From the State Archives: Governor Holcomb and the 19th Amendment

It is not much to look at. A simple carbon copy on yellow paper of a letter sent a century ago by Governor Marcus H. Holcomb to William H. Williamson, president of the States’ Rights Defense League of North Carolina in response Williamson's letter and telegram of September 16, 1920. No fancy letterhead. No scribbled or flowing signature. It resides quietly in Box 276, Folder 118 of Governor Marcus Holcomb's Numerical Files in State Archives Record Group 005, Office of the Governor.Yet the words captured in this simple document reveal that the 70-year battle over passage of the 19th Amendment to give women the right to vote wasn't completely over on August 26, 1920 when U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified Tennessee as the 36th state to ratify the proposed amendment thus making it the law of the land.1 Despite what historical time- lines and many history textbooks say, certification didn't end the battle over the 19th Amendment2 Holcomb's response explains how Connecticut, with a Republican Governor opposed to woman suffrage, ensured the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and avoided a potential constitutional crisis over the outcome of the 1920 Presidential election.Connecticut women had been involved in the suffrage movement early on. Isabella Beecher Hooker, Frances Ellen Burr, Catharine E. Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Isabella's husband John Hooker organized the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association [CWSA] at a two-day meeting on October 28–29, 1869 at Roberts’ Opera House in Hartford.3 The CWSA campaigned for women to have the right to vote starting with school and local elections and moving on to state and national elections.4 Many of its members were influential at the national level including Katherine Houghton Hepburn.The ratification process began on June 4, 1919 with the passage of the proposed amendment by the United States Senate. Some states ratified quickly. Some states rejected the proposed amendment. A few ratified, then repealed. Steadily the number of states ratifying the amendment grew over the next year. Opposition groups filed several federal lawsuits challenging the legitimacy of the amendment itself on the grounds that it violated the Ninth and Tenth Amendments by taking away each state's right to determine its voters’ qualifications. They also argued that state legislatures had no power to ratify or approve amendments; only the people had that power through referendum.5 Folder 118 of Governor Holcomb's numerical subject files is filled with correspondence from opposition groups citing potential federal court cases based on those arguments.6As the number of states ratifying closed in on the two-thirds needed, political pressure increased in the remaining states to act one way or another. Opponents stressed that women were best suited to domestic duties, that politics were too corrupt for women, or that women would vote to ban alcohol sales.7 The Connecticut General Assembly at that time only met every other year.8 The next regular session would not convene until January 1921. The only way for the legislature to take up the proposed amendment prior to then was for the governor to determine that a “special emergency” existed to call a special session.Constituents and advocacy groups on both sides of the issue pleaded for the Governor to both call and to refuse to call a special session for ratification.9 To each inquiry, he responded that he did not believe that an emergency situation existed requiring him to call a special session for ratification and the matter could be decided when the next regular session convened.10 However, as Holcomb explained in his response to Williamson, “I did refuse to call a special session of the General Assembly to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment because the majority of the women of this State do not desire it. However, when Tennessee ratified, . . . I called a special session to permit legislation to be passed which would enable the women to enjoy the rights which had been given them.”11 Despite the Governor's intent for the special session, the General Assembly went further. Holcomb informed Williamson that, “The legislature of this State was unanimous in desiring to ratify the Amendment and they did pass a resolution ratifying it at a special session I called for the purpose of enabling women to be made voters. This I claimed to be unwarranted because they were not called for that purpose.”12Despite Holcomb's opposition to suffrage, his concern was the upcoming November 1920 presidential election which was only seven short weeks away. If the Tennessee legislature successfully overturned its ratification, the question would certainly end up in court. The issue would not be resolved by election day. Holcomb felt that, “If the November election should occur and be thrown into doubt because of the women voting, and it should appear by a decision of the Supreme Court that they were not entitled to vote because Tennessee had not ratified, there would be a condition created which would be a great deal more serious than the woman suffrage question.” Therefore, he called another special session for September 21st for the legislature to consider the 19th Amendment and ensure that the legislature's vote was not challengeable in court.That is how a Republican governor opposed to woman suffrage assured the adoption of the 19th Amendment and avoided a constitutional crisis (as well as why the Connecticut General Assembly ratified the amendment not once, but twice.)