The Story of the Woman's Party

by Inez Haynes Gillmore

WASHINGTON.

June 13, 1919.

By direction of the Acting Secretary of State, I hereby acknowledge the receipt of a certified copy of the Joint Resolution of the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, ratifying the proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right of Suffrage to women, which was delivered by Special Messenger, D. G. James, on June 13, 1919, and is the first ratification of the Amendment which has been received.

J. A. Towner,

Chief of Bureau.

Michigan, almost neck and neck in the race with Wisconsin, ratified on June 10. Kansas, Ohio, and New York ratified on June 16. Kansas was the first State to call its Legislature in special session to ratify the Suffrage Amendment, the first also in which the legislators paid their own expenses to attend the special session. Illinois, held up by that mistake in printing, ratified on June 17.

Pennsylvania, the first non-Suffrage State, ratified on June 24, but not without a struggle. The session of the Legislature was drawing to a close and it was difficult to get the measure introduced. The National Woman’s Party made a strenuous campaign. Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Ratification Committee, enlisted the aid of Governor Sproul and in a conference with Senator Penrose, who had been one of the strongest opponents to the Suffrage Amendment in the United States Senate, persuaded him to give his support to ratification. Mary Ingham, the State Chairman, brought all the Woman’s Party forces in the State to bear upon the situation. The scene in the Senate when the vote was taken was highly colorful. The floor was a waving mass of purple, white, and gold. The tri-color badges of the National Woman’s Party appeared everywhere on the floor and among the audience. There was such demand for the Woman’s Party colors that at the last moment the stock had to be replenished. After the final victory in the House, a parade of purple, white, and gold blazed its way through Harrisburg.

Massachusetts followed close on Pennsylvania, ratifying on June 25. Agnes Morey, the State Chairman of the National Woman’s Party, assisted by members of the State branch, and by Betty Gram, national organizer, made the intensive drive on the Legislature, which resulted in their bringing the Bay State into camp. Here, Senator Lodge, another hitherto unchangeable opponent to the Suffrage Amendment in the United States Senate, did not oppose the measure when it came up before the Massachusetts Legislature, although he did not give the support which Penrose of Pennsylvania gave.

Texas, the first Democratic “one-party” State to do so, ratified by special session on June 28. Iowa, after an appeal for a special session from Senator Cummins to Governor Harding—this was done at the instance of the Woman’s Party—ratified on July 2; Missouri ratified by special session on July 3.

In the meantime the Legislature of Alabama, which only convenes once in four years, met and although Suffragists had not wanted this session and had very little hope of success, they conducted a campaign for ratification. As it was the first Democratic State in which there was difficulty, an appeal was made to the President. He despatched the following telegrams: