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No Place for a Woman: The Struggle for Suffrage in the Wild West
The 19thAmendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote in America, was first proposed and rejected in 1878 , then reintroduced every year for the next 41 years. In 1984, Mississippi became the last state to ratify it.
Wyoming was the first U.S. state to give women the right to vote. Women there had been voting since 1869 in Wyoming Territory, which only agreed to join the Union if this right was maintained. Congress threatened to deny statehood over the issue, but Wyoming wouldn’t back down.
The original 1776 constitution of New Jersey gave “all inhabitants” who were “worth 50 pounds” the right to vote. This was vague, so in 1797, women with 50 pounds or more to their names were explicitly allowed to vote. This right only applied to single women. Married women did not count since their husbands legally controlled all the property they owned. In 1807, the law was changed once again, restricting the vote to only free white male citizens.
Not all suffragists were women, and not all anti-suffragists were men. Numerous men were committed suffragists, and some were imprisoned and force-fed just like their female comrades. Many prominent women also proclaimed disapproval for the suffrage movement, arguing that women did not want to vote and that it would mean competition with men rather than cooperation.
Susan B. Anthony (and 15 other women) voted illegally in the presidential election of 1872.
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No Place for a Woman: The Struggle for Suffrage in the Wild West.
