Women's suffrage in Utah facts for kids
Utah was one of the first places in the United States to give women the right to vote. This happened in 1870, long before Utah became a state. Only Wyoming gave women the right to vote earlier. However, Utah held two elections before Wyoming. This means Utah women were the first to vote in the U.S. after the women's suffrage movement began. Later, in 1887, a law called the Edmunds–Tucker Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. This law took away the voting rights of women in Utah. Congress did this to try and reduce the power of the Latter-day Saints in the government.
Contents
Women Get the Vote in Utah
Why Women Got the Vote
As Utah Territory grew, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became very influential. At the time, some members of the Church practiced polygamy (having more than one wife). The United States Congress was worried about the Church's growing size and power.
Some people outside Utah thought giving women the right to vote would end polygamy. For example, a New York suffragist named Hamilton Wilcox suggested this in 1867. He thought that with so many women in Utah, they would vote to stop polygamy. The New York Times also shared this idea.
However, leaders within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints actually supported giving women the vote. They believed it would show that Latter-day Saint women were not oppressed. It would also strengthen the Church.
A group called the Godbe movement, made up of some Latter-day Saints who wanted the Church to work more with outside groups, also supported women's rights. They helped organize the first meeting in Utah about women's suffrage. Charlotte Godbe, one of William S. Godbe's wives, was a strong supporter of women's voting rights.
Some women's rights activists, like Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, traveled the country speaking against polygamy. They believed it was harmful to women. In Utah, Sarah Ann Cooke and Jennie Anderson Froiseth started the Anti-Polygamy Society. They wanted to "fight to the death that system which so enslaves and degrades our sex." Many people outside Utah believed that if Latter-day Saint women could vote, they would end polygamy.
How Utah Women Gained Suffrage
In 1869, a bill was proposed in Congress by Shelby M. Cullom. This bill aimed to increase federal power over Utah and stop polygamists from holding public office. Latter-day Saint women strongly protested this bill in Salt Lake City.
To counter the rumors about Latter-day Saint women, the Utah Legislature decided to consider giving women the right to vote. After two weeks, the Utah Legislature voted unanimously to pass a bill giving women the right to vote. William Henry Hooper said they did this to show the country that the popular ideas about Utah women were wrong.
The acting governor of Utah Territory, S. A. Mann, signed the law on February 12, 1870. Women over 21 years old could now vote in Utah Territory. Two days later, on February 14, 1870, Seraph Young became the first American woman to vote under equal suffrage laws. She and 25 other women voted in a local election that day. Thousands more Utah women voted in the general election on August 1, 1870.
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leaders of the National Woman Suffrage Association, visited Utah in 1871. They came to see how women's suffrage was working. Charlotte Godbe invited them. They spoke at the "Liberal Institute" and later at the old tabernacle on Temple Square. Stanton shared her views on equal rights with the women of the Church of Jesus Christ.
The law that gave women the right to vote in Utah did not include the right to hold office. For more than ten years, the legislature tried to pass laws to allow women to hold office, but they failed. It wasn't until Utah became a state in 1896 that women regained the right to vote and were also given the right to hold office. The new state constitution clearly stated that the right "to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.”
Newspapers and Women's Rights
The Woman's Exponent
The Woman's Exponent was a newspaper started in 1872. Lula Greene Richards was its first editor. Later, Emmeline B. Wells became the editor and publisher in 1875. The newspaper aimed to connect with women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It also wanted to show the rest of America an accurate picture of Latter-day Saint women.
The paper supported polygamy until the Church officially stopped the practice in 1890. Women's rights were always a main topic in the Woman's Exponent. It strongly supported equal pay and the right to vote. When women lost the right to vote again in 1879, Emmeline B. Wells changed the newspaper's subtitle. It became "The Rights of the Women of Zion, and the Rights of the Women of all Nations." After Utah women got the vote back, the subtitle changed again. It read: "The Ballot in the Hands of the Women of Utah should be a Power to better the Home, the State and the Nation."
The Anti-Polygamy Standard
The Anti-Polygamy Standard was another newspaper. Jennie Anderson Froiseth published it in 1880. This paper shared stories of women in polygamous marriages. It also gave more information about polygamy to the rest of the United States. The paper argued that women's suffrage was being used by Latter-day Saints to increase their power.
Although Jennie Anderson Froiseth believed in women's rights, she was worried about polygamy. She thought Latter-day Saint women should not vote until polygamy was outlawed. Froiseth also wrote a book called The Women of Mormonism; Or, the story of polygamy as told by the victims themselves. Her book told a different side of polygamy. It shared stories of women who felt forced into polygamous marriages. She traveled around the U.S. giving talks about the harm caused by polygamy. Froiseth later became the vice president of the Utah Women's Suffrage Association in 1888.
Women's Voting Rights Are Taken Away
In 1887, the Edmunds–Tucker Act was passed by Congress. One part of this law took away women's right to vote in Utah. Most people in Utah were against this law. It also required a special oath against polygamy. This oath was so broad that it included most Latter-day Saints, even those not directly involved in polygamy. Anyone who would not swear this oath could not vote, serve on juries, or hold most government jobs. Belva Lockwood worked with the National Woman Suffrage Association to try and protect Utah women's right to vote.
In 1888, Emily S. Richards started the Utah suffrage association. This group was connected to the National Woman Suffrage Association. With support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Richards gave important roles to Latter-day Saint women who were not in polygamous marriages. She created many local groups of the association, often through Relief Societies.
The women of Utah wanted their voting rights back. However, different groups struggled to agree. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Godbe movement had different ideas. Both groups still had members in polygamous marriages. There was also another group of people in Utah who were not Latter-day Saints.
The Woman's Exponent became the main publication promoting women's suffrage in Utah.
As Utah Territory worked to become a state, women pushed to get their voting rights back and to be able to hold office. A judge in Ogden, H.W. Smith, decided that women should be able to vote. However, because the Edmunds–Tucker Act was still in place, the territory's Supreme Court disagreed with the judge's decision. For women to get the right to vote back, it had to be written into Utah's State Constitution.
Images for kids
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Suffragists at the Rocky Mountain Suffrage Meeting in Salt Lake City in 1895, including national leaders Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw. Among present are notable Utah suffragists, Sarah Granger Kimball, Emmeline B. Wells and Zina D. H. Young. Utah State Historical Society. By 1890, Kimball was the first president of the Utah Women's Suffrage Association and a leader in the national suffrage movement.
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Emily S. Richards (co-founder of Utah Woman Suffrage Association), Phebe Y. Beattie (executive committee chair of UWSA), and Sarah Granger Kimball (second president of UWSA).
