Only one more state was needed for women's suffrage to become law throughout the United States in City of Betrayal by Victoria Thompson. Tennessee seemed to be that final state even though passing women's suffrage there would be a challenge. Suffragists are among my favorite historical subjects. I checked this book out from the public library. It's my first read of May 2026.
No one was willing to introduce it in the state legislature at that point, but the junior U.S. Senator of TN wanted their state to be responsible for the ratification of women's suffrage. A TN State Senator said that those in favor of women's suffrage were being accused of allowing "petticoat government", but ironically women weren't wearing petticoats at that point.
TN suffragists were looking for a replica of the Liberty Bell so they could ring it when the women's suffrage amendment passed. They found one that was half the size of the original, and the crack was painted on.
Tom Riddick gave the report of the Amendments Committee. He said that the South needed to stop being backwards. He had the pledges of 64 members of the House to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If ratification failed in TN, Riddick said he'd be ashamed of being a Tennessean. One suffragist said that "Taxation without representation should no longer apply to the women of the United States." This implies to me that if women's suffrage failed, women should revolt as men had in 1776 due to taxation without representation.
President Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram asking the Speaker of the TN House to support women's suffrage. The people sitting in the gallery shouted their approval. One woman started chanting the President's name. When the vote was held, there was a tie. When the tie was announced, one member of the House who hadn't voted said he would vote in favor. He was threatened and accused of having been bribed. He escaped out of window, and then went in the window of the library. I was pleased that the library was considered a place of safety. The librarian was startled. The Anti-Suffrage legislators tried to reverse pro-suffrage votes and said they would hold indignation meetings in districts where representatives voted in favor of women's suffrage. Yet national ratification of the suffrage amendment eventually passed. The Anti-Suffrage supporters kept on trying to nullify women's suffrage until the Supreme Court ruled against nullifying it. Warren G. Harding was the first President elected with women's votes.
The Tennessee legislators who voted in support of women's suffrage were brave men. I wasn't surprised that there was so much conflict over the issue. There is still controversy over women's rights in the U.S. and it still takes courage to support them.
