Profiles in Character #27: Harry Burn Votes for Woman Suffrage
On the morning of August 18, 1920, Harry T. Burn entered the House of Representatives of the Tennessee General Assembly with a red rose pinned to his jacket. That signaled to all present his intention to vote “no” on ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Those wearing a yellow rose were in the “yes” camp. Sent to the states the previous June, ratification would culminate a nearly eighty year campaign to give women the vote. Thirty-five states had already ratified, but thirty-six were needed.
At 22, Burn, the youngest member of the legislature, was referred to by Governor Albert Roberts as “Baby Burn.” He had just been re-nominated for a second two-year term. With the upcoming election, his political future was also at stake.
The legislature ended its current session in April and was not due to convene again until 1921, after the election. But Roberts had been pressured into calling a special session to consider the amendment. Harry was not anxious to make history in a chamber deeply divided on the issue. The state Senate had upped the pressure on August 13 when it voted 25-4 for ratification.
Harry was besieged from both sides. Suffragists, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, a protégé of the deceased Susan B. Anthony and now head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and Alice Paul, head of the National Woman’s Party, had led women in supporting the nation in the First World War and expected support for enfranchisement in recognition of that contribution. Letters poured in demanding a “yes” vote. Harry met with many supporters. Suffragists charged that some legislators who originally backed the amendment had been bribed with whiskey and money to change their minds.
The “antis” charged that a vote for ratification would violate members’ oath of office. The Tennessee Constitution stipulated that a national Constitutional amendment could only be voted on if there had been a statewide General Assembly election “after such amendment is submitted” to the states, which time had not permitted (though the U.S. Supreme Court had since decided that a state cannot change the U.S. Constitutional process). In Harry’s own district, a McMinn County judge allowed his courtroom to host a mass meeting, at which those present passed a resolution calling for Burn to vote “no.” As he later put it, “I think the agitation had become so strong here that some of my political advisors and friends . . . decided that there would almost be an uprising if woman suffrage was passed.” Indeed, Burn had concluded that a majority of his constituents opposed ratification.
After the introduction of the Senate Resolution, Speaker Seth Walker moved to table it. Harry voted “aye.” “I had decided on the urging of my friends . . . that maybe we ought to let the matter go over to the regular session in January,” he said in explaining his vote. That would, of course, push the vote until after the election. The vote to table was tied, 48-48. Walker’s call for a second vote led to the same 48-48 tie, with Harry again voting to table the resolution.
Believing the amendment could be defeated, Walker next called for a vote on the “merits of the resolution.” As Burn later said, “I had to make up my mind.” When his name came up in the roll call, Harry Burn said “aye,” and removed the red rose from his jacket. Ratification passed on a vote of 49-47.
The “antis” were furious. Some charged he’d been bribed. Governor Roberts, concerned about his safety, directed the chief sergeant-at-arms to enlist state troopers to provide a protective detail to escort Harry from the building. Harry would have none of that. He went to a nearby office, climbed out the window onto a ledge and walked along it to the portico and across from there to the State Library, where he waited in an attic until he felt it safe to leave.
When the House convened the next morning, Harry asked the clerk to read a statement he had prepared. “I changed my vote in favor of ratification,” he said, “because I believe in full suffrage as a right; I believe we had a legal and moral right to ratify.” He added that “I appreciated the fact than an opportunity such as seldom comes to mortal man – to free 17,000,000 women from political slavery – was mine.”
During the previous weekend, his mother, Febb Burn, had written him a letter, which he received from a page on the House floor the morning of the fateful vote. “Hurrah, and vote for suffrage, and don’t keep them in doubt,” she said. “Don’t forget to be a good boy.” So Harry Burn added another explanation to the statement on his historic vote: “I know that a mother’s advice is always the safest to follow,” he said, “and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”
Harry Burn was re-elected in November, would later serve in the State Senate and also be a delegate to four Tennessee constitutional conventions.
Photo Credit: Family Photo
