Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/96

82 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE to issue another call for it to meet a week hence to ratify the amendment as well as to enact the necessary legislation. Both House and Senate refused to acccede to his request but by unani- mous vote in the Senate and by a vote of 216 to 1 1 in the House, the Federal Suffrage Amendment was ratified, although the Governor had not submitted the certified copy to them. 1 After passing a number of other bills, all of which were outside of the limits set by the Governor, the Legislature adjourned to September 21, when the second session had been called. When the Legislature met on September 21 the Governor ap- peared before the two Houses and asked them to ratify the amendment which he now laid before them. Many of the mem- bers were unwilling to do this, as it seemed a confession that their former action was invalid. Wiser counsels prevailed, es- pecially as Miss Ludington and the State Board strongly urged them not to allow their scruples to stand in the way when there might be a possible doubt as to whether the first ratification was legal. The amendment was again ratified, by the Senate unani- mously, the House 194 to 9. Later in the day a motion was made to reconsider and confirm the action of the first session. This was done to satisfy the members who were determined that the first record should stand as authentic. Thus after a struggle lasting over fifteen months, the Legislature at its first opportunity ratified the Federal Suffrage Amendment, once, twice and thrice, and if there was any doubt about Tennessee there was none what- ever about Connecticut. The long fight for ratification and the contest against Senator Brandegee made it impossible to organize a League of Women Voters in 1920. On November 8 and 9, after the election was over, the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association held its last convention in Hartford. It voted to keep the organization in existence for a couple of months until a league could be formed and then, without further ceremony, to dissolve. Preliminary organization work was continued and on Jan. 18, 1921, at a 1 A certified copy of this vote was immediately dispatched to Washington by Miss Flanagan, one of the National Woman's Party workers, and Secretary of State Colby accepted it as valid. It is therefore on record in Washington that Connecticut ratified the Federal Suffrage Amendment on September 14, 1920.