• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Telegram from Seth Walker to the Secretary of State Rejecting the 19th Amendment

8/31/1920

Print
Add to Favorites:
Add
Saving document...
Your document has been saved.
Add all page(s) of this document to activity:
Seth Walker, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, sent this telegram to Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby notifying him of their vote rejecting 19th Amendment.

After Congress passed a women's suffrage amendment, three-fourths of states (36 at that time) had to ratify the 19th Amendment before it could be added to the Constitution. Many states quickly approved the 19th amendment. By the end of March 1920, only one additional state was needed for ratification.

The ratification had barely passed in Tennessee's House the previous week, on August 18th, when this telegram was sent. Seth Walker was one of several anti-suffragists who tried to rescind the ratification vote. He introduced, and the House adopted, a motion to reconsider its previous approval of the ratification resolution. Then the House voted against ratification, as explained in this document.

This effort failed, however. Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts had certified Tennessee’s ratification of the 19th Amendment, based on the original vote to ratify, on August 24th; Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the certificate of ratification on August 26, 1920. Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify, clinching the passage of the amendment allowing women the right to vote.
This primary source comes from the General Records of the United States Government.
National Archives Identifier: 120548503
Full Citation: Typed Copy of Telegram Received by Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of State from Seth M. Walker, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Notifying Him of Their Vote Rejecting the 19th Amendment; 8/31/1920; Amendment XIX: Women's Right to Vote, 1920 - State: Tennessee; Ratified Amendments, 1795 - 1992; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/walker-rejecting-19th-amendment, March 28, 2023]
Return to ResultsReturn

Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on Twitter:twitter
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.