Showdown in Springfield

Board of Directors National League of Women Voters--Chicago Convention, February 1920. Library of Congress.

Board of Directors National League of Women Voters--Chicago Convention, February 1920. Grace Wilbur Trout in front center. (Library of Congress).

Grace Wilbur Trout Makes a Move

By 1912, the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA) had generated lots of publicity for the cause of women's right to vote. They had convinced friendly politicians to introduce equal suffrage bills in both the House and Senate. They had traveled to Springfield in large numbers to lobby lawmakers when the bills came up to vote. Still, every vote failed. It was time to change tactics.

In October, Grace Wilbur Trout was elected preisdent of the IESA and started a new plan. She made a card index listing of every member of the House and Senate. Women throughout the state gathered information about each politician. This made it easier to keep track of politicians who were already friendly to suffrage and target men who might be converted to the cause. Women from each district began a quiet campaign designed to overcome the specific objections of their particular politician.

By Spring of 1913, the IESA knew they had the votes, if they could just get the bill to the floor of the Illinois House.