42 pages • 1 hour read
Elaine WeissThe Woman's Hour
Elaine WeissNonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “In Justice to Womanhood”
On Monday morning, when the legislature convenes, Governor Roberts makes a surprisingly strong introductory statement in favor of suffrage:
Both parties have clearly and unequivocally declared for the ratification of this amendment […] But there is another and higher ground on which ratification may be made to depend, upon the ground of justice to the womanhood of America (220).
A glitch occurs in the proceedings when the paperwork necessary to formally introduce the amendment is missing because Roberts forgot to file it. This mistake delays the proceedings for a day, which allows time for the Suff cause to take a downturn:
By breakfast, the bleary-eyed Suffs were hit with another concussive blow from Seth Walker. He announced he intended to lead the opposition to the amendment on the house floor. He would “go down the line” to defeat the amendment, using his power as Speaker to bring as many house members with him as he could (226).
Later that day, an angry Suff calls out Walker for his turncoat behavior, accusing him of receiving a bribe from railroad interests to change his vote. The newspapers pick up this story immediately, and the accusation causes some legislators to demand a Suff apology for the insult. The emotionally charged day ends with both the Suffs and Antis marshaling more forces and bringing more pressure to bear on the legislature.
The bill is finally formally introduced in both the House and Senate on Tuesday. Roberts’ staff works ceaselessly to coerce wavering congressmen to vote in favor of the amendment, but Alice Paul worries that these efforts will still not be enough.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Terrorizing Tennessee Manhood”
On Wednesday morning, after the House convenes, Walker smoothly proposes to delay discussion of the amendment for two weeks until the population of Tennessee has been consulted on the matter:
The chamber erupted: shouts, cheers, and protests, on the floor and in the galleries, everyone on their feet. Reporters likened the reaction to a loud, breaking storm, thunderheads that had been building for weeks finally splitting open (236).
Meanwhile, in the Senate, a motion is made to refer the bill for review by the Judiciary Committee, known to be unfriendly to the amendment. After a day of speeches and wrangling, both measures are voted down.
The Antis leave a copy of Pearson’s latest propaganda on each legislator’s desk: “‘CAN ANYBODY TERRORIZE TENNESSEE MANHOOD?’ it screamed in big, bold type. ‘The Susan B. Anthony Amendment Will Never Be Ratified If Tennessee Representatives Do Their Duty NOW’” (239). The Antis deliberately capitalize on male insecurity by painting a nightmarish picture of women running state government.
More blocking measures are introduced in both houses, but the pro-ratification vote is marginally strong enough to defeat them. The debates continue on Thursday but do little to diminish Suff anxiety—Harding sends a letter discouraging Republican legislators from voting in favor of the bill. Roberts tells Democratic presidential candidate Cox not to appear in person to rally support, arguing that it is unnecessary. The Senate plans to call for a vote on the amendment on Friday. It will be an incredibly close vote:
While the Suffs had mustered enough votes to defeat the delay resolution, they had amassed the bare minimum—fifty votes—required for a constitutional majority in the house, the threshold that would be needed to ratify. There wasn’t a single vote to spare (247).
Chapter 19 Summary: “Petticoat Government”
On Friday, spectators hear hours of long-winded orations by senators before the amendment vote is called. Anti Senator Herschel Candler paints a dire image of petticoat government if women get the vote. Suff Senator Andrew Todd counters, “Talk about petticoat government. If there is a man in this house or in the gallery who has not been under petticoat government ever since he was born, I want him to stand up. I am ready to go into petticoat government” (262).
To the amazement of the Suffs, the amendment passes by a wide margin in the Senate. In the midst of their jubilation, they are soberly reminded that the House vote hasn’t yet been scheduled, and ratification has been defeated in the Houses of other states even after their Senates passed the bill. Railroad interests lobbying behind the scenes: “Senate colleagues had held firm, but lower chamber delegates were deserting the ratification ranks all through the weekend. Those smooth-talking corporation men in the Hermitage lobby were the reason” (274).
As Alice Paul discovers, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) is conducting a secret campaign to defeat ratification in order to keep in office a senator who favors their interests and opposes women’s suffrage. L&N fears that women voters might deprive this senator of his seat in the next election. As the Suffs tensely wait for the House to reconvene and set a date for a ratification vote, Catt wearily writes to a friend:
I’ve been here a month. It is hot, muggy, nasty, and this last battle is desperate. We are low in our minds—even if we win we who have been here will never remember it with anything but a shudder. Verily the way of the reformer is hard (277).
Chapters 17-19 Analysis
The legislative battle for ratification begins in earnest, as the book effectively portrays suffrage as a fight to the death by putting most of the emphasis on the countermeasures deployed by enemies of the amendment.
Pearson’s propaganda campaign takes a new tack when she bombards legislators with pamphlets stating that suffragettes are terrorizing the men of Tennessee. The implication is that the assembly needs to swiftly put down such a rebellion. During speeches on the House floor, Anti legislators follow much the same line by raising fears of a petticoat government. Both claims suggest ratification will cause a seismic shift in gender relations that will spell doom for men everywhere.
Speaker of the House Walker employs somewhat more subtle tactics as he raises one procedural objection after another. Fortunately, his motions can be defeated because the Suffs have enough votes to counter them. Almost as damaging to the Suff cause, however, is the benign neglect of the two presidential candidates. Harding fears to offer an overt endorsement for Tennessee ratification because it might harm his election chances. Meanwhile Governor Roberts has persuaded Democrat Cox that his intervention is unnecessary because the amendment is guaranteed to pass.
However, the greatest threat to the amendment comes from sinister sources that operate in the shadows. Speeches, pamphlets, and rules of order are all overt challenges. Bribery, blackmail, and liquor—more covert forms of influence used by big business—persuade pliable legislators to side with the Anti cause. Railroad interests try these underhanded measures in fear of the consequences of extending the franchise to women. Industrialists assume that women will vote as a liberal bloc, pushing for legislation protecting child and woman labor from exploitation. They fear women will purge government of corruption. In making such assumptions, capitalists espouse the commonly held belief that women are sentimental and impractical creatures who will muck up the works for commerce and pork-barrel politics.
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