Ratifying the 19th Amendment | The Vote | American Experience | PBS

after years of militant protest the image was at least improbable alice paul needle and thread in hand patiently stitching satin stars to a flag a gambit for publicity she dubbed the betsy ross of suffrage when a similar photograph featuring another woman's party member in the role of ross appeared on the cover of the suffragist in mid-july 1919 the flag bore 11 stars one for each of the states that had already ratified the 19th amendment subsequent editions would track its progress through the state houses of america three-quarters of the states have to ratify any federal amendment there are 48 states in 1920 that means 36 states have to ratify there were not 36 states at that point that already allowed women to vote nowhere near that close and so each state to add to that was a real battle [Music] in capitals both north and south from boston massachusetts to austin texas the decades-long struggle was reenacted once more governors asked to call special sessions dug in their heels legislators debated and wavered and organized anti-suffrage women who for years have been distracted by the war in europe surfaced once again to plead that their sex be left out of the electorate it took the suffragists a full year but as of mid-june 1920 35 states had ratified the amendment eight more seven of them in the solid south had rejected it three others refused even to consider it that left as a possible 36th only north carolina where defeat was all but certain and tennessee which just the previous year had extended presidential voting rights to women in a bitterly contested battle that split the dominant democratic party tennessee's governor albert roberts at first refused to call a special session then in late june came a wire from president wilson who pressed the governor to deliver the final state so that the democrats could take credit for it roberts who like to say that wilson was his moses compliantly set the date for monday august 9th the suffragists do not want to stage this in tennessee tennessee is a border state part of it had actually supported the union during the confederacy but it's still a southern state and it's still a terrible place to have to put all your marbles for the last possible ratification there is a presidential election looming in the fall the first election since the end of world war one and a time when the whole world is realigning and america is going to have to make big decisions about its role in the world the suffrage just want to be part of this and they've come to the very threshold so tennessee becomes the last hope for both the suffragists and the anti-suffrages it's the last stand [Music] they began to converge on nashville during the first abysmally hot week in august 1920. suffragists and anti-suffragists legislators lobbyists reporters all of them primed for the final showdown [Music] carrie chapman cat had been in town for a month already preparing the legislative ground from her third floor suite at the hermitage hotel carrie cat has been leading the field work for the suffragists they want legislators to commit in advance to sign a paper saying yes i'm going to vote for the federal amendment they send tennessee women out to every town in hamlet and say we are your constituents you have to sign this and so by their count they have the votes [Music] but now as new arrivals crowded into town cat had a dark sense of foreboding [Music] the anti-suffragists also have their headquarters in the hermitage hotel and you have the corporate lobbyists and the politicians who have come in from all over the country and they were also staying in the hotel even though prohibition is already in effect they open what they call the jack daniels suite on the eighth floor a 24 7 speakeasy where liquor is dispensed morning noon and night to any legislator who will come up and listen to the arguments why they should vote against suffrage and there's money being passed there's threats being made to get them to change their vote alice paul stuck in washington dc raising funds for the ratification campaign got word of the shady dealings from sue white a veteran picketer and native tennessean whom paul had put in charge of the woman's party efforts on the ground nobody will say how bulk of republicans will vote white wrote paul some reports antis using money wish greatly you were here at noon on monday august 9th the pounding of gavels brought both the tennessee senate and house to order and set in motion one of the most contentious and chaotic legislative sessions in the history of the republic employing a series of procedural hijinks purposeful clerical errors resolutions to delay maddening adjournments opponents of the amendment first managed to stall the senate vote until friday leaving legislators with little to do all week but mingle at the hermitage carrick convenes her suffragists and says okay how many of these legislators are susceptible to bribes yes we have his pledge but is it reliable and what they find is those pledges begin to get reneged by the time the senate passed the amendment 25 to 4 the vote in the house had been postponed worse still speaker seth walker who had originally pledged i had double-crossed the suffragists and vowed to bring with him as many house members as he could muster tallies made friday night indicated ratification would fail by two votes it was a trying weekend with drunken legislators wandering the halls of the hermitage and weary suffragists keeping watch over their pledged delegates lest any one of them slip away the suffragists see the erosion of their support and they know that it's other influences that are coming to bear they realize they don't have the votes they're probably going to lose carrie cat realizes that she's been working for this cause for 30 years and this may be it this may be the end [Music] on wednesday august 18th after nine days of delays and three and a half hours of debate the suffrage measure finally moved to a vote on the house floor [Music] in the galleries anxious women reviewed their tallies two votes shy of the required majority the chief clerk began to call the role anderson bell byrne harry byrne was 24 years old the youngest member of the legislature and a representative of a strenuously anti-suffrage rural district [Music] but that morning a page had handed him a letter from his mother which spoke more loudly to burn than did his constituents it's a mother's letter she's asking him to go shopping for her in the big city and buy some sheet music but she also says she's been reading the papers and noticing he's not been supporting the suffragists and she admonishes him and says be a good boy and help mrs kat to the astonishment of all harry byrne voted i bringing the tally dead even and there it remained through the rest of the roll call suffragists were already weeping softly when at the last possible moment banks turner suddenly stood to address the speaker the 30 year old farmer had been counted as an opponent but he'd kept silent when the roll was called now he announced he wished to be recorded as having voted i cat who'd elected to wait out the vote at the hermitage could hear the roar in the galleries clear across the street carrie cat's window faces the state house and she hears shouting and she realizes this is it the dream of her life was coming true [Music] outside the state house harry byrne paused to exchange congratulations with banks turner and the suffragists but only briefly having fled the torrent of insults in the house chamber through a window in the clerk's room the closeness of the vote shows you how important the struggle is and shows you you weren't just fighting windmills there is always an opponent and that opponent has power and they are yielding only because they have to the rush wire from nashville soon reached awaiting alice paul who hastily stitched to her ratification banner the long-awaited 36th star [Music] eight days later on august 26 1920 72 years after the movement for woman suffrage first turned into being secretary of state bainbridge colby certified the 19th amendment to the u.s constitution and with his seal enfranchised 26 million women of voting age the phrase you hear is in 1920 american women were given the vote it drives me crazy the struggle for women's suffrage takes over seven decades the women who began the movement didn't live to see it come to fruition and the women who took it over the finish line weren't born when it began and so you have these three generations of american women who all come together in this extraordinary movement for equality to reduce that to women being given the vote or granted the vote it just does a disservice to what is clearly one of the most sustained and successful moments of political mobilization in all of american history [Music] it wasn't just given to them women fought for the right to vote and they won the right to vote you

Channel: American Experience | PBS

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Keywords: Suffrage, sufferage suffragist, suffragette, Carrie Catt, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, 19th Amendment, Women’s right to vote, Women’s history, New York, Woodrow Wilson, Women’s suffrage, Voting Rights, Civil rights, American civics, 1920, voting, voters, votes for women, michelle Ferrari, ratification, 19 amendment, vote 100, amendment, constitution

Id: SR_IuRWaTWQ

Length: 13min 53sec (833 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 18 2020