Ninety Five years ago, on August 18, 1920, the United States Congress passed into law, voting rights for women, in the form of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment was certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby only 8 days later, August 26, 1920, changing forever the power of American women and their voice in shaping the future decisions of our country.
When women sit at home and do not exercise their rights to vote, it is so often because they have no idea of the women who went before them who guaranteed them this right. From as early as the 1870's, women argued, attended lectures, marched in parades, wrote articles, passed out pamphlets, brought forth court proceedings, lobbied their representatives, participated in civil obedience, held hunger strikes and were arrested and even beaten by opponents to granting them full voting rights as equal citizens under United States law.
Women's sufferage began early in Maine, dating back to post-Revolutionary War times when Maine women petitioned their local government for pensions, relief from bad marriages, property disputes after husbands had given their lives to war, and began entering into marriages with loosely woven pre-nuptial agreements. Women became interested in turning Maine government's deaf ears to their attention when widowed mothers began to work to support their growing families. Maine women are noted as requesting the right to vote in the very early 1800s, noting that the newly formed United States guaranteed the rights of every citizen and their roles in building society out of the Maine wilderness.
By the 1850s, Maine women, especially those in maritime areas, were corresponding with such important noted historical figures as Elizabeth Cady, Mary Fisher and Sarah Frost, and historians note their letters were filled with educated discussions regarding women's rights, the status of women in society and what was expected of them as women in the day's society.
Many years later, when America entered into World War I, and women provided much of the work force, many women turned to charging that President Woodrow Wilson was more like Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany than he cared to realize. They charged that he was fighting the Germans for the self-governing of the German people, while denying the benefit of self-governing decisions for the women of his own country.
President Wilson began to see their point, and in 1918 declared that his own political support of the proposed 19th amendment had changed.
Very soon after the President changed his views on the women's voting movement, the United States House of Representatives handed women a victory, they passed the amendment on May 21, 1919, and the United States Senate followed suit only 2 weeks later.
The final hurdle for women voters was realized on August 18, 1920 as the State of Tennessee became the 36th State to ratify the amendment, thus giving the women 3/4ths of the States in support of the amendment, and allowing it to pass as the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
August is an important month for women's rights in our country. Why not take a minute to exercise your rights to vote as a tribute to the women of long ago who won those rights for you? Head down to the Town Office and register as a voter in the Town of Lebanon. Attend Public Meetings or watch the video taped versions of the meetings to inform yourself. Speak to other town residents and educate yourself on things that are happening in town. And then be SURE to come to the Lebanon Elementary School this November 3, 2015 and exercise your right to vote, as guaranteed 95 years ago by the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
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