HistoryLink.org: Votes and Suffrage

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society

Votes and Suffrage article from HistoryLink.org, Washington's online encyclopedia

One hundred years ago this week, Washington's all-male electorate ratified Amendment 6 to the state constitution granting women the right to vote, and the state became the fifth in the nation to enfranchise women. But the struggle for woman suffrage in Washington was long and arduous, stretching back to the days when Washington Territory was first formed.

In 1854, Seattle pioneer and territorial legislator Arthur Denny proposed an amendment granting voting rights to "all white females over the age of 18 years," but his proposal lost by one vote. The opportunity to become the first jurisdiction in the nation to grant this right may have passed, but the issue did not die. Susan B. Anthony arrived on October 1, 1871, to help remedy the error, and women gained the vote, lost it, regained it, and then lost it again. Then, on October 1, 1889, an all-male electorate rejected woman suffrage while ratifying a constitution for Washington state, which formally joined the union the following month.

The suffragists persisted in their efforts. School suffrage was achieved in 1890, and by 1906 strong-willed leaders Emma Smith DeVoe and May Arkwright Hutton were busy gathering support throughout the state. Their efforts received a boost in 1909, when the 41st annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association was held in Seattle during the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Washington's enactment of woman suffrage helped pave the way for other Western states to follow suit, and local suffragists pushed hard to amend the U.S. Constitution. Victory was achieved nationwide a decade later.

To help celebrate the suffrage centennial and to assist teachers and students in learning more about this important topic, HistoryLink.org has partnered with The Seattle Times Newspapers in Education (NIE) Program and Heritage 4Culture in creating a six-part curriculum that is available in the Sunday newspaper and also online. You can find out more on our education page, thanks to our Education team, Pat Filer and intern Claire Palay.