WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE

August 18 marked the 99th anniversary of ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. The bill had narrowly passed both houses of Congress before being sent to the states to be ratified. Most Southern states did not support women's right to vote, but Texas was the first Southern state to ratify the Amendment on June 28, 1920.

The 19th Amendment states, "The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." Thirty-six states had to approve it before the constitutional change became law. By the late summer of 1920, thirty-five states had ratified the Amendment.

Tennessee started debating the Amendment in August of 1920. Thousands of suffragettes and protestors descended on Nashville. It had passed effortlessly in the state Senate but stalled in the state House of Representatives. Opponents wore red roses, while proponents wore yellow roses. One of the legislators with a red rose pinned to his lapel was Harry Burn, elected to the House two years before, at age 22.

Young Burn received a note from his mother on the day of the final vote. "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 haven't noticed anything. Be a good boy and help Miss Catt put the 'rat' in ratification," she wrote. (Miss Catt referred to Carrie Chapman Catt, one of the movement's leaders.)

Representative Burn cast the deciding vote in favor of the Amendment. With his 'aye' vote, he ended 52 years of tireless protesting by generations of suffragists like Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Carrie Catt. After casting his vote and fearing furious opponents to ratification, Burn fled to the galley to hide until the crowd dispersed. Burn defended his vote in a speech to the legislature the following day, stating, "We had a moral and legal right to ratify." But, he added, "I know that a mother's advice is always safest for a boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification."

The moral of the story is never to underestimate the power of women, particularly mothers. Representative Burn realized the threat of an angry mob could never match what his mother had waiting for him should he not follow her directive.