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Show Page 12 The Ogden Valley news Volume XXV Issue XXIII January 15, 2020 Gaining, Losing, and Winning Back the Vote: The Story of Utah Women’s Suffrage By Barbara Jones Brown, Naomi Watkins, and Katherine Kitterman When Utah became a U.S. territory in 1850, all free white male inhabitants over the age of 21 had the right to vote if they were U.S. citizens. This meant many groups of people (including women) were not legally allowed to vote. In the years that followed, Utah became a leader in women’s suffrage, a movement to wanted to show that Utah women were not oppressed, helpless, and enslaved as many antipolygamists believed. Finally, granting suffrage to Utah women (most of whom were Mormon) would strengthen support for the People’s Party, a Utah political party recently organized by Mormons in opposition to the new Liberal Party, formed by non-Mormon settlers whose numbers were increasing in Utah. Some Utah women also supported women’s Western suffragists, including Utahns Martha Hughes Cannon, Sarah M. Kimball, Emmeline B. Wells, and Zina D. H. Young, pose with national suffrage leaders Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw at the 1895 Rocky Mountain Suffrage Meeting in Salt Lake City. Photo courtesy Utah State Historical Society. gain the right to vote for women. Although suffrage. For example, in January 1870, sevWyoming Territory was first in the nation to eral thousand Mormon women gathered in grant voting rights to women in December Salt Lake City to protest an anti-polygamy bill 1869, Utah Territory did so several weeks later, being debated by Congress. The organizers of on February 12, 1870. Since Utah held munici- this women’s meeting voted to ask Utah’s terpal elections and a territorial election before ritorial governor for the right to vote. On February 12, 1870, Utah’s acting Wyoming did, Utah women earned the distinction of casting ballots first. Seraph Young, a Governor signed a Woman Suffrage Bill that schoolteacher, was the first woman to vote had unanimously passed the Utah Territorial under a women’s suffrage law in the United Legislature. This law granted voting rights States when she cast her ballot in the Salt Lake in local and territorial elections, but not the right to run for or hold public office, to “every City municipal election on February 14, 1870. Receiving the Vote: Enfranchisement woman of the age of twenty-one years who has (1870) Several groups of people supported resided in this Territory six months next prewomen’s suffrage in Utah for very different ceding any general or special election, born or reasons. Some leaders of the national suffrage naturalized in the United States, or who is the movement hoped that allowing women to vote wife, widow or the daughter of a native-born in western territories such as Utah would pave or naturalized citizen of the United States.” the way for women’s suffrage in the rest of the Gaining the vote broadened Utah women’s nation. In 1869, these suffragists supported pro- opportunities to participate in political life. posed bills in Congress to give Utah women the Leaders of the Relief Society, the women’s right to vote. Although the bills did not pass, organization of the LDS Church, developed they sparked discussion about the benefits of programs to educate women about the political process and civic engagement. Utah women allowing women to vote in Utah. The idea of women’s suffrage in Utah was elected delegates like Emmeline B. Wells to linked with the Mormon practice of polyga- represent them at national suffrage conventions my right from the start. In the late nineteenth and form ties with national leading suffragists century, members of the Church of Jesus Christ like Susan B. Anthony. However, Utah women of Latter-day Saints practiced polygamy, a mar- did not vote for candidates opposed to polygariage system in which a husband could have my like anti-polygamists had hoped. Losing the Vote: Disfranchisement (1871more than one living wife. Latter-day Saints, or “Mormons,” called it “plural marriage” and 1887) Since giving Utah women the vote did considered it a core religious belief. However, not end polygamy, anti-polygamists lobbied many Americans considered polygamy morally U.S. Congress to pass anti-polygamy laws pressuring the LDS Church to disavow polygawrong and oppressive to women. Back in 1856, the Republican Party had my. Several proposed anti-polygamy bills also declared its commitment to ending the “twin included measures to revoke women’s suffrage. relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery.” Many Utah women opposed these bills by holdAfter slavery was abolished and black men ing protest meetings and petitioning Congress gained voting rights in the 15th Amendment to not to disfranchise them. Still, Congress passed the U.S. Constitution, many American reform- the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887. Part of this legislation took away the voting rights of all Utah women, whether they were Mormon or not, polygamous or monogamous, married or single. Winning Back the Vote: Re-enfranchisement (1887-1896) Utah women had been voters for seventeen years, so many of them were outraged when Congress took those rights away. They worked hard to win suffrage back. They created the Woman Suffrage Association of Utah, an affiliate of Susan B. Anthony’s National American Woman Suffrage Association, and organized local chapters throughout the territory. However, not all women in Utah wanted women’s suffrage. Some opposed it because they thought Mormon women’s votes would continue to uphold polygamy, while others thought women should not be involved in politics. In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff officially ended the practice of polygamy. With this change in policy, Congress passed the 1894 Enabling Act, inviting Utah to again apply to enter the Union as a state. (Congress had rejected Utah Territory’s prior Emmeline B. Wells. Photo courtesy of LDS attempts over the previous four decades, largely Church History Library. because of polygamy.) During Utah’s 1895 ers turned their attention from ending slavery Constitutional Convention, delegates debated to ending polygamy. Initially, some believed whether to include women’s suffrage and right giving Utah women voting rights would politi- to hold public office in the state constitution that Utah would propose to Congress. cally empower them to end polygamy. In contrast to other parts of the nation, Latter-day Saints, on the other hand, believed that Mormon women would use their most Utahns supported a woman’s right to vote to show their support for polygamy. They vote and hold office. Both national political also thought giving women the vote would parties in Utah–Democrat and Republican–supchange negative perceptions about the LDS ported these rights in their party platforms, and Church and its treatment of women. They women’s suffrage organizations throughout the Article 4, Section 1 from the Utah State Constitution, Elections and Right of Suffrage. Courtesy of Utah State Historical Society. territory lobbied delegates to include these rights in Utah’s constitution. Despite minor opposition, the delegates voted to include a clause in the constitution that granted women’s suffrage and the right to hold office. Article 4, Section 1 of the Utah Constitution states: “The rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy equally all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.” A few months later, Utah’s male electorate voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed constitution. Utah women were given back the vote, or reenfranchised, when Congress accepted Utah’s constitution and granted Utah statehood in 1896. Utah Women and the National Suffrage Movement (1896-1920) When Utah gained statehood, only two other states–Wyoming and Colorado–allowed women to vote. Suffragists Left to Right: Emily S. Richards (co-founder of Utah Woman Suffrage Association), Phebe Y. Beattie (executive committee chair of UWSA), and Sarah M. Kimball (second president of UWSA). Photo courtesy of Utah State Historical Society. across the nation were still working toward a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage. Many Utah women continued to work with national suffrage organizations by providing funding, serving in leadership positions, circulating petitions, and attending and speaking at national and international women’s rights conventions. More than 70 years after the women’s rights movement began, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August 1920, granting women’s suffrage throughout the nation. It states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” After 1920: The Struggle for Minority Voting Rights Continues - Although the 19th Amendment granted women’s suffrage nationally, the fight for universal suffrage in the United States was not over. Not all women residing in Utah were granted the vote in 1870 or with statehood in 1896 or with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Though the 14th Amendment had earlier defined “citizens” as any person born in the United States, the amendment was interpreted to restrict the citizenship rights (including the right to vote) of many. For example, since Native Americans were not considered U.S. citizens during this time period, they were excluded from women’s voting rights in Utah in 1870 and 1896, and nationally in 1920. Legal barriers enacted in numerous states effectively made it impossible for African Americans to vote. Many Asian immigrants in the United States were legally prohibited from applying for citizenship (and voting rights) simply because of their countries of origin. These minority groups strengthened their rights to citizenship and voting through the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 (which granted full citizenship to most indigenous people of the U.S.), the McCarran–Walter Act of 1952 (which permitted Asian immigrants to become naturalized citizens), and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (which illegalized barriers at state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their suffrage rights). Even after the passage of the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act, many states, including Utah, still made local laws and policies that prohibited Native Americans from voting, arguing that Native Americans living on reservations were residents of their own nations and thus non-residents of the states. On February 14, 1957, the Utah state legislature repealed its legislation that had prevented Native Americans living on reservations from voting, becoming one of the last states to do so. Utah Women Today - The work continues for women’s rights and minority rights in Utah and throughout the nation. The year 2020 will mark the 150th anniversary of women first voting in Utah and the 100th anniversary of women voting nationally. As we celebrate and learn about these historical events, the sacrifices and commitment of Utah’s strong women in the past will inspire Utah’s strong women of today. We envision a bright future for Utah as women become more engaged participants in our communities. As in the past, the passionate involvement of women and men working together to elevate women’s status will bring about better days for Utah. About Better Days 2020 - Better Days 2020 is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to popularizing Utah women’s history in creative and communal ways. By exploring the legacy of its past, Utah can become a better place for women in the future. The year 2020 is the perfect time to commemorate the history of women because it marks the 150th anniversary of Utah being the first place where women voted in the modern nation. It also marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted all U.S. women the right to vote. Please note that this article is being reprinted by permission by Better Days 2020. The full article and additional information can be found online at <https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/2018/02/receiving-losing-and-winning-back-the-vote-the-story-of-utah-womenssuffrage/> Members of the executive committee of the national suffragists’ convention and prominent local suffragists snapped this photo with Senator Reed Smoot in August 1915 outside of the Hotel Utah, after meeting with him to ensure his support for a federal women’s suffrage amendment in the next Congress. From L to R: Marie Mahon of New York, Hannah S. Lapish, Emmeline B. Wells, Senator Reed Smoot, Lily C. Wolstenhome, Elizabeth Hayward, Margaret Zane Cherdron, Lucy A. Clark, Mrs. J. H. Saxson, Mrs. A. D. Paine, Lillie T. Freeze, Ruth M. Fox, Mrs. Charles Livingston, Mrs. L. R. Tanner, and Mrs. M. B. Lawrence. Photo courtesy of the National Woman’s Party. President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with Civil Rights Leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress. |