The country needed 36 states to sign off on the Susan B. Anthony bill so it could become the law of the land. Throughout 1919, after the bill passed in June of that year, there were serious fears that not enough support would be garnered by the states to get women the vote that they had been fighting for. It was Tennessee that helped ratify the 19th amendment. It was Harry Burn, a freshman Republican, who would cast the vote that would ratify the bill. Representative Burn was a 24 year old representative from McMinn, Tennessee. Though in favor of suffrage himself, the majority of his constituents were not in favor of the 19th amendment. In August of 1920, during the legislative session in Nashville, Representative Burn was set to vote to table the amendment, which meant certain death for the bill. Donning a red rose in his lapel, the symbol of the anti-suffragists, Burn found himself in a position to vote “Aye” or “Nay” on the 19th Amendment. In the breast pocket of his jacket, Representative Burn carried a letter from his mother, Mrs. Febb Burn. This letter would be the tipping point that changed history.
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