Highlights Archives
August 26: Women's Equality Day
On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, finally passed. One year earlier, on June 10, 1919, Wisconsin had become the first state to ratify national woman suffrage, beating Illinois by a nose. Although Wisconsin had not been completely unenlightened in its approach to women's legal rights (the rejected 1846 constitution would have given married women property rights), neither had it been on the forefront of the cause. Just seven years before the 19th amendment passed, a statewide referendum on suffrage had met with a resounding two-to-one defeat, so it was in some ways unusual that Wisconsin was the first to ratify federal woman suffrage.
Wisconsin's early ratification was the result of both luck and careful planning on the part of state suffragists. After the U.S. Senate voted to pass the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919, Theodora Youmans, president of the Wisconsin Woman's Suffrage Association, raced back to Wisconsin where the Legislature was still in session. Many other states sought to ratify the amendment first, stealing a bit of personal glory for that state's legislators and suffragists alike. Youmans, knowing her competitive Wisconsin audience well, singled out rival Illinois, whose Legislature was also still in session, as having its heart set on being the first to ratify woman suffrage. Illinois legislators actually did ratify woman suffrage first but an error forced them to recall their document eight days later.
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, Youmans and the other suffragists had planned every detail of the ratification process, from the wording of the ratification document to the person responsible for delivering it to Washington, D.C. Former Wisconsin legislator and sponsor of the defeated 1912 Wisconsin suffrage referendum David James was selected to bring word of Wisconsin's vote to the nation's capitol. Once in Washington, James was met by Wisconsin Senator Irvine Lenroot who expedited the documents to the State Department, and thus ensured Wisconsin's place in suffrage history.
You can learn more about the Wisconsin women (as well as a few men) who struggled for decades for women's legal rights leading up to this historic day at our digital collection, Turning Points in Wisconsin History. Suffrage leaders and activists are also a featured collection in the Society's online digital image database, Wisconsin Historical Images. Additionally, the Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison features Wisconsin suffrage leaders in the "Political Arena" display on the fourth floor. To read a short summary of Wisconsin women's history and view original manuscripts, articles and photographs online, visit our Women's History page.
:: Posted August 25, 2005
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