While the senator tried to catch his breath, he gave this statement to the press:
“The fourteen men who have so splendidly held together until my arrival deserve all the credit for the victory which we hope to gain tomorrow.”
Even then our victory was won as by a miracle, for while we brought our vote from California, the anti-Suffragists were also bringing a senator more quietly from Peoria, Ill. Senator Montgomery, who had moved out of the State and resigned from the Senate, was persuaded to come back and attempt to regain his seat. But one of the opposition whom it had happened by chance Senator Montgomery had told personally of his resignation, refused to dishonor himself by voting to reseat even a member of his own Party under these conditions, and the day was saved again for the women of America.
The last Western State—Washington—ratified on March 22.
Thirty-five States had now accepted the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. One more and it would become part of the Constitution. However, that last State, every one knew, would be hard to get. The chances looked brightest in Delaware and the Woman’s Party concentrated all its energies there.
Ratification was brought up twice in Delaware, the first time on April 1 and the second time on May 5. The fight was an intensive one, but it failed. This campaign had a quality of picturesqueness given to it by its mise en scene—the open square where the State House stands. Dover Green is surrounded by charming colonial houses with a beautiful colonial Capitol dominating them. Here, when the news came from Philadelphia of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a crowd burned the picture of King George—“Compelled by strong necessity, thus we destroy even the shadow of that King who refused to reign over a free people.” The ancient whipping-post still stands in a yard adjoining the State House. A log cabin, which was put up fifty years ago, is still used as a lawyer’s office. The Suffragist noted the fact that a yoke of oxen, drawing a plow in the ancient way, had been seen near Dover when the ratification campaign was going on. This accumulation of historic atmosphere added its subtle weight to the regret of the Suffragists when Delaware failed them.
Against highly organized opposition, the Suffragists began work in Delaware. Florence Bayard Hilles, State Chairman, conducted this important fight. She had the assistance of six national organizers: Mary Dubrow, Anita Pollitzer, Catherine Flanagan, Betty Gram, Vivian Pierce, Elsie Hill; of Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, National Ratification Chairman; of Mabel Vernon, National Secretary of the Woman’s Party. Ultimately Alice Paul joined them. This able group produced a triumph of Suffrage ratification in the Senate on May 5. The vote was eleven to six. In the usual course of events, the ratification measure would have gone, after the Senate passed it, to the House. The votes necessary to pass it in the House were not forthcoming. The Legislature adjourned.
The Woman’s Party used the interval until May 17 when the Legislature reconvened to wage a campaign against their opponents, by means of petitions, mass-meetings, and appeals to State leaders. President de Valera, Frank Walsh, and other champions of Irish freedom used their influence with the four Irish members of the Lower House. The American Federation of Labor also helped in this campaign. On June 2, when it became evident that the Republicans in this strongly Republican Legislature, would not ratify, President Wilson asked the Democrats to give their aid. The President’s telegram ran:
May I not as a Democrat express my deep interest in the Suffrage Amendment, and my judgment that it will be of the greatest service to the Party if every Democrat in the Delaware Legislature should vote for it.
Delaware had been the first to ratify the Constitution of the United States but it failed to ratify this second great instrument of freedom.