The Justice Bell Tour

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     On August 18, 1920 the 19th Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote. Theamendment stated “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall notbe denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”  On June 24, 1919 Pennsylvania congress votedto ratify the amendment becoming the 8^th state to do so.      Four yearsearlier Amendment #1, a women's suffrage referendum, was presented on theNovember 1915 ballot for approval from the men of Pennsylvania. By this time thirtystates of the US had already voted for at least partial rights for women’ssuffrage. The Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association kicked off a statewidecampaign to convince the male voters to vote for the amendment. The “JusticeBell”, an exact bronze replica of the liberty bell was cast with the words"Establish Justice" in the inscription. The 2000-pound bell requireda special truck to transport it. At a cost of $2,000., the bell was a gift fromKatherine Wentworth Ruschenberger of Strafford, PA. The clapper was muted bychains with the idea that the bell would not ring until women were granted theright to vote.     The bell beganits 5,000-mile tour of the state of Pennsylvania in Bradford County in May of1915 then continued on through the rest of the 66 counties. It zigzaggedthrough the state ending in Philadelphia in time for the November election. Thebell was escorted by a group of speakers and campaign props. Popular items indemand by local suffragettes were “votes for women” fans, buttons, papernapkins, pennants, note-paper, drinking cups, lanterns, flowers, lead pencils,candy, and children's toys. Yellow was the color adopted by the Association andcould be seen displayed prominently at the rallies. The bell arrived inBethlehem on August 29, 1915.     In addition tothe Justice Bell tour the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association organized open-airspeeches from automobiles and county fair booths as well as booking halls fortheir speakers. Bethlehem turned out in record numbers to hear Dr. Anna Shawspeak at the Broad Theater on October 3, 1915. Dr. Shaw was the first woman ordained by the Methodist ProtestantChurch. As a minister, she would not perform a marriage ceremony in which theword "obey" would be used. Dr. Shaw noted that none of the marriageceremonies she officiated ended in divorce. She was national superintendent offranchise of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and president of theNational Woman's Suffrage Association. Of her speech in Bethlehem, she wasquoted in the October 4, 1915 edition of the Globe Times as stating, “Beinghuman beings women have the qualities that belong to humanity and having them,should have the right of exercising them.”  She went on to say, “A republic is a form ofgovernment conducted by representatives of the people. You never read adefinition of a republic which granted the right of one half of the people tovote and elect representatives to govern the other half.” Those who attended roundlyapplauded Dr. Shaw’s speech.

Celebrating ratification of the women's suffrage amendment,Alice Paul, seated second from left, sews the 36th star on a banner, in Augustof 1920.  The banner flew in front ofheadquarters of the Women's Party in Washington of which Miss Paul was nationalchairperson.  The 36th star representedTennessee, whose ratification completed the number of states needed to put theamendment in the Constitution.  (APPhoto)

     A local suffrageleader, who attended Dr. Shaw’s speech, was Ruth Frick, the great granddaughterof Asa Packer, great-granddaughter of RobertH. Sayre and daughter of Robert P. Linderman. She was the LehighCounty chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party. Frick offered her car for open-airspeeches by several visiting women’s suffrage dignitaries. Frick and otherswent on to form the Allentown Women’s Club.      On November 2,1915 Amendment #1 was soundly defeated in Pennsylvania. The 50,000 votes againstthe referendum were significantly represented in Berks, Lebanon and Lehighcounties. It was widely known that a majority of Pennsylvania German men wereagainst the amendment because various temperance organizations supported theamendment.      The women’ssuffrage campaign turned its focus on a constitutional amendment with supportfrom President Wilson. The House of Representatives and the Senate passed theamendment. When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment onAugust 18, 1920, the amendment passed its final hurdle of obtaining theagreement of three-fourths of the states and became law.