Women's Suffrage Before the 19th Amendment

The Start of the Women's Suffrage Movement

In the early days of the U.S., married women faced significant legal limitations, often lacking control over property and earnings. Upon marriage, a woman’s money or land automatically became her husband's property. Married women couldn't own businesses or enter into contracts. Unmarried white women, however, could own property and sign contracts. They also had to pay taxes. While this gave them more rights than their married sisters, they were still not allowed to vote. 

Enslaved Black women were legally considered property, and Native American women were not recognized as citizens, which meant that neither had the right to vote. Yet they still actively resisted and laid the groundwork for future suffrage battles.

Over time, rising frustration among women over their disenfranchisement led to the legendary Seneca Falls Convention of July 19, 1848. The resulting Declaration of Sentiments read, “Resolved, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” Afterward, a more collective struggle for women's suffrage began in earnest. For example, the National Women’s Rights Conventions took place annually.

Gaining Momentum for Women's Suffrage After the Civil War

In 1866, at the Eleventh National Women’s Rights Convention, Black and white attendees formed the American Equal Rights Association with the goal of universal suffrage. When that organization split in 1869, two new national organizations were established to fight for voting rights: 

• National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), created by Julia Ward Howe,  Lucy Stone, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Although the 1870 ratification of the 15th Amendment granted citizens the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” women were still excluded. 

In 1890, the two leading organizations formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). While many members had been abolitionists, the organization excluded Black women from its conferences due to racist sentiments. In response, and to address issues specific to their communities, Black suffragists formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), becoming a powerful force for change.

Did Women Have Any Voting Rights Before 1920?

In the years leading up to the 19th Amendment, women in more than a dozen states or territories gained some voting rights. These rights were mostly restricted to measures about schools or local taxes, although there were some exceptions. These gains in voting rights mainly applied to white women. 

While universal women’s suffrage was still the ultimate goal, voting battles waged at the state level achieved some successes because the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention allowed states to determine who was qualified to vote. 

Even if your ancestors lived in states that did not grant full women’s suffrage before the 19th Amendment, the women in your family may still have been actively involved in voting on some local ballot measures. Look for reports in your ancestor’s local newspaper to see how local or state election issues were discussed—you might find mention of a family member who campaigned for or against a particular measure.

States That Gave Women the Right to Vote Before the 19th Amendment

As momentum for suffrage continued to build throughout the 1800s, albeit unevenly across the country, the following states and territories took the lead in granting women full voting rights before the 19th Amendment. 

In 1890, Wyoming became the first state to grant women's suffrage. Other states and territories followed, with momentum picking up in the early 1900s. If your female ancestors lived in one of these states, they could have been among the first to exercise their right to vote: 

• Colorado (1893)
• Utah (1896)
• Idaho (1896)
• Oklahoma (1907)
• Washington (1910)
• California (1911)
• Arizona (1912)
• Oregon  (1912)
• Kansas (1912)
• Alaska Territory  (1913)
• Illinois (1913)
• Nevada (1914)
• Montana  (1914)
• New York (1917)
• South Dakota (1918)
• Michigan (1918)

Montanan Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1916.

Women's Suffrage Movement at the National Level

The slowly expanding access to voting rights increased pressure on the federal government. Activists raised support by writing articles, lecturing, and organizing conferences. And when reason and logic didn't work, suffragists embraced new tactics:

• Women lobbied legislative bodies and brought court cases.
• Black suffragists started women's clubs.
• Victoria Woodhull’s 1872 symbolic run for president challenged the legal barriers that prevented women from holding office.

Did your ancestors read news accounts of the 8,000-woman march through Washington, D.C., in 1913? Could they even have participated in it? And might they have followed stories about the 1,000-plus protestors who picketed the White House for 18 months—which involved arrests, hunger strikes, and violent force-feeding?

But not all women wanted suffrage. Some even formed the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage in 1911. And not all men opposed women's suffrage. A few "suffragents" lent their support.

19th Amendment and Women's Suffrage

The mistreatment of jailed suffragists motivated President Wilson to take action. He encouraged Congress to grant women suffrage in 1918, and Congress finally passed the 19th Amendment on June 4, 1919. While all women ostensibly gained suffrage, discriminatory state laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence continued to prevent many Black women, Native American women (who were not always considered citizens), and Asian immigrants from exercising their right to vote.

Finding Family Connections to Women's Suffrage Before the 19th Amendment

The women's suffrage movement began a long road toward equal rights and political representation for all women. Learning your family’s stories about women's suffrage before 1920 is one way to honor those with the courage and determination to fight for their rights.

Several record collections for voter lists on Ancestry include women voters before the 19th Amendment, such as: 

• Arizona, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1866-1955
• Manhattan, New York, New York, U.S., Voter Registers, 1915-1956
• Utah, U.S., Voter Registration Records, 1899-2024

To start your search for family suffrage connections, sign up for a free trial of Ancestry today.

Sources

• https://www.bu.edu/bulawreview/files/2019/10/ANTOGNINI.pdf
• https://www.amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story/pages/how-did-women-gain-the-vote-the-promise-of-1776-for-women
• https://www.nps.gov/articles/us-suffrage-timeline-1648-to-2016.htm
• https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbcmil.scrp4006702/
• https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/intro.6-4/ALDE_00000388/ 
• https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage
• https://www.rd.com/article/states-where-women-could-vote-before-1920/ 
• https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/not-for-ourselves-alone/legal-strategies-of-susan-b-anthony
• https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/suffrage/Pages/context/club-movement.aspx
• https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-first-woman-to-run-for-president-victoria-woodhull.htm
• https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/03/03/this-day-history-1913-womens-suffrage-parade
• https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/vote-not-all-women-gained-right-to-vote-in-1920/
• https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/woodrow-wilson-and-the-womens-suffrage-movement-reflection
• https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/suffragents-helped-get-the-vote
• https://daily.jstor.org/women-against-womens-suffrage/
• https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/alice-paul
• https://www.nps.gov/articles/national-womans-party-protests-world-war-i.htm
• https://www.crusadeforthevote.org/nacw
• Image 1: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Members_of_the_Men%27s_League_for_Woman_Suffrage_in_New_York_at_the_Woman%27s_Suffrage_Party_of_Manhattan_headquarters.jpg
• Image 2: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Self_Supporting_Women%22_at_the_suffrage_march_in_Boston,_May_2,_1914.jpg 
• Image 3: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_suffrage_Headquarters_(Congressional_Union_for_Woman_Suffrage),_Washington_._._._-_NARA_-_533779.tif