How Tennessee Saved Women's Right to Vote (And Almost Nobody Talks About It)

On August 18, 1920, a 24-year-old man from McMinn County, Tennessee changed his vote on the floor of the state House of Representatives. That single vote made Tennessee the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment. It gave women the right to vote in America.

He did it because his mother told him to.

I've walked past the Tennessee State Capitol hundreds of times (not exagerating... maybe over a thousand times) leading tours through downtown Nashville. The building sits up on a hill above Church Street, visible from most of downtown. There's a lot of history in that building. But the story from August 18, 1920 is one of the most specific and human moments in American political history, and it happened right here.

Seventy-Two Years in the Making

The fight for women's suffrage in America began officially at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and thousands of others spent the next seven decades organizing, marching, lobbying, and arguing before Congress.

Congress did not move quickly. The amendment was introduced, reintroduced, voted down, and tabled for decades. By June 1919, it finally passed both chambers and went to the states for ratification. Three-fourths of state legislatures needed to ratify it, meaning 36 out of 48 states.

By the summer of 1920, 35 states had ratified. One more was needed. Tennessee was the last realistic option on the calendar.

Nashville in August 1920

The Tennessee General Assembly convened for a special session on August 9, 1920. Suffragists came to Nashville wearing yellow roses. Anti-suffragists wore red roses. The lobby of the Hermitage Hotel became the informal headquarters for both sides, with lobbyists working every hallway and every conversation.

The Senate voted to ratify relatively quickly, 25 to 4. The House was a different story.

When the first House vote came on August 18, the count reached 48 in favor and 48 opposed. A tie. Under parliamentary rules, a tie meant the amendment failed. Seventy-two years of organizing had come down to a single vote, and it wasn't there.

The Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville, where the deciding vote on the 19th Amendment was cast in August 1920.

The Young Man in the Middle

Harry Thomas Burn was 24 years old, the youngest member of the Tennessee House. He represented McMinn County in East Tennessee and had been expected to vote against ratification. He was wearing a red rose on his lapel.

That morning, he had a letter in his jacket pocket. His mother, Febb Burn, had written it the night before from their family farm in Niota. She was a college-educated woman who followed the suffrage debate closely, and she had something specific to say about where her son stood.

Hurrah and vote for suffrage and don't keep them in doubt... Don't forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the 'Rat' in ratification.

-Febb Burn, in a letter to her son Harry T. Burn, August 17, 1920

When the roll call reached Burn's name, he voted yes. The chamber went still. Then it went loud. The final tally was 49 to 47.

The 19th Amendment was ratified. It took effect on August 26, 1920. That date is now recognized as Women's Equality Day.

Inside the Tennessee State Capitol, where history turned on a single vote and a mother's letter.

What Happened Next

Opponents of suffrage were furious. Several legislators filed paperwork trying to rescind the ratification. The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that a state legislature cannot un-ratify a constitutional amendment once it has been cast.

On the floor, immediately after the vote, Burn was confronted by anti-suffrage members. He fled. He climbed out a third-floor window of the Capitol and hid in the attic until things calmed down. The next day, he addressed the House directly.

I know that a mother's influence is ever on the side of right, and I feel that it is my duty to place the 'Rat' in ratification.

-Harry T. Burn, addressing the Tennessee House of Representatives, August 18, 1920

Burn lost his reelection bid that November. He served in other capacities in Tennessee government for years afterward and never seemed to regret the vote.

Febb Burn lived to be 87 years old. She voted in every election she was eligible for until she died in 1945... she was right.

The Building Is Still There

The Tennessee State Capitol still stands exactly where it stood in 1920. The House chamber where Harry Burn cast that vote is still in use today.

There is not a lot of noise made about August 18, 1920 inside those walls. The commemoration has always been quieter than the event deserves. Most Capitol tours focus on the architecture and the general sweep of Tennessee political history. The Febb Burn letter tends to come up if someone specifically asks.

This is the kind of story where one person, one letter, and one moment changed American history. The building is right here. The sidewalk outside it is where our Nashville History Walking Tour stops to tell it properly, with the Capitol visible above us and the context that most people never get.

If you want to stand on that ground and hear the full story, including what the Hermitage Hotel lobby looked like that week and why Tennessee was the last realistic option, come find us at nashvilleadventures.com.