A mother’s letter, one vote, and the 72-year fight for the 19th amendment
On Aug. 18, 1920, a 24-year-old state legislator from East Tennessee walked into the Tennessee House chamber wearing a red rose on his lapel. Red meant no. The chamber was deadlocked 48-48. The 19th Amendment needed one more state, and Tennessee was the last realistic option.
TL;DR
- The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, in the Tennessee House, with a final vote of 49-47.
- Legislator Harry Burn changed his vote from 'no' to 'yes' after receiving a letter from his mother, Febb Burn.
- The suffrage movement began in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.
- The core argument for suffrage was constitutional: governments derive power from the consent of the governed.
- Opposition argued that voting was a state matter, and a federal amendment was an overreach.