TAXING MATTERS
CHERYL E. JOHNSON, PCC
Galveston County Tax Assessor Collector
& Voter Registrar
[email protected]
Celebrating the 100th Birthday
of Women’s Suffrage
Nearly 165 years after Lydia Taft cast a vote
in the Massachusetts Colony (then under
British rule), women were granted the
Constitutional right to vote. The 72 year
long women’s suffrage movement began
in Seneca Falls, New York and ended when Tennessee
cast the final needed vote to secure ratification of the
Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. August 26 marks
the official 100 year anniversary of this significant
achievement.
Wyoming (the 44th
state to join the union in
1890) was the first state
to allow women to vote
and had allowed it since
1869 while still a Territory.
While the Constitutional
fight was being waged,
suffragists began
lobbying on a state-bystate
basis beginning in
1890. Nearly 28 years
later, 19 additional states
and the Alaska Territory
extended voting rights to
women.
Both the Constitutional
and State fights proved
most difficult in Southern
states with the exception
of Texas – the first
southern state to ratify the
Nineteenth Amendment
June 28, 1919. And,
had it not been for
Tennessee Republican
Representative Harry
T. Burn’s mother, it is
unlikely the 48-48 tie in
would have been broken
that steamy August day
in Nashville. Shockingly,
it took another 64 years
30 MOMENTUM
“The rights of citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have the power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.”
for the remaining 12 states to ratify the Nineteenth
Amendment with Mississippi being the last to do so in
1984.
Although most people would consider America
an enlightened nation, it was less supportive of
women’s right to vote than other countries with 15
acknowledging the importance of female contribution
throughout history well in advance of the US (see chart).
While the Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
in 1870 prohibited states
from denying a citizen the
right to vote based on “race,
color or previous condition of
servitude,” it omitted gender
as a qualifier and likely would
not have been ratified had it
been included.
In November 1920, over
eight million women across
America voted for the
first time. Their numbers
have increased with each
subsequent election. Today,
women now outnumber
men among registered
voters and, according to data
from the U.S. Bureau of the
Census Current Population
Reports, since 1980 they
cast nearly ten million more
votes than men in national
elections - particularly during
a Presidential cycle.
I read recently that “some
broken pieces of history…
should make us cringe” but
I believe much of it should
also be embraced and
examined. If we do not, we
are likely to repeat many
of our worst mistakes and
may forget to celebrate the
corrections.