Female Ballots: The Impact of the Nineteenth Amendment

Abstract

The Impact of the Nineteenth Amendment Although a Ladies' Home Journal editorial urged women to clean house in the 1920 election and start housekeeping again with good, honestly made furniture, not all looked upon the innovation of nationwide woman suffrage with such relish. Many politicians feared the potential power of a monolithic female voting bloc even after the I920 election did not produce one. Speaking at a League of Women Voters banquet, Nathan L. Miller, Governor of New York, criticized the concept of an organization of women voters and warned that seeking political influence in ways other than through participation in the two major political parties would be a menace to American institutions. The League of Women Voters (created out of the disbanded membership of the National American Woman Suffrage Association) found the governor's comments to be as inappropriate as they were inaccurate. Following Carrie Chapman Catt's advice at its founding, the League was determined to remain an educational and nonpartisan organization. Neither its leadership nor its rank and file had intentions of forming a women's bloc. Yet League members, along with other women who had been active in the suffrage campaign, expected that their votes would make a difference in their society.1