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5 <br /> 1 BACKGROUND: On June 4, 1919, both chambers of United States Congress approved the <br /> 2 19t" amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed American women the right <br /> 3 to vote. The amendment was ratified into the United States Constitution the following year on <br /> 4 August 18, 1920. <br /> 5 <br /> 6 The first reported attempt to introduce women's suffrage legislation in North Carolina was led <br /> 7 by a group from Asheville, the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association ("NCESA"), in 1894. <br /> 8 In 1913, the NCESA, an affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association elected <br /> 9 Barbara Henderson of Chapel Hill as President, who initiated suffrage legislation in 1915 and <br /> 10 1919. However, the legislation failed to pass. <br /> 11 <br /> 12 Once Congress approved the 19t" amendment in 1919, 36 states needed to ratify the <br /> 13 amendment in order for it to be included in the United States Constitution. In June 1919, <br /> 14 Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan were the first to ratify the amendment. Within the following <br /> 15 year, 32 additional states ratified the amendment, with North Carolina or Tennessee poised to <br /> 16 become the 361" state. <br /> 17 <br /> 18 Southern States were adamantly opposed to the amendment, and seven of them - Alabama, <br /> 19 Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia - rejected it prior to it <br /> 20 being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly. On August 11, after rejecting <br /> 21 ratification of the amendment, a majority of the members of the North Carolina House of <br /> 22 Representatives sent a telegram to their counterparts in Tennessee telling them that they had <br /> 23 not ratified the amendment because it interfered with states' rights and urging the Tennessee <br /> 24 legislators to reject ratification too. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36t" state to <br /> 25 ratify the 19t" amendment by a margin of one vote. North Carolina would not ratify the 19t" <br /> 26 amendment until May 6, 1971. <br /> 27 <br /> 28 If not for Gertrude Weil, and the legions of suffragettes before her, the march toward the <br /> 29 women's right to vote may have stalled again. Weil's organization, the North Carolina Equal <br /> 30 Suffrage League launched the North Carolina Chapter of the League of Women Voters, a non- <br /> 31 partisan organization that educates people on the political process. Gertrude Weil served as the <br /> 32 organization's first president. <br /> 33 <br /> 34 Women in the United States were not the first women to gain the right to vote. When the 19t" <br /> 35 Amendment was ratified, women in New Zealand, Finland, Norway, and Sweden already had <br /> 36 the right to vote. <br /> 37 <br /> 38 Commissioner Price read the proclamation: (members of the League of Women Voters <br /> 39 were also present) <br /> 40 <br /> 41 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> 42 <br /> 43 PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING THE 100T" YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE <br /> 44 19T" AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION <br /> 45 <br /> 46 WHEREAS, an organized movement to enfranchise women began in July 1848 at a convention <br /> 47 in Seneca Falls, New York; and <br /> 48 <br />