August 18 Birthday
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, providing the required three-fourths majority. The amendment stated: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." The vote in Tennessee was decided by a twenty-four-year-old state representative named Harry Burn, who had been prepared to vote against it but changed his mind after his mother sent him a telegram. He voted yes, and women won the right to vote. Meriwether Lewis, born this day in 1774, was thirty when Jefferson sent him to explore the Louisiana Territory. He and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery from St. Louis to the Pacific and back, covering 8,000 miles in two and a half years. Only one member died — of appendicitis. Lewis later became governor of the Louisiana Territory. He died of gunshot wounds in 1809 — whether murder or suicide is debated. People born on August 18 fall under the zodiac sign of Leo. The birthstone is Peridot and the birth flower is Gladiolus. Historical events on August 18 include 1920: 19th Amendment ratified, granting women the right to vote, 1587: Virginia Dare — first English child born in the Americas, 1991: Soviet coup attempt collapses, Gorbachev freed from house arrest. Famous people born on August 18 include Meriwether Lewis (1774), Rosalynn Carter (1927), Patrick Swayze (1952).