Women and the Vote: What Did the Adventist Publications Say?

“What did the Adventist publications say about women earning the right to vote?” 

This was one question that came to my mind while I was visiting Aurora University, doing some research in their Adventist archival collection. I was entertaining questions in my mind about how Advent Christians reacted publicly to major current events. Case in point – the ratification of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women (who were legal US citizens) the right to vote. And so, I began to read. 

I found two articles in the World’s Crisis, both printed in October of 1920. Notice that the 19th amendment was ratified in August of 1920, and the general presidential election falls in November every four years. This observation is interesting, as it seems that this was the first mention of the 19th amendment in the World’s Crisis that I found. It was quite timely of the publishers to have included information about women and the vote as the presidential election drew near. 

One article was an original written by the World’s Crisis itself. A transcription of this article can be found here, done by me. 

In the article, the first thing that struck me was the language of urgency and responsibility used. Upon proclaiming the ratification of the 19th amendment, the World’s Crisis emphasizes why this is important information for the women who read the paper. 

“This brings to the women of the United States a new and a grave responsibility. They are now privileged to vote, not merely on school questions, but theirs is a full franchise for local, State and national questions. Where men vote, the American woman can now vote.” -The World’s Crisis

I must agree – the privilege we have to vote for our elected leaders is one not to be taken lightly. It is indeed a “grave responsibility” that we hold on our shoulders. 

Something else I found interesting about this article by the World’s Crisis was the push for women to vote accordingly regarding the “saloon question.” This is, of course, referring to Prohibition. I forget at times that the ratification of the 19th amendment was historically concurrent with the issue of Prohibition. The World’s Crisis pushed for its readers, and here its female readers in particular, to vote in favor of the Prohibition of alcohol. I found it intriguing that this “single-issue voting” was apparently endorsed by the World’s Crisis, and that the right to vote for women was important because it meant that they could use their newly unveiled voices for this issue in particular. 

Admittedly, I am adamantly against such single-issue voting, and I prefer a more well-rounded approach in considering a presidential candidate, as well as the passing of laws and regulations. 

The other article I found (read it here) was actually a re-printed article from another publication called the American Issue. Interestingly, this is a publication that was owned and produced by the Anti-Saloon League of America. It was a Christian publication, with a special attention paid to temperance and prohibition. 

This article wrote more specifically about the importance of women using their vote in favor of Prohibition. The article is very clear in its position on the 19th amendment: 

“As an influence upon the moral and social welfare of the people, this nineteenth amendment is second only to the eighteenth abolishing the liquor traffic.” -American Issue in the World’s Crisis

How interesting that the abolishing of the sale and consumption of alcohol was more important that granting all citizens the right to vote. 

Even further, the article states: “It is especially gratifying that the nineteenth amendment has triumphed at a time when the female voters’ help is so much needed to resist the attacks of the liquor interests directed at the eighteenth amendment.” -American Issue in the World’s Crisis

I often wonder what the women who were reading this paper were thinking as they read these words written directly to them. 

What was going through their minds? What about their male family members? Did they urge their mothers, sisters, or daughters to vote? Did they go with them to the voting polls? Were the women nervous? Did they think before they voted? Did they vote as their family members did? As their church members did? Or, did they come to their own conclusions and vote as they saw fit according to their own thoughts and beliefs? 

Did they follow the encouraging push of the papers and vote with a single issue in mind? Did any of them vote differently? Did the women who read this paper have personal stories that led to them supporting Prohibition? Did any women write in to the paper with “letters to the editor” expressing their thoughts? How many female readers of the World’s Crisis actually voted in that year’s Presidential election? Did they have other issues that they cared about? Were there any women who were against the ratification of the 19th amendment? Did they choose not to vote? 

Did the women reading these newspaper articles wonder about the future? Did they think that 100 years later, women of color would be voting as well? That we would have millions and millions of people voting? Did they wonder about what issues we would face in the future? Did they fathom the things that we face at the polls today? Did they pray for us? 

I don’t have an answer to these questions, and there may not be an answer for all, or any, of these questions. These questions are a bit all over the place, and the logical flow of them may not make much sense outside of my head and on paper. Nonetheless, I still ask them.