If the women’s suffrage movement hoped to achieve passage and ratification of a constitutional amendment, it would need to become more united than ever before. The actual wording of the amendment was not an issue. Ever since 1878, when Senator Aaron Sargent of California introduced an amendment that provided for equal suffrage for men and women, the amendment for which the suffrage movement fought always read the same: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." This amendment was often referred to as the Anthony Amendment, in honor of Susan B. Anthony, who was Senator Sargent’s close friend. Yet despite a clearly defined objective, the movement was troubled.

The women’s suffrage movement was poorly organized and short of cash. In 1916 it selected...