Which state was the first to grant women the right to vote?
December 10, 1869 — Women’s suffrage, the right to vote, was granted in the Wyoming Territory today. Here’s a timeline of the movement from 1777 to 1869.
1777: Women lose the right to vote in New York.
1780: Women lose the right to vote in Massachusetts.
1784: Women lose the right to vote in New Hampshire.
1787: The US Constitutional Convention places voting qualifications in the hands of the states. Women in all states except New Jersey lose the right to vote.
1790: The state of New Jersey grants the vote to “all free inhabitants,” including women.
1807: Women lose the right to vote in New Jersey, the last state to revoke the right.
1848: The Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention, is held in Seneca Falls, NY. Women’s suffrage is proposed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and agreed to after an impassioned argument from Frederick Douglass.
1853: On the occasion of the World’s Fair in New York City, suffragists hold a meeting in the Broadway Tabernacle.
1861-1865: During the American Civil War, most suffragists focus on the war effort and suffrage activity is minimal.
1867: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone address a subcommittee of the New York State Constitutional Convention requesting that the revised constitution include woman suffrage. Their efforts fail.
1867: Kansas holds a state referendum on whether to enfranchise women and/or black males. Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton traverse the state speaking in favor of women suffrage. Both women and black male suffrage is voted down.
1867: The American Equal Rights Association, working for suffrage for both women and African Americans, is formed at the initiative of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
1869: The territory of Wyoming is the first to grant unrestricted suffrage to women.
Sources
Words of Wisdom
Why is a woman to be treated differently? Woman suffrage will succeed, despite this miserable guerilla opposition.
