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Politics and civics

Where could women vote in 1919?

1917, picketing the white house
Photograph of fourteen suffragists in overcoats on picket line, holding suffrage banners in front of the White House. One banner reads: "Mr. President How Long Must Women Wait For Liberty".
Where women could vote in 1919
Where women could vote in 1919

As 1919 dawned, eight states still prohibited women from voting. Period.

They ran along the (mostly) southeastern seaboard:

  1. Alabama
  2. Florida
  3. Georgia
  4. North Carolina
  5. Pennsylvania
  6. South Carolina
  7. Virginia
  8. West Virginia

Most would also reject the 19th amendment; the exceptions were Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Only 15 states had granted full voting rights to women. With two exceptions, they were all west of the Mississippi River:

  • 1890: Wyoming
  • 1893: Colorado
  • 1896: Idaho, Utah
  • 1910: Washington
  • 1911: California
  • 1912: Arizona, Kansas, Oregon
  • 1914: Montana, Nevada
  • 1917: New York
  • 1918: Michigan, Oklahoma, South Dakota

The other 25 states had various degrees of voting rights, from “primary only” to “municipal only” to “presidential only.”

On June 4, 1919, Congress passed a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment extending the right of suffrage to women. The 19th Amendment was ratified August 18, 1920.

The road to the vote

The most famous public protest focused on women’s suffrage was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were the instigators.

Seventy years later in January, entering the last year of World War I (1914-1918), the U.S. House of Representatives passed (274-136) a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote.

Rep. Jeannette Rankin (MT), the first women in the House, called for passage by referencing the war:

How shall we answer the challenge, gentlemen: how shall we explain to them the meaning of democracy if the same Congress that voted for war to make the world safe for democracy refuses to give this small measure of democracy to the women of our country?

The U.S. Senate, however, failed to pass the measure.

 

U.S. House of Representatives, 1919

It was reintroduced in the 66th Congress (1919–1921) and overwhelmingly passed the House (304-90) on May 21, 1919. The areas where Congressmen voted no are not a surprise.

US House Vote on 19th Amendment
US House Vote on 19th Amendment, May 21, 1919

 

U.S. Senate, 1919

The vote in the U.S. Senate squeaked by the 2/3 requirement, 56-25 with 15 members not voting.

 

US Senate Vote on 19th Amendment
US Senate Vote on 19th Amendment, June 4, 1919

 

Senate vote, affirmed

  1. Ashurst (D-AZ)
  2. Capper (R-KS)
  3. Chamberlain (D-OR)
  4. Culberson (D-TX)
  5. Cummins (R-IA)
  6. Curtis (R-KS)
  7. Edge (R-NJ)
  8. Elkins (R-WV)
  9. Fall (R-NM)
  10. Fernald (R-ME)
  11. France (R-MD)
  12. Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
  13. Gronna (R-ND)
  14. Hale (R-ME)
  15. Harding (R-OH)
  16. Harris (D-GA)
  17. Henderson (D-NV)
  18. Johnson (R-CA)
  19. Jones (D-NM)
  20. Jones (R-WA)
  21. Kellogg (R-MN)
  22. Kendrick (D-WY)
  23. Kenyon (R-IA)
  24. Keyes (R-NH)
  25. Kirby (D-AR)
  26. La Follette (R-WI)
  27. Lenroot (R-WI)
  28. McCormick (R-IL)
  29. McCumber (R-ND)
  30. McKellar (D-TN)
  31. McNary (R-OR)
  32. Myers (D-MT)
  33. Nelson (R-MN)
  34. New (R-IN)
  35. Newberry (R-MI)
  36. Norris (R-NE)
  37. Nugent (D-ID)
  38. Page (R-VT)
  39. Phelan (D-CA)
  40. Phipps (R-CO)
  41. Pittman (D-NV)
  42. Poindexter (R-WA)
  43. Ransdell (D-LA)
  44. Sheppard (D-TX)
  45. Sherman (R-IL)
  46. Smith (D-AZ)
  47. Smoot (R-UT)
  48. Spencer (R-MO)
  49. Stanley (D-KY)
  50. Sterling (R-SD)
  51. Sutherland (R-WV)
  52. Thomas (D-CO)
  53. Walsh (D-MA)
  54. Walsh (D-MT)
  55. Warren (R-WY)
  56. Watson (R-IN)

Senate vote, opposed

  1. Bankhead (D-AL)
  2. Beckham (D-KY)
  3. Borah (R-ID)
  4. Brandegee (R-CT)
  5. Dial (D-SC)
  6. Dillingham (R-VT)
  7. Fletcher (D-FL)
  8. Gay (D-LA)
  9. Harrison (D-MS)
  10. Hitchcock (D-NE)
  11. Knox (R-PA)
  12. Lodge (R-MA)
  13. McLean (R-CT)
  14. Moses (R-NH)
  15. Overman (D-NC)
  16. Reed (D-MO)
  17. Simmons (D-NC)
  18. Smith (D-MD)
  19. Smith (D-SC)
  20. Swanson (D-VA)
  21. Trammell (D-FL)
  22. Underwood (D-AL)
  23. Wadsworth (R-NY)
  24. Williams (D-MS)
  25. Wolcott (D-DE)

Senators absent or voting present

  1. Ball (R-DE)
  2. Calder (R-NY)
  3. Colt (R-RI)
  4. Gerry (D-RI)
  5. Gore (D-OK)
  6. Johnson (D-SD)
  7. King (D-UT)
  8. Martin (D-VA)
  9. Owen (D-OK)
  10. Penrose (R-PA)
  11. Pomerone (D-OH)
  12. Robinson (D-AR)
  13. Shields (D-TN)
  14. Smith (D-GA)
  15. Townsend (R-MI)

senate vote on 19th amendment

Sources: Vote, Senate directory

Ratification Timeline

  1. Wisconsin (June 10, 1919)
  2. Illinois (June 10 & 17, 1919)
  3. Michigan (June 10, 1919)
  4. Kansas (June 16, 1919)
  5. New York (June 16, 1919)
  6. Ohio (June 16, 1919)
  7. Pennsylvania (June 24, 1919)
  8. Massachusetts (June 25, 1919)
  9. Texas (June 28, 1919)
  10. Iowa (July 2, 1919)
  11. Missouri (July 3, 1919)
  12. Arkansas (July 28, 1919)
  13. Montana (August 2, 1919)
  14. Nebraska (August 2, 1919)
  15. Minnesota (September 8, 1919)
  16. New Hampshire (September 10, 1919)
  17. Utah (October 2, 1919)
  18. California (November 1, 1919)
  19. Maine (November 5, 1919)
  20. North Dakota (December 1, 1919)
  21. South Dakota (December 4, 1919)
  22. Colorado (December 15, 1919)
  23. Kentucky (January 6, 1920)
  24. Rhode Island (January 6, 1920)
  25. Oregon (January 13, 1920)
  26. Indiana (January 16, 1920)
  27. Wyoming (January 27, 1920)
  28. Nevada (February 7, 1920)
  29. New Jersey (February 9, 1920)
  30. Idaho (February 11, 1920)
  31. Arizona (February 12, 1920)
  32. New Mexico (February 21, 1920)
  33. Oklahoma (February 28, 1920)
  34. West Virginia (March 10, 1920)
  35. Washington (March 22, 1920)
  36. Tennessee (August 18, 1920)
  37. Connecticut (September 14 & 21, 1920)
  38. Vermont (February 8, 1921)
  39. Delaware (March 6, 1923 after being rejected on June 2, 1920)
  40. Maryland (March 29, 1941 after being rejected on February 24, 1920)
  41. Virginia (February 21, 1952 after being rejected on February 12, 1920)
  42. Alabama (September 8, 1953, after being rejected on September 22, 1919)
  43. Florida (May 13, 1969)
  44. South Carolina (July 1, 1969 after being rejected on January 28, 1920)
  45. Georgia (February 20, 1970 after being rejected on July 24, 1919)
  46. Louisiana (June 11, 1970 after being rejected on July 1, 1920)
  47. North Carolina (May 6, 1971)
  48. Mississippi (March 22, 1984 after being rejected on March 29, 1920)

Tennessee’s ratification, on August 18, 1920, was the vote that amended the Constitution. Alaska and Hawaii were not states when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified.

 

:: Featured photo: Library of Congress
:: Cross-posted at The Moderate Voice

By Kathy E. Gill

Digital evangelist, speaker, writer, educator. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles! @kegill

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