Chapter 27. Republican Congress Passes Amendment

Republican Congress Passes Amendment

The Republican Congress convened in Special Session May 19.

Instantly Republican leaders in control of the 66th Congress caucused and organized for a prompt passage of the amendment. May 21st the Republican House of Representatives passed the measure by a vote of 304 to 89—the first thing of any importance done by the new House. This was 42 votes above the required two-thirds majority, whereas the vote in the House in January, 1918, under Democratic control had given the measure only one vote more than was required.

Immediately the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution calling on the legislatures of the various states to hold special legislative sessions where necessary, to ratify the amendment as soon as it was through Congress, in order to “enable women to vote in the national elections of 1920.”

When the 64th vote was assured two more Republican Senators announced their support, Senator Keyes of New Hampshire and Senator Hale of Maine, and on June 4th the measure passed the Senate by a vote of 66 to 30,—2 votes more than needed. Of the 49 Republicans in the Senate, 40 voted for the amendment, 9 against. Of the 47 Democrats in the Senate, 26 voted for it and 21 against.

These figures include all voting and paired.

And so the assertion that “the right 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,” introduced into Congress by the efforts of Susan B. Anthony in 1878, was finally submitted to the states for ratification on June 4th, 1919.

When a constitutional amendment has passed Congress it must be ratified by a majority vote of 36 state legislatures and thereupon proclaimed operative by the Secretary of State of the United States before it becomes the law of the land. For ratification data see