Woman Suffrage Petition.
Woman Suffrage Petition, [Newtown, PA; ca. 1916].
Petition: single sheet, 8-1/2" x 14"; printed on off-white stock with the legend, "The undersigned respectfully petition the U.S. Senate to pass immediately Senate Joint Resolution No. I, extending the right of suffrage to women," at the upper margin (with the union slug present) and below the body of the petition ruled into columns for "NAME", "ADDRESS" and "OCCUPATION"; the petition has been folded twice; some staining and a small tear to center of petition (where Maud Rice Stuckert, who signed the petition, records her address as "Newtown, Penna").
The petition has been signed by 29 woman suffrage supporters, including Maud Rice Stuckert, her husband William R. Stuckert and her mother, Abbie B. Rice. The signers, 22 women and 7 men, are from George School and Newton, Pennsylvania. By 1917 woman suffrage support had wide-enough support in the Senate that its committee on woman suffrage issued a report in favor of a federal amendment. The difficult campaign of 1917 when the Congressional Union declared attacked all Democratic candidates shook Senate supporters. The Senate reversed itself on the issue; it took repeated votes in the Senate in early 1919 for it to approve a woman suffrage amendment. This petition may never have been submitted because it proved unnecessary.
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