Celebrating the right to vote

By David Wendell

----

These are the words of Article I and Article II of the Constitution of the State of Iowa as adopted by the General Assembly and approved by the vote of the people of the state Aug. 3, 1857:

“All men are, by nature, free and equal and have certain inalienable rights.”

“Every white male citizen of the United States … shall be entitled to vote at all elections.”

These are the words of Article I Section IV of the U.S. Constitution as adopted by the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 1787, and ratified by three quarters of the states' legislatures on June 21, 1788:

“The times, places, and manner of holding elections shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof, but Congress may at any time, by law, make or alter said regulations.”

The U.S. Constitution, as passed in 1787, says nothing about who may vote in any election on the federal, state or municipal level. The Founding Fathers, fearing the appearance of a federal monarchy, instead, invested in each respective state, the responsibility of determining who was qualified to vote.

Iowa was admitted to the Union in December 1846. The state constitution proscribed that “white male” citizens could vote in elections. A subsequent state constitutional convention in 1857 upheld this principle and was approved by 40,311 of the state's white male population.

In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution penalized states by reducing their representation in Congress if the right to vote was “denied to any male inhabitants of such state being 21 years of age and a citizen of the United States.” The Iowa Legislature responded and struck the word “white” from Article II. The word “male,” however, remained.

At the same time, Amelia Jenks Bloomer of Council Bluffs co-founded and was named president of the Iowa Women's Suffrage Association. She had started The Lily, a newspaper devoted to advocating a woman's right to vote and, as such, was the first female editor of a newspaper in the country. She generated a scandal when she began wearing skirts only to her knees, even with full length pants underneath. The sociological fashion statement became known as “bloomers” and were worn by progressive women across the nation.

Amelia lobbied the Iowa Legislature unsuccessfully for the women's vote. She, nevertheless, successfully petitioned the Assembly to grant women the right to own property and their own businesses before she died in 1894.

Another Iowan took up the cause of women's suffrage. Carrie Chapman Catt, former schoolteacher from Charles City, edited several newspapers nationwide and wrote weekly columns advancing women's rights. In 1900, Susan B. Anthony chose Catt as her successor for president of the National Women's Suffrage Association.

When Woodrow Wilson was elected to the White House in 1912, Catt befriended Ellen, the president's wife, and convinced the president to pressure Congress for a suffrage amendment to the Constitution. Ellen Wilson died in 1914, and Catt enlisted the support of Wilson's second wife, Edith, who, together with Catt, lobbied the House for a resolution that read, simply, “The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S. or any state on account of sex.”

After weeks of heated debate, the resolution was adopted on May 21, 1918. Two years later, the bill was ratified by the states as the 19th Amendment, on Aug. 18, 1920.

Catt went on to found the League of Women Voters and became president of the International Women's Suffrage Alliance. Her house is, today, a museum near Charles City.

In 1926, Iowa women were granted, by amendment to the state constitution, the right to run for state legislature. In 2013, a record 35 women were sworn in to the General Assembly. Among them was Anesa Kajtazovic, of Waterloo, the youngest state representative in history.

On this 95th anniversary of Congress' passage of the 19th Amendment, the spirit of Amelia Jenks Bloomer and Carrie Chapman Catt lives on.

David Wendell is a Marion historian. Comments: davidv99@hotmail.com

----

Status of women conference

What: “Blooming: Conference on the Status of Women in Iowa”

When: 1 p.m. Saturday (free and open to the public)

Where: Summit Pointe Senior Living Community, 3505 English Glen Ave., Marion

Keynote speaker: Roxanne Conlin, Des Moines attorney and former Democratic nominee for governor.

Why: May 21 marks the 95th anniversary of Congress' passage of the 19th Amendment, which ultimately granted women the right to vote. The conference will review past and present landmark achievements of women in Iowa.

Panelists: Conlin, Linda Langston, Linn County Board of Supervisors; Swati Dandekar, Iowa Utilities Board and former state senator; Liz Mathis, state senator, District 18; Anesa Kajtazovic, state representative, District 21; Patti Ruff, state representative District 56; Renee Schulte, former state representative, District 37; Sandra Greiner, state senator, District 45; Kirsten Running-Marquardt, state representative, District 33; Rita Hart, state senator, District 49; and delegates from the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women.

More information: David Wendell (319) 377-6679