by Olivia Twine

There’s an old hand-hewn wooden wagon on display at the New York State capital that’s the centerpiece of the exhibit “From Seneca Falls to the Supreme Court; New York’s Women Leading the Way.” Called “Spirit of 1776,” the wagon served as a moveable speaker’s platform during the suffrage campaign of the early 20th century, which resulted in the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 finally guaranteeing women the right to vote.

Tireless suffragist Edna Kearns used the horse-drawn vehicle in New York City and on Long Island where she promoted voting rights for women wherever there was an audience. The response was mixed. Women were routinely criticized for “neglecting” their husbands and children, but Edna’s daughter was seated proudly at her side and her husband, Wilmer, marched in the men’s division of the parades. And when Edna was organizing events away from home, Wilmer answered the phone and attended to suffrage correspondence.

The New York Times reported July 2, 1913 that the wagon, which came from the family of old-time Long Islander, Uncle Dan Hewlett, was presented to the State Woman Suffrage Association for campaign purposes. The Times stated:

“Mrs. Wilmer Kearns and Miss Irene Davidson, dressed as minute men, and little Miss Serena Kearns, in the back seat as Little Liberty carrying the stars and stripes, drove to Jamaica, where a meeting was held. The wagon was covered with painted inscriptions, placards and banners. The words “Spirit of ’76″ was fastened to the back, and beneath it another placard read: ‘If taxation without representation was tyranny in 1776, why  not in 1913?’”

Edna worked on New York State suffrage elections in 1915 and 1917. She picketed the White House and served as congressional chair for Alice Paul, whose courage was extolled in the film, “Iron-Jawed Angels.” These suffragists supported civil disobedience to keep the voting issue alive even when it became taboo after the outbreak of World War I. They challenged President Woodrow Wilson and insisted that the U.S. couldn’t justify fighting for democracy abroad when it wasn’t assured for all its citizens at home.

The Journalist Marguerite Culp-Kearns, Edna’s granddaughter, donated the wagon to the State of New York about ten years ago. The current exhibit features “Spirit of 1776″ and photos of Edna, her colleagues, and panels of contemporary New York State women who forged a path from the Declaration of Sentiments presented at Seneca Falls in 1848 to the Supreme Court of today. The Suffrage Wagon News Channel, or http://www.suffragewagon.org has been created by Culp-Kearns to help develop citizenship through news of the suffrage movement.

Now in its rightful place of honor in the New York State capital around the corner from the Hall of Governors (a display of portraits of the State’s 56 past male governors) “Spirit of 1776″ stands as a reminder of the intelligence, stamina and guts it took to secure a right that seemed obvious in the first place and which we may take for granted today. Voting is a hard-won civil right and the basis of our democracy, much more than a “privilege” like driving a car or traveling on a plane.

Beyond the  milestone  of the suffragists’ goal, the same determination is needed now to meet the challenge of the ongoing values crisis that plagues us. The contrast between our humane sense of fairness and the wreckage visible from unregulated corporate power is disconcerting. We can barely comprehend the choice we face. do we accept the unsustainable “doomsday economy” of inevitable environmental destruction for profit, or will we turn off the TV and do something about it? Can we talk?

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is to be congratulated for presenting this exhibit and for his initiative of promoting history as a basis for good citizenship. The Governor’s office recently confirmed that the response to “Spirit of 1776″ has been enthusiastic, and that the exhibit has been extended indefinitely. ++

By Maud Wood Park

This account of the final days before ratification of the woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution comes from the closing chapter in suffrage leader Maud Wood Park’s first-person account, “Front Door Lobby.” It has been slightly edited for length from the original, which was published posthumously in 1960. Park was the chief lobbyist in Washington D.C. during the final years for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, led by veteran activist Carrie Chapman Catt. [Brought to you by the National Women’s History Project, www.nwhp.org]

The last hope of getting a thirty-sixth state in time for women to vote in the presidential election of 1920 rested then in Tennessee. But there the Governor had refused to call a special session because he believed that a provision of the state constitution required action in regard to ratification to be taken at a regular session. . . . After considerable delay [and the intervention of President Woodrow Wilson – ed.] the session was called for August 9.

Mrs. [Carrie Chapman] Catt, who had gone to Tennessee on June 15 with the idea of expediting the preparations, stayed on through the devastating heat of the intervening weeks because she realized how relentless the opposition had become and how unscrupulous its tactics were likely to be. Her insight proved prophetic, for every known or imaginable device for preventing or delaying a favorable vote was tried during the twelve days of the special session. . . .

Although the resolution for ratification passed the Senate with comparatively little difficulty, the struggle in the House was marked by a long series of dramatic surprises in which first one side and then the other appeared to have the upper hand. Even when a vote of 49 in favor to 47 against was taken on August 18, a motion to reconsider held up the decision for three days longer, during which 38 opposed legislators tried the trick, at that time a novel one, of fleeing to a neighboring state in the hope of preventing a quorum.

When that device failed and reconsideration was voted down on August 21, the Speaker of the House, who was the floor leader of the opposition, announced that an injunction against forwarding the certificate of ratification to Washington had been issued by one of the judges of the state Supreme Court. Two days were spent by the suffragists in getting the injunction dissolved, and on the twenty-fourth the certificate was signed by the Governor and started on its way to Washington.

Meanwhile Helen Gardener had arranged with the Department of State to have the certificate examined as soon as it came so that the Secretary of State would be able to take the final step of announcing that the amendment had been adopted. We were fearful that any delay would give opportunity for further injunctions to be brought by the anti-suffragists, who were leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to hold up the announcement of ratification.

At four o’clock on the morning of August 26, the certificate from Tennessee reached Washington, and the Solicitor-General, who had sat up all night waiting for it, made the examination needed before the signature of the Secretary of State could be affixed.

Shortly after eight, that same morning, Mrs. Catt, on her way back from Tennessee, arrived in Washington, and the first thing she did was to telephone to the office of the Secretary of State. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and I were in the room with her and heard her ask him whether the Tennessee certificate had been received. In a moment she put down the telephone turned to us and said, “The Secretary has signed the proclamation, and he wants us to go over to his office and see it before he sends it out.”

So quietly as that, we learned that the last step in the enfranchisement of women in the United States had been taken and the struggle of more than seventy years brought to a successful end.

We were all too stunned to make any comment until we were in the cab on our way to the Department of State, where we almost had to stick pins into ourselves to realize that the simple document at which we were looking was, in reality, the long sought charter of liberty for the women of this country. Then Mrs. Catt had a conference with the Solicitor-General about the legal aspects of the fight in Tennessee, for she anticipated that the anti-suffragists would bring suit on that score, as later they did without success.

That evening we had a jubilee meeting at Poli’s Theatre, where every seat was taken and standing space was crowded to the last limit permitted by the fire regulations. The greetings and congratulations of the President were presented by the Secretary of State. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and Miss Charl Ormond Williams, who had had important roles in the campaign in Tennessee, told about the “ways that were dark and the tricks that were vain” on the part of the opponents there, and then Mrs. Catt made one of her greatest speeches.

Her journey to New York the next day was as truly a triumphal procession as anything I ever expect to see. At every station at which the train stopped, deputations of women, many of them smiling through tears, were waiting with their arms full of flowers for her. When she reached the Pennsylvania Terminal in New York, Senator William M. Calder, a Republican, was standing at the door of her car, and Governor Alfred E. Smith was waiting on the main floor to voice the official congratulations of the state of New York on the outstanding achievement of its “distinguished citizen, Carrie Chapman Catt.”

The Woman Suffrage Party of New York City presented her with a huge sheaf of her favorite blue delphinium and then formed a procession, led by mounted police and a fine band, with the other officers of the National American Woman Suffrage Association marching, like a guard of honor, beside her motorcar on its way to the celebration at the Hotel Astor.

There is a beautiful picture of her taken just before the procession started, when she stood in the car, the flowers in her arms and her face alight with the joy of triumphant homecoming. No one of us who saw her then will ever cease to be thankful for that perfect moment when she must have felt to the full the happiness of a great task completed.

Learn more about this important chapter in American history in “Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement” by Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr. Order your copy from www.nwhp.org or call (707) 636-2888. Equality Day is August 26.

Washington was the 5th state to grant women full suffrage – 10 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified! Often, people are not aware that some states had granted women suffrage long before the 19th Amendment. When you look at this map of suffrage in the United States, women suffrage in America was a convoluted effort to be sure. By 1920, 17 states had granted full suffrage, 8 still had not granted any suffrage, 8 had granted presidential suffrage and 7 had granted school, bond or tax suffrage, only. There were other variations, as well, including primary and municipal suffrage in some cities.

To be celebrating a centennial of woman suffrage is a celebration, to be sure! The Washington Women’s History Consortium’s Exhibit, Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices, does just that.  The exhibit is co-curated by the Washington State Historical Society, the Women’s History Consortium and the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture. The exhibit is scheduled (subject to change) to move as follows:

• Washington State History Museum: Wed Feb 28, 2009 through Sun Sept 27, 2009
• Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center: Sat Oct 24, 2009 through Sun Jan 10, 2010
• Yakima Valley Museum: Thurs Feb 11, 2010 through Sun Jun 20, 2010
• Museum of History & Industry, Seattle Sat Jul 17, 2010 through Sun Oct 3, 2010
• Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Sat Oct 30, 2010 through Sun Jun 26, 2011

To help with the celebration, the Washington State Historical Society website hosts a wealth of information, including classroom lesson plans.