WOMAN SUFFRAGE. 



787 



to practice law, and this example has since been 

 followed by nearly all the States. The first elec- 

 tion in Wyoming under the woman-suffrage law 

 occurred in 1870 and passed off quietly. Women 

 served on grand and petit juries, and the laws 

 were enforced. An attempt was made the next 

 year to repeal the Woman Suffrage act, and it 

 succeeded by a strict party vote, the Democrats 

 being in the majority, but was vetoed by the 

 Governor and failed by 1 vote of passing the 

 Council over his veto. 



Subsequent agitation of the subject of suffrage 

 was carried on from a different point of view. 

 It was deemed needless any longer to dwell upon 

 woman's wrongs and man's oppressions ; an edu- 

 cational campaign was voted necessary, and a 

 committee formed to this end. A committee of 

 the National Society was admitted to the bar of 

 the Senate, and argued chiefly as to the meaning 

 of the word citizen. The contention at this 

 time was that the fourteenth and fifteenth con- 

 stitutional amendments covered the ground, and 

 that legislative action alone was necessary to se- 

 cure the suffrage to women. This year (1871) 

 several attempts were made by women to vote, 

 merely as a test of law and of public opinion. 

 In most cases they were refused registration or 

 their votes were not counted. In Missouri Mrs. 

 Minor tried to register, in order to bring be- 

 fore the courts the question of women's right, 

 as citizens of the United States, to vote for 

 United States officers. Failing in her attempt 

 to register, she brought suit against the registra- 

 tion office, and carried it through all the courts 

 to the Supreme Court, meeting adverse decisions 

 all the way. Considerable stir was occasioned 

 in 1872-'73 by the arrest in New York State of 

 Susan B. Anthony for voting. She was tried, 

 convicted, and fined $100. 



Petitions for right of suffrage were brought 

 before the Legislatures of several States ; though 

 no favorable action ensued, the voting showed 

 that the cause was steadily gaining ground. In 

 1872 the Republican party inserted a suffrage 

 plank in their platform. The temperance cru- 

 sade, which was inaugurated in Ohio in 1874, 

 drew off some women from the suffrage cause. 

 The progress of the work, however, was evident. 

 Colleges were opening their doors to women; 

 minority votes in favor of suffrage grew con- 

 tinually larger; the Governors of some States 

 openly advocated it. 



In 1876, the Centennial year, the feelings of 

 woman suffragists were unpleasantly stirred by 

 their being given no formal share in the cele- 

 bration. A large committee of women pre- 

 sented a protest at the celebration, and imme- 

 diately proceeded to hold a protest mass meeting 

 in a neighboring church. An appeal was made 

 to both Republicans and Democrats to put suf- 

 frage planks in their platforms, and from that 

 time forth a constant attempt has been made to 

 secure affiliation with some political party. A 

 strong but vain effort was made to obtain recog- 

 nition in the Constitution of the Centennial State, 

 Colorado. In 1878 an International Woman's 

 Rights Congress was held in France. By this 

 time unmarried English women had ail but 

 parliamentary franchise, and married women's 

 property rights were vastly improved. Italy, 

 Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and 



Denmark had greatly bettered the status of 

 women, and even Spam and Portugal were feel- 

 ing the effect of the movement. 



The first favorable (minority) report on woman 

 suffrage ever received in the United States S.-n- 

 ate was presented by Senator Hoar Feb. 1, !*:!>. 

 The following week" the bill allowing women to 

 plead before the Supreme Court was passed, after 

 five years' struggle of Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood 

 and her friends, and was signed by President 

 Hayes. Mrs. Lockwood was the firs't woman to 

 qualify. A committee on the rights of women 

 was appointed in the House. 



In Illinois, Frances Willard presented the pe- 

 tition of 180,000 women asking leave to vote on 

 license. It was refused. Some of the smaller 

 cities granted it, which resulted in large majori- 

 ties for no license. The new Constitution of 

 Louisiana made women eligible to school offices, 

 and rendered the rights of married women more 

 secure than in any other State. 



In 1880 the woman suffragists of New York 

 State were organized into a political party, with 

 Dr. Clemence S. Lozier at their head. It does 

 not nominate candidates, but aims to hold the 

 balance of power. In Wisconsin, the proposition 

 for a woman-suffrage amendment to the Consti- 

 tution passed both houses, but was lost in the 

 next Legislature. A similar experience occurred 

 in Indiana, where the disabilities of women are 

 still great. Kansas and Washington Territory, 

 Colorado, Michigan, and Nebraska also agitated 

 the question of constitutional amendments. In 

 Oregon, in 1882, an amendment passed both 

 houses almost unanimously, but was defeated at 

 the polls. In the same year the Pennsylvania 

 Legislature passed a resolution recommending 

 Congress to submit a sixteenth amendment to 

 the people. 



In 1884 New York repealed the statutory ex- 

 clusion of women from voting at school elec- 

 tions. In Kansas, the number of women holding 

 county offices was considerably increased. 



In 1885, Rhode Island, Nebraska, Dakota, Ore- 

 gon, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and Mississippi 

 took forward steps in the matter of woman suf- 

 frage or of woman's property rights. A bill passed 

 in Dakota was vetoed by the Governor. A simi- 

 lar bill in Oregon was lost in the Legislature. 



In 1888 an International Congress of Women 

 convened in Washington. Fifty-two different 

 associations and 8 different countries were rep- 

 resented. Although the suffrage was by no 

 means the only interest, two sessions were given 

 to the political conditions, and one to the Jegal 

 conditions of women. A hearing before both 

 houses of Congress was granted to a number of 

 delegates of this congress, and the cause of suf- 

 frage was ably argued. 



In 1894 determined efforts were made in New 

 York and Kansas to secure unrestricted suffrage 

 for women. In Kansas a constitutional amend- 

 ment providing for it was submitted to popular 

 vote in November, and was rejected by 130,139 

 to 95,302. In New York, where a convention 

 was held to revise the Constitution, the subject 

 was very warmly discussed, and long petitions 

 were presented to the convention, those favoring 

 woman suffrage being signed by both men and 

 women, while those that opposed it were signed 

 by women alone. When the question came to a 



