On the recordMay 21, 2019
As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the vote to pass the 19th Amendment, I would like to recognize Tennessee's crucial role in the Amendment's ratification. State Representative Harry T. Burn was a slow learner. He was originally antisuffragist, but he ultimately changed his ``nay'' vote to ``yea'' just in time to heed his mother's advice to ``be a good boy'' and vote for ratification. His was the deciding vote in the Tennessee General Assembly, making Tennessee the 36th State, and final State, needed for ratification. Representative Burn explained his vote this way: ``I know that a mother's advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.'' So thank you to Representative Burn and, above all, to his mother, Ms. Phoebe Burn, for her crucial role in aiding women's right to vote. ____________________
