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♪I've been down to Madison
To see the folks and sights;♪

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♪You'd laugh, I'm sure, to hear them talk
About the women's rights.♪

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♪Now it's just as plain as my old hat,
That's plain as plain can be♪

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♪That if the women want the vote,
They'll get no help from me.♪

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♪Not from Joe, not from Joe;
If he knows it..♪

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Looking back today,
it's somewhat difficult to understand

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the violence of the opposition
to woman's suffrage.

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Conservative opinion in the country was
of course almost universally opposed

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to the idea of women voting.

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The Church was divided in its position.

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While some denominations 
and individual clergymen

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were among the most zealous 
advocates of the movement,

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others took the stand that women's
political emancipation would mean

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the beginning of the end
of the social morality

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which constituted
the moral strength of the nation.

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The enfranchisement of women, 
it was feared

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would result in the dissolution
of the home and family

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and the destruction 
of the institution of marriage.

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The most pessimistic of the prophets
predicted that the very act of

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women's going to the polls and mingling 
with the rough crowds on election day

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would plunge the country into moral chaos.


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Professional politicians and certain
powerful big business interests

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were just as violently opposed 
to vote for women,

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if for very different reasons.

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Political leaders felt that they knew
how to manipulate men for party purposes

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but manipulating women 
was an unknown quality

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which they wished to avoid 
as long as possible.

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The organized liquor industries,
with their fear of women's influence

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on the prohibition issue, spent
countless thousands of dollars

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lobbying against women's suffrage, which
they felt threatened their very existence.

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Add to these elements the fact that 
most men of the country

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were understandably reluctant to forego

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their traditional position 
of sex superiority,

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which was in a sense symbolized
by their power to vote

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and the fact that many women were quite
as unwilling to give up

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the protected position in which men's
chivalry had placed them

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and perhaps we can understand why 
the battle for woman's suffrage

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was inevitably a long and stormy one.

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After the disheartening failure to obtain 
the franchise by federal amendment

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at the close of the Civil War, when the 
Negro was admitted to the vote,

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the suffragists changed their tactics and 
began to concentrate their main strength

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on a policy of winning the suffrage 
state by state.

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By the turn of the 20th century the 
National Woman Suffrage Association

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was a powerful organization with 
headquarters in New York

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and an efficiently functioning machine in 
almost every state of the Union.

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Four states in the far West had already 
granted women full suffrage as a result of

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the Association's work and by 1914 almost 
all the states west of the Mississippi had

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joined the ranks of the suffrage states 
and the Association was turning its forces

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to the conquest of the traditionally more 
conservative East.

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Sinclair Lewis in the novel 'Ann Vickers', 
published in 1932, has left an amusing

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account of one of these state suffrage 
campaigns during this period.

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In the following incident from this work 
one Dr Melvina Wormser of New York,

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purportedly Chief Surgeon of the Manhattan 
Hospital for Women,

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President of the Better Obstetrical League,
author of 'Emancipation in Sex',

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Doctor of Science of Yale and Vassar and
an officer in all known birth control 
organizations,

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is interviewed by the press in advance of 
her scheduled speech at a suffrage rally

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in a city called Clateburn, Ohio.

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The professional suffragist, says Lewis, 
had been cautioned about talking to the

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press since the reporters, or at least 
their editors, were always on the alert

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for something scandalous from suffrage 
headquarters, some hint that it was a

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free love colony or (what was nearly as 
good, says Lewis) a frenzied zoo of

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manhaters, anarchists, atheists, 
spiritualists or anything else

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eccentric or discreditable.

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The workers for the cause might attack the 
water or gas departments,

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the city orphanages, President Wilson or 
even the Allies in the Great War,

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but they must do so only as Christian 
gentlewomen and solid taxpayers.

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They must convince others that the vote 
will not lead to moral laxity

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but would immediately end prostitution, 
gambling and the drinking of beer.

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But Dr Melvina Wormser of New York, 
as guest speaker,

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was outside headquarters discipline and a 
law unto herself.

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Here the young suffrage workers in 
'Ann Vickers' stand by in shocked silence

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as Dr Wormser delivers her opinions 
to the delighted reporters:

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[Dr Wormser, do you believe in free love?]

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Do I believe in free love? What do you 
mean by that, young lady?

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How can love be anything but free? If 
you mean, do I believe that any authentic

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passion, not just a momentary itch in the 
moonlight, is superior to any ceremony

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performed by some preacher, why of course,
don't you?

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[What do you think about birth control?]

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[Do you think women are brighter 
than men?]

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[Do you think there's any field women 
should not enter?]

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Oh, one at a time please! Let's see: do I 
believe that women are brighter than men?

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Tut tut, what a question! Not brighter -- 
just less mean. But don't try to get me to

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riding men. I'm a folorn old maid, but I 
adore 'em, the darlings.

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What do you suppose men doctors would ever
do without their women nurses

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and secretaries? I know! I was a nurse 
myself, before I became a doc.

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And now my chief satisfaction in life is 
that I don't have to stand up when a

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surgeon enters the room!

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Silly customs like that -- just what a man 
WOULD institute -- poor lambs, we have

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to take care of 'em and their little egos!
That's why we need the vote, for THEIR 
sake!

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[Do you think there will ever be a woman 
President?]

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How do I know, young man? But let me point
out that women rulers -- Queen Elizabeth,

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that lovely rakehell Catherine of Russia, 
the last Chinese Empress,

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Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen Anne, and 
Victoria -- were better rulers than any

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equal number of kings OR Presidents!

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[How soon do you predict women's suffrage 
will be the law of the land?]

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You boys and girls might as well know that
I don't believe in hedging and pussyfooting.

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This is going to be a long struggle. Not 
just getting the vote.

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That's a matter of a couple of years. 
Then we've got to go on.

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Birth control. Separate apartments for 
married couples, if they happen to like them.

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What women need is not merely the vote but
something more up here, in the head.

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Don't need just exterior opportunity but 
something interior, with which to grab the

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opportunity when we get it, and use it.

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Freedom's no good to a pussycat, only to a
tigress!

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And women have got to stick together. Men 
always have had the sense to -- drat 'em --

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Sex loyalty. We ought to lie for one 
another and sneak off and have a good drink

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together, like the men.

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[Do you want to rival men?]

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[Do you think there's any field that should
be closed to women?]

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I believe that there is no field that men 
control now that women can't enter,

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completely. Medicine, law, politics, 
physics, aviation, exploring, engineering,

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soldiering, prize-fighting, writing sweet
little rondels -- only I hope women'll be

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too sensible for either the prize-fighting
or the rondels, which are both forms of

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male escapism, and singularly alike if you
look at 'em!

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Only I don't expect women to imitate or 
try to displace men in any of these fields.

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I'm not one of the gels who believes that 
the sole difference between males and

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females is in conception. Women have 
special qualities which the human race has

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failed to use for civilization. 
I know a woman can be as good an architect

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as any man -- but she may be a different 
sort of architect. I bring something to

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medicine that no man can, no matter how 
good he is.

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[Well, how about the army?]

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Well, if you think women can't go to war, 
remember what the Teuton tribes, marching

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with their women along, did to the 
beautiful, virile, professional men

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soldiers of Rome! But the pig-headed 
masculine world forgot that lesson for

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fifteen hundred years and never discovered
it till Florence Nightingale happened in

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and bullied the masculine British War 
Office into some of the common sense that

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any normal girl would have at seven!

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[Do you want to rival men?]

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No, I don't want to rival men. But I don't
want to be kept by the tradition of

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feminine subjection from the privilege of 
working eighteen hours a day.

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I'm not much of a democrat. Believe 
inferiors ought to be subjected,

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if they ARE inferiors! But if a girl 
secretary is smarter than her male boss,

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let HIM be HER secretary.

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Listen! In 1945, maybe you'll have to go 
to England -- that's where they invented

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this Inferior Women myth, so men could 
have their clubs -- maybe you'll have to

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go to England to find anybody so benighted
that he'll even know what you're talking

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about when you speak of considering 
candidates for a job as male and female,

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or on any other basis except 
their ability!

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[Why 1945, Dr Wormser?]

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I speak of 1945 because I have a hunch 
that after we get the vote we'll be less

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ardent feminists. We'll find that work is 
hard. That jobs are insecure. That we must

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go much deeper than woman suffrage -- 
maybe to Socialism; anyway, to something

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that fundamentally represents both men and
women, not just women alone.

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And a lot of suffragists that pretend to 
hate men will find the dear brutes are

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nice to have around the house. We'll slump.
But then we'll come back -- not as shadows

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of men, or as noisy professional females, 
but, for the first time since

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Queen Elizabeth, as human beings! There! 
You ought to be able to get sufficient out

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of what I've said to make trouble enough 
for me to satisfy even a suffrage speaker!

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Good-day.

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[Oh, thank you, Dr Wormser!]
[Goodbye, Doctor, and thank you!]

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00:10:51,762 --> 00:10:56,723
This goes on Sinclair Lewis's Ann Vickers
as what the newspapers made of Dr. Wormser's


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interview the next morning: "Love is 
nothing but a temporary itch caused by

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moonlight. But even so, it is more 
important than lasting marriage.

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Because marriages are performed by
ministers who are all childish. Free

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love-that is, taking any sweetheart, any
time you choose is not only permissible

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but necessary for any free woman. Men are
much meaner than women. Men doctors boss

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their nurses around and treat them simply 
terrible. The next president of the United

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States will be a woman and she will be 
lots better than any man. Marie Louise of

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Russia was the greatest king who ever 
lived. As soon as we get the vote, then

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we're going on and advocate birth control
socialism, and atheism. All married

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couples will live in separate apartments
and women will imitate men and sneak off

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and get drunk together. Women must lie 
about one another's whereabouts to fool

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the men. Women will make better soldiers, 
prize-fighters, engineers, and poets than

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men, and men are fit only to be the
secretaries and servants of women. I know

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that talking frankly like this will get 
me into trouble, but all suffrage speakers

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love publicity and I guess I'll get plenty
on this." Dr. Wormster's interview had the

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effect of selling out the house for the
suffrage meeting that evening, with

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hundreds more trying to get in. 
(Crowd sounds) The crowd was threatening

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and snarling. ["I oughta ride them out on
a rail!" "Bunch of floozies, all of them

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crazy, that's what they are!" "I 
wouldn't have a woman doc for a sick cat!'

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"Free love! I'd like to show em some free 
love..with a club!" "Bunch of crazy

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anarchists!"] But there were enough
sympathizers with the movement to keep

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down violence. Backstage, before the
meeting, the suffragists were nervous and

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apprehensive. "Oh, those cursed newspapers!
Will some of you explain to me why every

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single reporter and editor on a paper can
be a liberal or perhaps a Red and the

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paper itself is conservative as the
measles? Oh, don't worry Dr. Wormser, I

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00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,461
have my Dudley and my two large brothers
out there. They've stopped at the club

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for a drink and by this time they'll be 
equal to handling at least 300 bullies."

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00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:33,648
(Cheers) "8:27. Oo, let's get started,
Doctor, and get it over!" "Listen, you

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girls. Eleanor, Pat, and Ann. The minute 
the doctor starts talking, you all skip

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to the back of the house and if anything
starts, see what you can do will you?"

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Right, Mrs. Birgardes I certainly will! 
"Come on girls let's go, let's go out

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
there and face them Dr. Wormser,
are you game?" "Oh, they don't

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
bother me in the least, I'm used to 
them. After you Ms. Bogardes."

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"At a girl Dr. Wormser, Never say die!"
<i>(Cheering)</i> "Let's start the convention."

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"On with the ball and chain!" "Hooray for
the lady Doc!" "Votes for the skirts!"

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid that in
unavoidable haste of getting out the news

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
papers our friends and reporters
considerably exaggerated the radicalism of

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of the speaker for this evening. I will
let her speak now for herself, I present

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Dr. Melvina Wormser!"


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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"ladies and gentlemen"

191
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"boo, go on back to New York"

192
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Ladies and gentlemen, and also 
anti-suffragist.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Ladies and gentlemen I agree with you.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
If I knew myself only through reading
the papers this evening,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I would thoroughly disapprove of myself."

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(laughter)

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Yes I would tell Melvina Wormser to get 
out of this lovely city

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and go back to the sinfulness of New York."

199
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Go on back then, we don't want you"

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and in the mean time in the back of 
of the hall, the three girls confer

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"What are we going to do? If that one 
drunk would keep quiet she could speak."

202
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"He's going to ruin everything"

203
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"lets get one of those policemen to 
through him out."

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Good Idea."

205
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Hey officer, you've gotta throw that man
out, he will start a riot!"

206
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Oh he ain't doin nothin lady,
He'll shut up"

207
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(drunk singing)

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I'll get him myself then, come on Elanor
there he is."

209
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"you get out of here you drunk!"

210
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Go fly a kite you. Who do you think your
talking to you floozy?"

211
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Don't you talk to her like that, 
don't you dare!"

212
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I'll fix you"
(smacking sound)

213
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"She hit him, that brazen hussy hit him."

214
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"That's no way to act, slapping a man 
around, you bunch of tough"

215
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Hes making a disturbance, here officer
take him out."

216
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man)"He's got a right to talk"

217
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(woman) "You ought to be ashamed of
yourselves, call yourselves ladies"

218
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man) "let a bunch of hellions like you 
have the vote"

219
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"here officer get these rough skirts
away from here."

220
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(officer) "you get back to yourself ladies
your making all the fuss not this guy"

221
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"you baited her I'll run you in, we'll 
take care of the rumpus."

222
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(drunk singing)

223
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man) "come on boys lets spank a whole 
bunch of em and then start on the lady doc"

224
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man) "Just a minute, don't start anything"

225
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I came to hear a speech and if this 
gentleman is going to interfere"

226
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I suggest he be removed. And if the 
officers refuse to do it, who'll help me"

227
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man) "I will! Hey, which one you want 
out, lady?"

228
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(woman) "That one! Kick him out! And that
one! And that one! Oh, thank you Officer

229
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I'm so glad to see you're helping, thank 
you! "

230
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(man) "That's alright, lady!" And Dr. 
Wormser resumed her address. A fictitious

231
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
episode from Sinclair Lewis's novel Ann
Vickers. In 1917, the American Woman's

232
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Suffrage Association won a victory which
made universal suffrage for women almost

233
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
inevitable. The state of New York yielded
to 69 years of persistent agitation and

234
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
granted the franchise to women. During 
the last few years of the campaign,

235
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
200,000 women worked tirelessly for their
cause like a well-trained army, organizing

236
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
every county, borough, and precinct in 
New York on the model of a political

237
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
machine, frankly patterned after the 
Tammany Organization. In 1910, when the

238
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
state legislature refused to act on the 
suffrage petition the workers of greater

239
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
New York organized a protest parade in 
which thousands of woman marched up 5th ave.

240
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
A demonstration which they repeated every
year afterward until suffrage was won.

241
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
On one occasion in New York, the women 
joined in a night torchlight parade

242
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In which a seemingly endless stream of 
women each carrying a lighted lantern,

243
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
marched up 5th avenue in a procession
which went on for hours.

244
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
One parade toward the end of the campaign

245
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Lasted all day long.

246
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Two factors states Inez Haynes Irwin in
Angels and Amazons,

247
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
besides the unceasing efforts of the
organization workers contributed to the

248
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
final victory.

249
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
One was that the organized liquor 
industries were by this time,

250
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
occupied in fighting the prohibition
amendment and could give only

251
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
secondary attention to the campaign
against women suffrage.

252
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And the second factor was that so many

253
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
New York women had become enthusiastic

254
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
supporters of the suffrage movement.

255
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But Tammany hall refused to make a stand
against it.

256
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In 1917 the New York victory was won.

257
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And the largest state in the union had 
granted women full suffrage.

258
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Even before this notable triumph however,

259
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
much headway had been made towards 
obtaining suffrage for women on a national scale

260
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In 1913 a new element had 
entered the struggle.

261
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
A group young militant intellectuals

262
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
led by Ellis Paul, from Swarthmore in
Pennsylvania from which he held a PHD

263
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And lucy Burns from Vassare, Berlin and 
Bonn had organized a national womens party

264
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and was striking boldly for a womens

265
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
suffrage amendment to the United States 
Constitution.

266
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The day before Woodrow Wilsons 
innaguration as president,

267
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
These women, with the approval Jane adams
of the national association

268
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Had organized a demonstration of
8000 women in Washington D.C.

269
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
As the procession moved down Pennsylvania
avenue towards the White House,

270
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It ran into unexpected difficulties.

271
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Washington was crowded with people who had
come from all over the country

272
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to witness the inauguration and violence
broke out.

273
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Women were spat upon, tripped, slapped
in the face,

274
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
pelted with burning cigar stubs, and 
insulted by jeers and obscene language.

275
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The secretary of war finally called in 


276
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
troops from Fort Meyer 
to settle the rioting.

277
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But afterwards the suffragist forced a

278
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
congressional inquiry on the neglect of
the police

279
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which resulted in the chief of
police losing his job.

280
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The suffrage cause received unprecedented 
publicity

281
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The radical faction
continued the campaign

282
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with tactics which grew 
more and more militant.

283
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They held meeting and demonstrations

284
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they exerted pressure on the president
and on congress,

285
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They sent delegations, caused thousands

286
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of letters and telegrams 
to flood the capital.

287
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They worked on political leaders.

288
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In 1914 they initiated their policy

289
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in holding the political party in power

290
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
responsible for the fact that womens
suffrage was not yet the law of the land.

291
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And they campaigned actively against the 
democratic candidates

292
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in the 9 states in which 
women could already vote.

293
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
According to Ellis Pauls testimony they
campaigned that year against 43 men

294
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
who running for congress on the 
democratic ticket.

295
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Only 19 of those campaigned against were
returned by their states to Washington.

296
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The Democratic party was forced to
acknowledge the power of the women.

297
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In 1916 president Wilson recognized the
principle of women's suffrage

298
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In his parties platform.

299
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But he did not yet commit himself to 
the national amendment.

300
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Later that year he addressed the 


301
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
convention of the national association
advising patience.

302
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Knowing that the president could compel
passing of the amendment if he would.

303
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Alice Paul concentrated on winning Wilsons
support.

304
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
To keep the matter constantly in his mind,

305
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
she set the famous suffrage pickets 
before the White house.

306
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Which for a year and a half made front
page news in America.

307
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Mister president, what will you do for 
womans suffrage?

308
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
How long must women wait for liberty"
their banners read.

309
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
On inauguration day of that year

310
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
A thousand pickets surrounded the 
white house four times.

311
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Even after the declaration of war with
Germany the picketing continued.

312
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The women knew from their experience

313
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of the civil war that they cannot afford
to stop now with their final goal in sight

314
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But suddenly in June 1918, on who's order
know one knows.

315
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The police began to arrest the pickets.

316
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Scores of women were arrested,

317
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
including both Lucy Burns and Alice Paul.

318
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They were subjected to all 
manner of atrocities and persecutions

319
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which culminated in the following episode

320
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which the national womans party refers to
as the night of terror.

321
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The party historian tells the story thus:

322
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
On November 14, 1917, a group of pickets was

323
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
arrested and taken to the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia

324
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they protested against being sent there and refused to register

325
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
demanding that they be considered political prisoners.

326
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The officers tried to force them to register.

327
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Why'd you hit me, you?" "Come on girls, over here! Be nice, now! Over here at the desk!"

328
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"We demand to see Superintendent Whittaker!"

329
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Superintendent Whittaker is away! You'd better all line up and get registered!"

330
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"But, I'm sure there's some mistake about our being sent here! We're political prisoners, not common criminals! We'll wait and talk to Mr. Whittaker!"

331
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Sit there all night, then!"

332
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Well, they're not going to sit here all night! You get right over there and register, you! Go on, now!"

333
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Leave me alone!" "You stop pushing me!"

334
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Come now, ladies. You can't wait here all night. You, there, come over here and register. I want to ask you a few questions."

335
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Get going, now! Get a move on!"

336
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"We won't answer any questions until we've seen Mr. Whittaker!"

337
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"You'd better answer or it'll be the worse for you!" "I'll handle you so you'll be sorry you made me!"

338
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Get a move on!"

339
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Wait boys, here's Superintendent Whittaker now!"

340
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Alright, what's all this? What's going on here? What's all the trouble about?"

341
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"We demand to be treated as political prisoners!"

342
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Political prisoners! Oh, ugh, you shut up! I have men here who will political prisoners you!"

343
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Here, grab that woman! You take that one! Here, each of you take one!"

344
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Come on boys, come on now! Now you'll see how you'll be treated as political prisoners!"

345
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"In there, lady, get going! Get in there through that door! Don't you claw me, you cat!"

346
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Let go of her! That woman's over seventy years old!"

347
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I'll come with you. Don't drag me! I have a lame foot. Oh, oh, help me! Help me!"

348
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"That damn suffrager! My mother ain't no suffrager! I'll put you through hell!" [scream]

349
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Oh, please don't! Please!" "Now, damn you, old lady, you get in there through that door!"

350
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"My foot! I told you I'd go with you! Please don't drag me!"

351
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Oh, be careful of your foot, Mrs. Nolan!"

352
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Mrs. J.W. Brannan, who was one of those arrested, says of the attack

353
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Its perfectly unexpected ferocity stunned us. I saw two men seize Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, lift her from her feet, and catapult her through the doorway."

354
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I saw three men take Lucy Burns, twisting her arms behind her and then two other men grasp her shoulders."

355
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"There were six to ten guards in the room and many others collected on the porch - forty to fifty in all."

356
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"These all rushed in with Whittaker when he first entered. The guards brought from the male prison fell upon us."

357
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Miss Lincoln, a slight young girl, was thrown to the floor."

358
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Mrs. Nolan a delicate old lady of seventy-three was mastered by two men."

359
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"The furniture was overturned and the room was a scene of havoc. Whittaker, in the center of the room, directed the whole attack, inciting the guards to every brutality."

360
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"The women were dragged out of the office, down the steps and across the road and field to the administation building. They were thrown into the cells with such violence that several of them were seriously injured."

361
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"And Mrs. Lewis, whose head struck an iron bedstead, was unconscious for some time."

362
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"As always when arrested, Lucy Burns took charge of the situation. Now, from her cell, she began calling the roll."

363
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Paula Jacoby?" "Here." "Julia Emory?" "Here." "Mrs. Brannan?" "Here."

364
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Shut up!"

365
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Mrs. Lewis?" "They've thrown her in here. She's in here, Lucy." "Thank you, Mrs. Nolan."

366
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Mrs. [inaudible]?" "She's in here, too. They've both..."

367
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"You, old lady in there, if you open your mouth again, I'll put you in a straitjacket!"

368
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Mrs. Butterworth?"

369
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Listen, are you gonna stop that?"

370
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Not until I find out if we are all here and all still alive."

371
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Well, I guess we know how to fix you! You, guard there! Bring me those handcuffs!"

372
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Uh, here they are!"

373
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Don't you put those on me!"

374
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Quick! Hold her hands! No use fighting, lady."

375
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"Oh! Let go of me! Ohhhh!"

376
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I've got her! Now, then, we'll fasten them to the top of the door and her with 'em. How do you like that, my fine lady?"

377
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"That's a good place for you!"

378
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"I guess that'll keep her out of mischief for a while!"

379
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"And if I hear anymore noise out of you, I'll bring the buckle gag!"

380
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The country resented the persecution of the pickets and a month later, they were all suddenly released.

381
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In another month, President Wilson declared himself in favor of the federal amendment, and two days later it was passed by the House.

382
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
By June of 1919, the 19th Amendment had passed both houses of the 65th Congress and was ready for ratification by the states.

383
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

384
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The American women voted in the presidential election of 1920.