34 Nebraskaland • October 2019
f you let women vote, will they take away your beer?
There was a time when many Nebraska men feared their
wives and daughters would do just that.
Nebraska ratifi ed the 19th Amendment 100 years
ago, granting women the right to vote. The amendment
took eff ect in 1920 after it was ratifi ed by the required three-
fourths of the states.
By then American suff ragists had been campaigning for
women's voting rights for more than 70 years. Nebraska
Territory's fi rst legislative session in 1855 included a pro-
suff rage speech by Amelia Bloomer. Many Nebraskans took
up the cause over the decades.
Letting women vote was controversial for a lot of reasons.
Even many women opposed it. Some feared it would upset
traditional gender roles, or believed that women were
unsuited for the rough-and-tumble of politics. Women were
seen as a civilizing and moral infl uence on men. Would that
status be lost if women became involved in the dirty dealing
of partisan politics?
Meanwhile, many women were involved in both the
suff rage and temperance movements. Temperance advocates
argued that America's high level of alcohol consumption
subjected women to needless poverty and domestic violence.
By the late 19th century, temperance groups favored
prohibiting alcohol entirely.
Traditional-minded men feared that politically active
women would drive them to drink – and then prevent
them from drinking.
Nebraska's brewers, distillers, and
saloon owners fi nancially
supported anti-suff rage
eff orts in order to stop
Prohibition in Nebraska.
United States' entry
into World War I in 1917
helped shift public opinion.
German immigrants made
up nearly a quarter of
Nebraska's population,
and most were strong
opponents of both suff rage
and prohibition. German
immigrants had founded
big Nebraska breweries
such as Metz, Krug, Storz,
Fremont Brewing Co., and
others. Wartime paranoia
threw suspicion on all
things German.
I
Don't Let Women Vote
By David L. Bristow, History Nebraska
if you want to keep drinking
From The Woman Citizen, Feb. 8, 1919.
Wilber, Nebraska, May 1, 1918. History Nebraska RG813-0-40
