Maine History Volume 46 Number 1 Representing Maine Article 4 10-1-2011 Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Vote to Ratify Women’s Suffrage in 1919 Anne Gass Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal Part of the Social History Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gass, Anne. "Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Vote to Ratify Women’s Suffrage in 1919." Maine History 46, 1 (2011): 38-66. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal/vol46/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Florence Brooks Whitehouse was a prominent suffrage leader in Maine in the 1910s. Originally a member of the Maine Woman Suffrage Association, White- house became the leader of the Maine branch of the National Woman’s Party, which used more radical tactics and espoused immediate and full suffrage for women. Courtesy of the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum, Washington DC. FLORENCE BROOKS WHITEHOUSE AND MAINE’S VOTE TO RATIFY WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN 1919 BY ANNE GASS In 1919, Maine faced an unusual conflict between ratifying the nine- teenth amendment to the United States Constitution that would grant full voting rights to women, and approving a statewide suffrage referen- dum that would permit women to vote in presidential campaigns only. Maine’s pro-suffrage forces had to head off last-minute efforts by anti- suffragists to sabotage the Maine legislature’s ratification vote.