Wyoming grants women the vote
Motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote.Western states led the nation in approving womens suffrage but some of them had rather unsavory motives.Though some men recognized the important role women played in frontier settlement others voted for womens suffrage only to bolster the strength of conservative voting blocks.In Wyoming some men were also motivated by sheer lonelinessin 1869 the territory had over 6000 adult males and only 1000 females and area men hoped women would be more likely to settle in the rugged and isolated country if they were granted the right to vote.Some of the suffrage movements leaders did have more respectable reasons for supporting womens right to vote.
William Bright a territorial legislator who was in his mid-forties had a persuasive young wife who convinced him that denying women the vote was a gross injustice.The other major backer Edward M.Lee the territorial secretary who had championed the cause for years argued that it was unfair for his mother to be denied a privilege granted to African-American males.Ultimately though appeals to justice and equality did not pass the legislationmost Wyoming legislators supported Bright and Lees bill because they thought it would win the territory free national publicity and might attract more single marriageable women to the region.
Territorial Governor John A.Campbell appreciated the publicity power of the policy and signed the bill into law making Wyoming the first territory or state in the history of the nation to grant women this fundamental right of citizenship.
