The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss

Author:Elaine Weiss
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Published: 2018-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

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Shortly past noon Andrew Todd rapped his gavel, calling the Tennessee Senate into extraordinary session. At the same time, on the south side of the Capitol, Seth Walker pounded his gavel, bringing the House of Representatives to order. The chaplains offered prayers, and the clerks called the roll. There were quite a few empty desks, names called with no response of “Present,” but a bare quorum was counted in each chamber, so the business of the day could begin.

Thomas Riddick, Joe Hanover, and the other freshly elected members were called up to take their oaths of office, the same oath some considered to be in dire jeopardy. They raised their hands, swore to uphold the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, as well as the Constitution of the United States, and sat down. The visitor galleries above the chamber floors were packed, mostly with women, but also with a healthy sprinkling of men. The Suffs were more energetic in their decorating, draping yellow cloths and flowers around the balconies, and yellow-flowered breasts outnumbered red ones in the rows. Clusters of women filled the doorways, both on the floor level and in the balconies, and both women and men were on the floor, circulating among the desks of the legislators, defying all rules of lobbying decorum.

Legislative item number one was consideration of the Nineteenth Amendment, and the next few dealt with establishing a process for women to register to vote, pay a poll tax, and other legal requirements. In addition, there were more than 140 other issues to address, a laundry list of state and local considerations that the governor had included as a special session sweetener, enabling the legislators to return home with a little gift for their constituents. The Suffs had qualms about all these other bills on the docket distracting the lawmakers and gumming up the works, perhaps purposefully so, but it was out of their hands.

Now came the ritual pageantry, the formal transmittal of the federal amendment from the governor to the legislature. Todd and Walker each ordered the clerks of their chambers to read aloud the governor’s official submission of the amendment and his accompanying message to the legislature. Both Suffs and Antis held their breath slightly as the clerks began their recitations, as neither side knew just what the governor intended to say to the lawmakers or how strongly he would choose to say it.

To the Suffs’ pleasant surprise, the governor offered an exuberant argument for ratification, urging the legislature to approve the amendment promptly. “Tennessee occupies a pivotal position on this question,” he reminded the delegates. “The eyes of all America are upon us. Millions of women are looking to the Tennessee legislature to give them a voice and share in shaping the destiny of the republic.” The lawmakers had an obligation to their constituents, the governor said, but also to their state and national party platforms: “Both parties have clearly and unequivocally declared for the ratification of this amendment,” he told them.

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