A mere 100 years ago

In 1848, the first Seneca Falls Convention was held, which launched women’s rights movement. At the center of it was the right to vote. Also at the center was Susan B. Anthony, who most people know of through her dollar coin, a Quaker who was deeply involved in the abolitionism movement and the suffrage movement. Essentially, equality. With her was Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

While the Civil War paused the suffrage movement, Western states started allowing women to vote in the later part of the 19th century, with the first being Wyoming, “The Equality State,” in 1869, when it was a territory.

In the beginning of the 20th century, it was pushed piecemeal with those in states with voting rights pushing for federal legislation and those without it pushing for the right to vote in state primaries.

Women in eight states could vote at the beginning of World War I and women’s war efforts including filling in for men in the workforce was used as a wedge to force the idea of suffrage. In 1917, what became the 19th Amendment was introduced but rejected before it was finally passed in 1919. Ratification took some time but only needed 36 states, the last being Tennessee, which did so Aug. 18, 1920 — which is 100 years ago on Tuesday. Twelve more states ratified it with Mississippi being the last one to do so on March 22, 1984 — 64 years after it became law. Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states when the amendment was ratified in 1920 so they didn’t have to vote on it since it was already law of the land. While Mississippi ratified it last, it had rejected it on March 29, 1920. The 47th state to ratify, North Carolina never got around to voting on it at all until May 6, 1971.

The first election in which all American women were allowed to vote was the 1920 U.S. presidential election though there were various efforts to disenfranchise minority women over the years until the Civil Rights Act. The League of Women Voters was born out of the suffrage movement as a way to provide assistance to the new voters. The organization continues today as a way for all voters to find out nonpartisan ballot information.

The suffrage movement was followed by the Equal Rights Amendment effort, but it never got the necessary ratification votes in part because of the actions of Phyllis Schlafly, who in the 1970s argued women needed protection from the draft and needed dependent wife benefits under Social Security and gender specific restrooms.

There have been nascent efforts to bring it back but so far, it has been unsuccessful.

On Tuesday, we should note the effort of many to establish what should have been a primary right for American citizens at the outset of our nation. To me, a nation in which half the people weren’t allowed to vote is extremely far from perfect. And I simply cannot imagine an election season without women, or would I want to. But it was a mere 100 years ago that this was not possible. While the Founders established a framework, there were tremendous gaps in the primary goal of establishing “a more perfect union.” But we all know that by now. Still, this is a good time to reflect on our nation’s progress and the fact that we have had the ability through the framework to right wrongs and fulfill a more equitable and just future for all.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.