Feb. 1 – On this day in Montana history in 1911 31-year-old Jeannette Rankin returned to Montana from a successful suffrage campaign in Washington State and addressed the Montana Legislature. The Helena Independent newspaper reported that her appeal for the right of women to vote lasted 20 minutes. “She neither begged for support, threatened, cajoled, or appealed to the chivalry of men. Rather, she simple advanced her argument and asked for a sincere and earnest consideration of it.” The House leadership order spittoons removed from the House floor out of “deference for the ladies present.” The 1913 Legislature placed the women’s vote issue on the ballot and in 1914 male voters approved the Constitutional Amendment for the right of women to vote.