Lippitt House Museum's 19th Amendment Commemoration

​The march towards universal adult suffrage was a winding path in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Lippitt family and the servants who lived and labored at 199 Hope Street witnessed and participated in these changes. During Henry Lippitt’s tenure as governor, male foreign-born veterans were given the vote in Rhode Island. However, when he ran for office in 1875, his employee William Mason, the Lippitt family’s waiter, was the only other person (besides his 27 year-old son Charles) who was eligible to vote in the Lippitts' fourteen-person household. Their three daughters, 18 year-old son, the five other servants residing in the house, and even Henry’s wife Mary Ann Balch Lippitt could not participate in the election.

A lesser-known part of the “Votes for Women” movement was its fierce resistance, even amongst women. The anti-suffrage campaign was supported by several members of the Lippitt family. Middle daughter Mary Lippitt Steedman (1858-1938) was against women’s suffrage and even petitioned the United Sates House of Representatives to not extend the vote to women. Daughter-in-law Margaret Farnum Lippitt (1860-1940) was a leader in Rhode Island’s anti-suffrage campaign. She promoted her position at public forums debating suffragist leaders and testified at a Rhode Island General Assembly committee hearing. As exemplified in the Lippitt family, women were not a unified political block on the issue of suffrage.

But even with the Constitutional voting protections of the 15th and 19th Amendments, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, there are still threats to voter participation today. Part of Lippitt House Museum’s mission is to encourage people to be civically engaged in their communities. The museum’s 19th Amendment Centennial programing strove to raise awareness about the past struggles for voting rights and encourage people to protect and exercise their vote today. The work isn’t done—we’re still at!