Continuing my series on random facts about Women's suffrage.
You may know that the 19th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1920. If you're really up on your history, you'll know that many states had already granted women the right to vote before that (the first state was Wyoming, which entered the Union as a state in 1890 when its women had been voting in the territory for 20 years). So, women have been American voters in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
But, I can bet that you didn't know that there were American women who voted in the 18th Century! When the New Jersey constitution was adopted in 1776, it promised voting rights to "all free inhabitants." While American laws may have had gender neutral language, not many women were aware of this language and we don't know if many of them voted.
Interestingly, Joseph Cooper, a Quaker, sponsored language to add "he or she" to the election codes of the state in 1790. I'll note here that the Quakers were one of the few egalitarian religions in the U.S. at the time - they let women vote on church matters and speak in meetings. A lot of early suffragists were Quakers, because they had public speaking experience.
In 1797, a group of women marched to the polls to vote, and nearly defeated a candidate for the legislature. It caused an uproar among newspaper journalists at the time. They portrayed the women as either ignorant or controlled by their husbands. That same man who was nearly defeated later sponsored legislation to restrict voting rights to males only, which was passed by the New Jersey legislature in 1807.
Unfortunately, it would take another 113 years after that 1807 law for all American women to be guaranteed the right to vote in America. But I think it's cool to learn about some women who voted in the early days of our country.
(Source: A History of the American Suffrage Movement, Doris Weatherford, Pages 9-11)
You may know that the 19th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1920. If you're really up on your history, you'll know that many states had already granted women the right to vote before that (the first state was Wyoming, which entered the Union as a state in 1890 when its women had been voting in the territory for 20 years). So, women have been American voters in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
But, I can bet that you didn't know that there were American women who voted in the 18th Century! When the New Jersey constitution was adopted in 1776, it promised voting rights to "all free inhabitants." While American laws may have had gender neutral language, not many women were aware of this language and we don't know if many of them voted.
Interestingly, Joseph Cooper, a Quaker, sponsored language to add "he or she" to the election codes of the state in 1790. I'll note here that the Quakers were one of the few egalitarian religions in the U.S. at the time - they let women vote on church matters and speak in meetings. A lot of early suffragists were Quakers, because they had public speaking experience.
In 1797, a group of women marched to the polls to vote, and nearly defeated a candidate for the legislature. It caused an uproar among newspaper journalists at the time. They portrayed the women as either ignorant or controlled by their husbands. That same man who was nearly defeated later sponsored legislation to restrict voting rights to males only, which was passed by the New Jersey legislature in 1807.
Unfortunately, it would take another 113 years after that 1807 law for all American women to be guaranteed the right to vote in America. But I think it's cool to learn about some women who voted in the early days of our country.
(Source: A History of the American Suffrage Movement, Doris Weatherford, Pages 9-11)
No comments:
Post a Comment