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Taylor Ray

Derek Griffin

U.S. History CP

17 May 2017

East Tennessees Role in the Passage of the 19th Amendment

The 19th amendment as written in the Constitution is as follows:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the

United States or by any State on account of sex.

"Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

One hundred years ago, women did not have the right to vote. It was only in 1920 that

women in all 50 states gained the right to vote. In order for milestones like this to be

accomplished, people have to take a stand. Many women, including none other than Elizabeth

Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, took a stand and advocated for womens rights for over half

a century. When the womens suffrage movement was in its early stages, the 19th amendment

was merely a dream. It was only through the efforts of all of those who were brave enough to

take a stand that suffrage for women was even a possibility. It would have remained only a

dream if Anthony and Stanton and countless other men and women had not taken a stand for

what they believed in.

Even though suffrage did not become a concern in Tennessee until several years after the

movement began, there were a number of suffrage organizations in Knoxville, including but not
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limited to: the Knoxville Equal Suffrage League (1910), the Knoxville Political Equality League

(1913), and the Margaret Brent Equal Suffrage League (1916). In total, seventy-eight Tennessee

towns had suffrage organizations.

East Tennessee played a very important role in the passage of the 19th amendment. In

order for an amendment to become part of the Constitution, it needs to be ratified by three-

fourths of the states. In 1920, thirty-six states were needed to ratify an amendment since Alaska

and Hawaii were only territories and not states; that number has now been raised to thirty-eight.

Tennessee ratified the 19th amendment on August 18th, 1920, making it the thirty-sixth, and last,

state to ratify the 19th amendment, earning it the nickname the Perfect 36. Several other states

were struggling to get their legislatures to vote in favor of the 19th amendment at this time, but

Tennessee got there first.

One of the determining factors in Tennessee gaining a majority vote from its legislature

and ratifying the 19th amendment was a single man from McMinn County, which is just a mere

sixty-four miles from Knox County. That man is Harry T. Burn, who is the youngest to ever be

elected to the Tennessee General Assembly at just twenty-two years old. Burn was a republican

and had sided with anti-suffragists in the past, so it came as a shock to the rest of the legislature

when he voted in favor of ratifying the 19th amendment. Burn intended to side with anti-

suffragists like he had in the past, but only if he wasn't the deciding vote. Half of the legislature

voted in favor of the 19th amendment and half voted against it; Burn was the last to cast his vote,

making him the one that would decide the political fate of women not only in Tennessee but also

in the country. What made him change his vote at the last minute? He had received a letter from
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his mother, pleading with him to vote in favor of the 19th amendment. With the weight of the

letter in his pocket and thoughts of his mother on his mind, Burn cast his vote, resulting in a

majority vote in favor of the 19th amendment. The following is a quote from Tennessee: The

Thirty-Sixth State, an essay written by Elizabeth Taylor, who has written several essays and

books on suffrage and the 19th amendment, elaborating on Burns decision to change his vote:

Why had Harry Burn voted aye? The opposition charged that he had been bribed. There

was no basis for this charge, however. In a formal statement of explanation, Burn said

that he had promised his mother that he would vote for ratification should his vote be

needed. He said he believed in full suffrage as a right, and he welcomed the opportunity

to free millions of women from political slavery. (Taylor)

In conclusion, East Tennessee played a very important role in the passage of the 19th

amendment, which granted women the right to vote. This event is even considered a landmark in

the history of womens rights. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would soon become president,

made a statement on this momentous occasion: The action of Tennessee assures the greatest

step that could possibly be taken for human rights and better American citizenship through the

great moral influence of the women of America (Taylor). Acknowledgement of this feat by such

an important and prominent political figure highlighted just how important Burns vote and the

ratification of the 19th amendment by Tennessee was, especially in the early 1900s where

women were thought of as inferior. The struggle is not yet over. People today are still trying to

improve the rights of women and other minorities; the womens suffrage movement was just the

tip of the iceberg.

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Works Cited

Taylor, Elizabeth. "Tennessee: The Thirty-Sixth State. Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage

Movement in Tennessee, The South, and the Nation, edited by Marjorie Spruill Wheeler,

University of Tennessee Press, 1995, pp. 243-274.

Taylor, Elizabeth. The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee. Record Press, 1957.