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The battle's lost and won: ratification of the nineteenth amendment in Tennessee

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Date Issued:
2000
Abstract/Description:
University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Tennessee ratified the Nineteenth amendment by a margin of one vote. This study, therefore, examines Tennessee, its politics, and its politicians to see to what extent the usual historical explanations that states' rights and the liquor and railroad industries were the main obstructions to Tennessee's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It concludes that women's increased access to education and employment affected too few women in the state to cause a great demand for the vote. Moreover, corporate opponents and racist fears were less important as impediments to ratification than historians have believed. Legislators voted neither out of fear of federal intervention, nor from party loyalty; they considered each issue on its merits. Whether it was good for the state, their constituents, and their own political careers seem likely reasons for their decisions. Woman suffrage hung in the balance until the last possible minute so that one vote eventually determined the outcome in Tennessee.
Title: The battle's lost and won: ratification of the nineteenth amendment in Tennessee.
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Name(s): Beale, Judith, Author
Leckie, Shirley A., Committee Chair
Arts and Sciences, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2000
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Tennessee ratified the Nineteenth amendment by a margin of one vote. This study, therefore, examines Tennessee, its politics, and its politicians to see to what extent the usual historical explanations that states' rights and the liquor and railroad industries were the main obstructions to Tennessee's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It concludes that women's increased access to education and employment affected too few women in the state to cause a great demand for the vote. Moreover, corporate opponents and racist fears were less important as impediments to ratification than historians have believed. Legislators voted neither out of fear of federal intervention, nor from party loyalty; they considered each issue on its merits. Whether it was good for the state, their constituents, and their own political careers seem likely reasons for their decisions. Woman suffrage hung in the balance until the last possible minute so that one vote eventually determined the outcome in Tennessee.
Identifier: CFR0000175 (IID), ucf:52936 (fedora)
Note(s): 2000-12-01
M.A.
History
Masters
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Electronically reproduced by the University of Central Florida from a book held in the John C. Hitt Library at the University of Central Florida, Orlando.
Subject(s): Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations
Academic
Dissertations
Academic -- Arts and Sciences
United States -- Constitution -- 19th Amendment
Women -- Suffrage -- Tennessee
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0000175
Restrictions on Access: public
Host Institution: UCF

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