The ratification process did not take long. In little over one year the thirty-sixth state ratified the Nineteenth Amendment. However, some scholars believe that the ratification debates posed a particularly important challenge to the women’s suffrage movement. Historian Sara Hunter Graham writes,

To many readers, ratification by the states seems almost an afterthought, easily accomplished after the gripping congressional drama was played out. In fact, this was far from true. Arguably, ratification was the most difficult political test NAWSA activists would face. . . . For the amendment to take effect, it had to be approved by thirty-six state legislatures; in each state, suffragists had to grapple with different political agendas, coalitions and personalities.

Despite these challenges, NAWSA was well prepared for the battle, in no small part because Carrie Chapman Catt had anticipated these battles when she drew up her Winning Plan of 1916. One unexpected...