We just completed “The Year of the Woman” that ended with a record number of women being elected to the US House of Representatives. Women were energized by the #MeToo movement. Almost a hundred years ago, they were fighting for the right to vote, never mind actually holding office. The fight for the right to vote came down to one vote by one young man and his mother. Among the terrific displays of the history of our constitution at the National Constitution Center here in Philadelphia, is small plaque that tells the story of Harry Burn and his mother Febb. It tells you all you need to know about the power of one vote, and the determination to do the right thing under pressure.
The women’s suffrage movement had been going on for years. Finally, in 1920 the 19th Amendment was on the verge of being ratified. The amendment said the right of citizens to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” For an amendment to be added to the constitution, three-quarters of the states and two-thirds of the congress must ratify it. In 1920, 36 states were needed for ratification. By August, 1920, 35 states had ratified. Four states, Connecticut, Vermont, North Carolina, and Florida refused to hold votes. Tennessee decided to hold a vote in the state legislature.
It became known as “The War of the Roses”. Supporters of the amendment wore yellow roses, those opposed wore red. Supporters of both sides camped out in a hotel in Nashville on the eve of the vote. Harry Burn was a 24 year old Republican state representative. He was the youngest ever elected in the state when he was only 22. He wore a red rose, and was planning to vote against the amendment. On August 18th, the legislature voted to table the vote. But suddenly, another state representative, Banks Turner, change his vote which tied the tabling vote, and allowed the vote on ratification to go forward. The pressure was on.
The morning of the vote Harry received a letter from his mother, whom everyone called Febb. She wrote, “Hurrah and vote for suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt.” She ended the letter by endorsing Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader of the suffrage movement “be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the ‘rat’ in ratification.” I’m not sure what Harry’s relationship was with his mother. We’ve all had to deal with motherly advice in our lives. Some of it’s very wise, some of it you have to find a way to ignore. We don’t know how much discussion Harry and Febb had about the issue before that critical day, but the letter had an historic impact. It made Harry change his vote and change history by ratifying the amendment.
There are stories that Harry ran out of the chamber, and hid on a third floor ledge to escape a bunch of anti-suffrage protestors who were threatening to make him pay for his vote. The next day Harry explained his vote. “I knew that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification. I appreciated the fact that an opportunity such as seldom comes to a mortal man to free 17 million women from political slavery was mine.” Three years later, In her book, “Woman Suffrage and Politics”, Catt wrote this about Harry’s vote, “He also invoked the fury of his red rose-carrying peers while presumably avoiding that is his mother-which may very well have been the more daunting of the two.”
Harry went on to spend most of his career in the state house, state senate, and on the state planning commission. Harry died in Tennessee in 1977. He was 81. We all should remember the courage and determination of Harry and Febb when he cast that vote for Mom, or just do what your mother tells you.
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