendment passed, their work was fundamental in getting the amendment passed. After the American civil war, women’s rights leaders saw emancipation as one of the most important of their goals. They believed that it would be useful as both a symbol of women’s equality and individuality to help improve women’s legal and social conditions. The fight fell short when the passing of the 14th and 15th amendments only granted voting rights to black men.<a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In January of 1878, Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 19th Amendment (dubbed the Anthony Amendment) to the senate, but it sat in committees until 1887 when it was rejected by a 16 to 34 vote. As the number of states supporting suffrage grew, so did the number of supporters in Congress. In 1918, President Wilson endorsed the amendment and urged Democrats on Capitol Hill to give their support. In January 1918, the House of Representatives approved the amendment. However, in the Senate it failed to give 2/3 vote required for adoption. On February 10, 1919, it again failed by only one vote, but on June 4, 1919, the Congress of the United States finally approved the woman’s suffrage amendement.<a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Following that momentous approval, the suffragists needed to get three-quarters (36) of the states to ratify the amendment. The ratification process was anything but easy. Every state’s ratification (with the exception of four) met a long and difficult campaign against either the governor, the legislature or both. The article “Has Ratification Been Easy?” from the <em>Suffragist</em><em>,</em> goes in details of the struggles women faced during this time. By the middle of June of 1920, a year after congress sent the amendment to the states for approval, 35 states had ratified, needing only one more to pass. In <em>One Woman, One Vote</em>, historian Anastasia Sims stated that the suffragist leaders were shocked when Delaware unexpectedly defeated the amendment. No other state was slated to hold a legislative session before the November 1920 election and many politicians from both side of the party wanted the proposal to be made part of the Constitution before the election. Some states, anti-suffragist, governors intentionally refused to call into session legislatures because they knew they were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Polls of the legislatures in Connecticut and Vermont suggested they would have ratified if called into Special Session, so the President called a Special Session of Congress to be brought before the House again. However, the anti-suffragist, anti-prohibition governors of the two states refused to do so. The cartoon “They Say”, illustrates the demand from Vermont legislatures who was constantly requesting a Special Session, but Governor Clement denied them based on his own anti-suffrage viewpoint, along with statements from him within the <em>Suffragist</em>. The people of Vermont were eager to support the amendment and wanted to be the 36th state but President Woodrow Wilson found an alternative.<a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Woodrow Wilson was able to convince the governors in North Carolina and Tennessee to call Special Sessions, but North Carolina defeated the amendment and urged Tennessee to follow their example. Suffragists were hoping on Tennessee legislatures would vote in their favor but were not sure of the outcome. The letters from President Woodrow Wilson, William L. Fierson and Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts in the Suffragist. The <em>Suffragist</em> published letters from Wilson asking Roberts for a Special Session and asking Fierson for advice on ratification, along with responses from both. After long lobbying/debates in Nashville, TN, the final campaign for ratification took place. In the article, “TN 36th!” the <em>Suffragist</em> editors detailed the campaign for ratification. The article emphasizes the role of Sue White, the Tennessee State Chairman of the Women’s Party, and the leader in the final campaign. The result of the Tennessee legislature came to a tie of 48-48. The Speaker called the measure to a ratification vote (a recall vote), where most people assumed the vote was defeated by the ant-suffragist red flowers pinned to them.<a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> Anti-suffragist representative, Harry Burn received a letter from his mother, Pheobe Ensminger Burn (also known as Miss Febb in the community). In the letter she wrote, “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. Be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. Burn voted in favor of the amendment, resulting in Tennessee’s ratification. Tennessee became the necessary 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment, and winning the women the right to vote.U.S. Secretary of State, Colby Bainbridge certified the results on 28 August 1920. The cartoon from the <em>Suffragist</em>, “Now All Together for the 36!” is an image of both parties standing on each side of a woman with a sash, with a banner above them reading “Tennessee”. This represents the two parties coming together supporting the amendment, and viewing women as equals. That following November 2, more than eight million women voted in the election. <a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1920, the passage of the 19th amendment changed the role of women in politics forever; for the first time in the country they were awarded the right to vote universally. Women showed up at the polls and “. . .were voting for and interested in the same issues that men were.” With the formal right to vote, women were still supporting many of the same issues; increased spending for schools and healthcare rights were two issues women involved themselves in right after winning the right to vote.<a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> The vast issues women were involved in kept them very busy politically as could be seen demonstrated in political cartoons of the day. One in particular shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by papers, each with an issues women were fighting for such as birth control, health care, and tax reform.<a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a>As time moved forward into the 1950s and 1960s women were still supporting similar issues and still are today. More recently, the gender gap in political interests have begun to break down. No longer are women primarily confined to domestic political issues; men and women alike are supporting the same issues and having differing views regardless of sex.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> To get a sense of what was happening with women in politics all over the nation we can specifically look at Tennessee, one of the pivotal and most controversial states in the passing of the 19th Amendment. Tennessee women generally followed the trend of other women all over the nation. Moving into the mid to late 1900s Tennessee women were finding ways to make their voices heard. The Tennessee League of Women Voters pushed two major issues: the revision of the Tennessee Constitution and reapportionment of the Tennessee state legislature. The league was greatly interested in state affairs. Their focus on reapportionment extended to overall efficiency of the state government. In the 1950s, the league extended their focus to matters of children and school board member selection and reform for the juvenile justice system. The women began promoting “personal democracy”.<a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> These Tennessee women were making the effort to establish a core of educated women voters and to make sure their voices were being heard.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> In 1963, Tennessee Governor Frank Clement established the Government Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was tasked with exploring four specific areas of women’s lives: employment, different treatment under the law, educational policies concerning women, and the effect of insurance and tax laws on the income of women. The commission was composed of both women and men of both African American and white races. The commission ultimately came to call for an end to discriminatory pay policies, that women serve on juries, and to repeal the luxury tax specific to women (i.e. jewelry, make up and feminine products). Due to the pay gap and luxury taxes still remaining to this day, the commission was not successful in all of its goals, but in some it did make head way.<a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the 21st century, the role of women in politics was beginning to change. No longer was it new for women to be seen as political beings, and newer issues were beginning to interest women. One of the biggest issues that women took up was combatting violence against women. Though women’s violence has always existed and has to some degree been addressed by the law, the rising rape rates and their subsequent trials or lack thereof deeply concerned women. Besides their concern over violence towards women, women continued to support social services and child care, education, health care, and reproduction and family planning laws.<a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> In the most recent decade, women’s political participation has begun to fall; the novelty of being able to vote has worn off. Women don't remember the fight for suffrage, and the women who championed the 19th amendment are long gone. Children and grandchildren are no longer hearing the stories of how their ancestors fought to give them the right to vote. The lower voter turnout rates are not to blame solely on the lack of novelty of being a woman voter; voter turnout across the board has decreased in both men and women. However, despite this overall downwards trend in political participation, a gender division still exists. At the turn of 20th to 21st century, Tennessee was ranked particularly low in women’s political participation. In 1992-1996 the state ranked 46th out of the 50 states in both the percentage of women registered to vote and voter turnout amongst women. One area in which Tennessee was above average was in women’s resources ranking, 21st out of 50. Women officials in office were relatively low, however. There was only one woman in a statewide executive elected office in Tennessee and no women representing the state in congress by 2000. The state legislature boasted a 16.7 percent of women in 1999 and women made up 36.4 percent of the appointed officials in the state.<a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> In 2015, the number has only slightly increased to 17.4 percent in the state legislature but has gone back to 16.7 percent for 2016.<a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> Currently, there are now two women serving as congresswomen in the House of Representatives.<a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a></p>
<p class="BodyA"> One might think that the fight for equality and women’s rights would have long since been accomplished, and yet in our time of convenience it seems we have forgotten what a privilege it is to vote. There are countries in our world that still deny their women basic rights as human beings. To think that there are women in the world that do not know the triumph of having a say in such a male-dominated field seems inconceivable to the average American woman. It would seem that we view the world through rose-colored glasses and take for granted our advantage in the politics of the world, let alone the entire country. Some may say that we do not face the same hardships as our suffragette heroes of the past, but by careful examination of today’s political atmosphere, one might come to a vastly different conclusion. We must each use our earned right as intelligent and able women to distinguish ourselves not only in our country but also our homes. The modern woman must come to the realization that the battle was won, but the war is far from over.</p>
<p class="BodyA"> </p>
<div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a> Linda K. Kerber <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship </em>(New York: Hill & Wang, 1998) Chapter 1.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920; Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”; Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : women, law, and policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994 pg 229 ; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a> Levin, P.L. (1996). Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), American first ladies Their lives and their legacy (pp. 16-45). New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[5]</sup></sup></a> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[6]</sup></sup></a> June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[7]</sup></sup></a> "Women in the Progressive Era." Women in the Progressive Era. Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[8]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement.</em> Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 9-11,81-88, 333; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation</em>: “Why?”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[9]</sup></sup></a> Spruill, 333-335.</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[10]</sup></sup></a>“They Say” <em>The Suffragist,</em> pg 181; “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>pg 19;</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[11]</sup></sup></a><em> Suffragis</em>t: Special Session pg. 121-122; Suffragist: TN 36th (1&2) pg. 199-201 Sept. 1920; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville</em>: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[12]</sup></sup></a> Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a>; <em>Suffragist</em>: “Now All Together for the 36!”; Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement</em>. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. 338, 342-348</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[13]</sup></sup></a> ”Women at the Polls” <em>The Suffragist </em>volume VIII no. 11 Dec 1920</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[14]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., “Women’s Party ‘Busy!’”</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[15]</sup></sup></a> Thompson, R.A. (1994). Ruth Thompson, “After Suffrage: : Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,1994, 186-229</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[16]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 242-244</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[17]</sup></sup></a> Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : Politics, Economics, Health, Demographics </em>(Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000), 17.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[18]</sup></sup></a> Ibid., 21</p>
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<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[19]</sup></sup></a> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a>. "Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="Footnote"><a title=""><sup><sup>[20]</sup></sup></a> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div>
<p class="BodyA" align="center">Works Cited</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Kerber, Linda K. <em>No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship, </em>New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women at the Polls." <em>The Suffragist</em>, December 1920. Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“Women’s Party, Busy!” <em>The Suffragist, </em>December 1920 Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Thompson, R.A. “After Suffrage: Women, Law, and Policy in Tennessee, 1920-1980” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University, 1994.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Institute for Women’s Policy Research, <em>The Status of Women in Tennessee : politics, economics, health, demographics, </em>Washington D.C.: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> Levin, P.L. Abigail (Smith) Adams (1744-1818), First Lady: 1797-1801. In L.L. Gould (Ed.), A<em>merican first ladies Their lives and their legacy New York</em>, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online." Stanton Biography: Stanton and Anthony Papers Online. July 2009. Accessed April 15, 2016. <a href="http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html">http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/ecsbio.html</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Susan B. Anthony." Bio.com. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905">http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">June-Friesen, Kate. "Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together." The National Endowment for the Humanities. July/August 2014. Accessed April 22, 2016. <a href="http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo">http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/old-friends-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony-made-histo</a>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in the Progressive Era." Accessed April 23, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian.<em> One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement, </em>Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Spruill, Marjorie Julian. <em>Votes for Women! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the</em></p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>South, and the Nation,</em> Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.</p>
<p class="Footnote">“They Say” <em>The Suffragist, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> “Has Ratification Been Easy” <em>The Suffragist Feb 1920, </em>Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: Special Session, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote"><em>The Suffragis</em>t: TN 36th (1&2) Sept. 1920, Periodicals, Available at University of Memphis McWherter Library Special Collections.</p>
<p class="Footnote">Cohen, Jennie. "The Mother Who Saved Suffrage: Passing the 19th Amendment." History.com. August 16, 2010. Accessed April 15, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment">http://www.history.com/news/the-mother-who-saved-suffrage-passing-the-19th-amendment</a></span></p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Women in State Legislators for 2015." National Conference for State Legislature. September 4, 2015. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2015.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote">"Women in State Legislators for 2016." National Conference for State Legislature. February 4, 2016. <span><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx">http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2016.aspx</a></span>.</p>
<p class="Footnote"> "Tennessee." GovTrack.us. Accessed April 15, 2016. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TN.</p>
</div>
</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Nadiya Workman, Jamey Wolf, Kate Wells
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Woman's Party "Busy"
Subject
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Politics
Description
An account of the resource
This illustration was featured in the December 1920 issue of the Suffragist magazine, a publication that focused not only on the suffrage movement but the political involvement of women. The publication was in production from before the 19th amendment to after its passing. This particular issue came after the amendment had gone into effect and featured articles and illustrations, much like this one, on the new role in which women were taking in politics. The political cartoon shows a woman telephone operator surrounded by mess of flying papers. Each one of these papers features a topic in which women were fighting for politically. From health care to birth control and child care to tax reform, this illustration features the wide range of subjects in which women were involved with in the 1920s. Some of the topics were ones that women had long been active in while others were relatively new topics for women. The cartoon was perhaps aimed to not only show that women were taking an active role in politics but to simply communicate to the average woman reader what issues were possibilities for them to support. Allender was able to creatively show not only a working woman, though one in a gendered job, but also that the woman’s party wasted no time in getting involved. The title of the cartoon “Woman’s Party Busy” and the cartoon itself communicate that women were increasingly expanding their political interests.
Creator
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Nina E. Allender
Source
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The Suffragist, Periodical, vol VIII no 11.
Publisher
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The University of Memphis Libraries
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920.
Rights
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Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All rights reserved.
politics
Spring 2016