Women's Suffrage

Technically it was New Jersey, but that right was taken away from New Jersey women in 1807. Wyoming became the first place to let women vote where that right was never taken away. The story of course is much more complicated (as is all history) so see the details below.

In 1756, Lydia Chapin Taft, also known as Lydia Taft, became the first legal woman voter in America. She voted on at least three occasions in an open New England Town Meeting, at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, with the consent of the electorate. This was between 1756 and 1768, during America's colonial period, while under the control of Britain. There are possibly other women who voted during this period too, but the right given was only temporary and not protected by the law.

New Jersey granted women the vote (with the same property qualifications as for men, although, since married women did not own property in their own right, only unmarried women and widows qualified) under the state constitution of 1776, where the word "inhabitants" was used without qualification of sex or race. New Jersey women, along with "aliens...persons of color, or negroes," lost the vote in 1807, when the franchise was restricted to white males, partly in order, ostensibly at least, to combat electoral fraud by simplifying the conditions for eligibility.

The territory of Wyoming passed their suffrage law on December 10, 1869, and the following year, women begin serving on juries in the territory. This became the first time the right to vote for women was protected by law and was never taken away. Wyoming became a state in 1890, and the suffrage law just carried over into its state constitution. Although suffrage was granted to the women of Wyoming first, Utah was the first place where women were allowed to vote under the law (See next section why).

The territorial legislature of the Utah Territory gave women the right to vote (but not hold public office) on February 10, 1870, and it was signed into law two days later. Sarah Young, the niece of Brigham Young, is reported to be the very first women to vote in Utah. This voting happened on February 14, 1870, after both Wyoming and Utah had granted suffrage to women, but before Wyoming had held a election. Thus Utah was the first place where a women voted, and her right to vote was protected and allowed by law. However the United States Congress disenfranchised Utah women, and took away their voting rights, with the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. It was not until Utah was granted statehood in 1896 that women were again allowed to vote.

In 1893 the state of Colorado adopted an amendment granting women the right to vote. A few other States and Territories would soon grant women the right to vote (full suffrage), yet some states would allow women to vote on just a few things such as a presidential election (this is called partial suffrage).

Then finally on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting all women the right to vote, was ratified. It was signed into law by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby on August 26, 1920.



The following is a list of States where full suffrage had been granted to women prior to the 19th Amendment in 1920 -

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Kansas
• Michigan
• Montana
• Nevada
• New York
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Washington
• Wyoming

Obviously, this is not a simple question! You might want to look at the situation of ealry black femisnists like Sojourner Truth...

In 1851 Truth traveled to Ohio to attend a women's rights convention. When she approached the podium to speak, some people taunted her, but she proceeded anyway. She told her audience, "I could work as much and eat as much as a man … and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?" Truth's speech moved the crowd. At the time, neither free blacks nor American women could vote, and there were dual movements to abolish slavery and grant women suffrage. After slavery officially ended in 1865 with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the status of blacks remained in question. Some in the women's right movement hoped to push for both women's suffrage (right to vote) and full citizenship rights for blacks, too. More moderate voices on both sides kept the two issues separate, however. For a time, Truth worked with Susan B. Anthony(1820-1906) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), the most prominent leaders in the suffrage movement, but broke away from them when Stanton stated that she refused to support black suffrage unless women were guaranteed the right to vote first.

When former slave Sojourner Truth rose to speak to a crowd of women's rights supporters in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, many women in the audience voiced their concern. Some objected simply on racial grounds, believing that a black woman had no right to get up and speak to a room full of white women. (Although slavery had been abolished in the North, many northerners still held racist views at that time.) Others were concerned that Sojourner Truth's appearance at the meeting would make it look like the women's rights movement was connected to the abolition movement. They wished to avoid that association because slavery was such a controversial issue. Ignoring the audience reaction, Sojourner Truth spoke passionately of women's strength, common sense, and abilities. She dismissed the notion that women were too delicate and irrational to have the same rights as men. The women in the audience cheered. Although Sojourner Truth became a famous and beloved supporter of abolition and women's rights, most other African American suffragists were unable to rise to such heights. While some white suffragists welcomed all activists regardless of race, the suffrage movement overall did not accept black women. One of the earliest male supporters of women's suffrage was the former slave and widely respected abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The women's movement welcomed the support of this distinguished African American man but gave little voice to African American women. Historians know that numerous black women supported the women's suffrage movement, though they were allowed only minimal participation in suffrage organizations. In most cases, their names have not been recorded for history. Those who did achieve some level of prominence in the movement included Harriet Forten Purvis (1810-1875) and her sister Margaretta Forten (c. 1815-1875). These women were part of prominent African American families known for their work in the abolition and women's rights movements. Many black women's rights supporters formed their own associations. They did this either because they were forced out of white organizations or because they chose not to join a group that didn't want them. Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) founded the Colored Women's League in 1892. Her organization later merged with another to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and Terrell was later elected president of that group. One of the best-known African American suffragists was Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931). As part owner of a black newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, Wells-Barnett had gained a reputation as a determined, outspoken seeker of justice. At a time when white mobs in the South terrorized black citizens-sometimes resulting in brutal murders, or lynchings, of innocent blacks-Wells-Barnett risked her own safety by writing passionate editorials condemning lynchings. She spent many years of her life arguing for the passage of laws that would make lynching a federal crime. Wells-Barnett also devoted much of her life to the fight for women's suffrage, despite the fact that the mainstream white organizations denied her equal standing with white suffragists. At the start of a massive 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., the parade's organizers asked Wells-Barnett to march in a segregated section for African Americans rather than with the white suffragists from her state of Illinois. She refused, insisting that she march alongside the white women or not at all. From the sidelines, Wells-Barnett watched the parade begin, quietly joining the Illinois group as they passed by. At many times during the decades-long battle for women's right to vote, black suffragists were rejected from the major national women's groups because the leaders were concerned about offending southern white women. Many southerners, even those passionate about women's right to vote, felt strongly that black women should not be included in that right. African American suffragists, bearing the dual burden of being black and female in a nation that undervalued both groups, were left to fight their own battles.

from "The Women's Suffrage Movement." American Social Reform Movements Reference Library. Ed. Judy Galens. Vol. 2. Detroit: U*X*L, 2007.

Lesley Williams

Evanston Public library

http://www.epl.org/library/reference-help.html

Now, many women's rights movements were halted, causing much turmoil to die. Also, we had a larger amount and range of voters. This made it so that the whole country's voice was heard.

Well after the amendment was ratified women were allowed to vote. So men and women were allowed to do the same things and have equality. So women could now be president like men could. After it was approved some men didn't like it and wanted to have power so they protested against it. -Sigisig14

(improved answer)