Courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.
Courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society
1776
1776
1776-1807
New Jersey’s constitution in 1776 gave the vote to “all inhabitants…who are worth fifty pounds…and have resided within the county…for twelve months.” Single and widowed, property-owning women were able to vote, however coverture laws prevented married women from doing so. Thirty years later, in 1807, the legislature restricted voting to free adult white tax-paying males.
1848
1848
July

Elizabeth Cady Stanton supports woman suffrage at the Seneca Falls Convention, where women issue the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments.”

1851
1851
May

Sojourner Truth gives her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

1851
October

Clarina Howard Nichols (Townshend, VT) addresses the Second Women’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, and gains a national reputation.

1852
1852
October

Nichols petitions for women’s right to vote in school meetings and addresses the Vermont Legislature about married women’s property rights.

1859
1859

After migrating to Kansas, Nichols participates in writing the Kansas Constitution which provides equal rights for women in school affairs, including voting in school meetings.

1868
1868
July

Ratification of the 14th Amendment which guarantees equal protection to all citizens but provides suffrage only to men.

1869
1869
May

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the National Woman’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) to advocate for a federal Constitutional amendment.

1869
June

Vermont Council of Censors recommends woman suffrage amendment to the Vermont Constitution.

1869
September

The territory of Wyoming grants women the right to vote and hold office.

1869
November

Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and Henry Blackwell form the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) to advocate for state amendments.

1870
1870
January

Vermont editors, ministers, and lawyers organize Vermont Woman Suffrage Association (VWSA).

1870
February

Ratification of the 15th Amendment, which grants black men the right to vote.

Woman Suffrage Convention held in Montpelier; speakers are Julia Ward Howe, Mary Livermore, and Lucy Stone of the AWSA.

1870
June

Vemont Constitutional Convention defeats woman suffrage amendment.

1871
1871

Mary Ann Shadd Cary and 63 other women attempt to vote in Washington, D.C. but are turned away from the polls.

1872
1872
November

Susan B. Anthony is arrested for voting in Rochester, NY; African American abolitionist, Sojourner Truth attempts to vote in Battle Creek, MI, but is turned away.

1875
1875
February

Vermont Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) organized.

1878
1878

Woman Suffrage Amendment introduced in U.S. Congress.

1880
1880
February

Mary Ann Shadd Cary organizes the Colored Women’s Progressive Franchise Association in Washington, D.C.

1880
March

Vermont taxpaying women allowed to vote in school districts and hold school offices; women may be elected or appointed as school superintendents or town clerks.

1883
1883
November

VWSA reorganized with President Maria Hidden.

1883
Fall

Hannah Tracy Cutler of AWSA campaigns in Vermont.

1884
1884
November

Municipal suffrage bill introduced in the Vermont House and defeated.

1885
1885
January

First annual meeting of VWSA in Barton; Laura Moore (Barnet, VT) becomes secretary.

1886
1886

Vermont WCTU endorses suffrage; municipal suffrage defeated again.

1889
1889

Vermont WCTU splits over suffrage, and 500 members resign.

1890
1890

Vermont Legislature defeats municipal suffrage bill again.

1890
February

NWSA and AWSA merge to become NAWSA and focus on state constitutional amendments.

1890
July

Wyoming becomes a state with full voting rights for women.

1893
1893
November

Colorado grants woman suffrage.

1896
1896
July

National Association of Colored Women (NACW) formed with suffragists Mary Church Terrell as president and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper as vice president.

1896

Utah (February) and Idaho (November) grant woman suffrage.

1900
1900

In addition to town clerks and school superintendents, women in Vermont may become notaries public and trustees of public libraries.

1902
1902

Women in Vermont may be elected or appointed as town treasurers.

1906
1906
September

Death of VWSA Secretary Laura Moore, the “Saint of Barnet.”

Women may be appointed as members of the Board of Visitors to state institutions to oversee treatment of women only.

1907
1907
June
Mrs Annette Parmelee portrait

Photo Courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society

 

VWSA renamed the Vermont Equal Suffrage Association (VESA). Annette Watson Parmelee (Enosburg, VT) is elected the first State Superintendent of Press Work.

1910
1910
October

Parmelee addresses Vermont House Committee on municipal suffrage.

1910
November

State of Washington grants woman suffrage.

1911
1911
October

California grants woman suffrage.

1912
1912
Lucy Daniels Credit: Grafton Historical Society and John Greenup

Photo courtesy: Grafton Historical Society and John Greenup

 

Lucy J.C. Daniels (Grafton, VT) refuses to pay her property taxes to protest women’s disfranchisement.

1912
August

Progressive Party becomes first major party to support woman suffrage.

1912
November

Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona grant woman suffrage.

1913
1913
January

Ida B. Wells-Barnett founds the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago for African-American women.

1913
April

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns form the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage which becomes the National Women’s Party (NWP) in 1916.

1914
1914
May

Vermont women coordinate protests and meetings demanding suffrage in 14 Vermont towns.

1914
June

Vermont Federation of Women’s Clubs (VFW) endorses woman suffrage.

1914
November

Nevada and Montana grant woman suffrage.

1917
1917
March

Vermont Legislature passes municipal suffrage for taxpaying women.

1917
November

New York grants woman suffrage.

1918
1918
November

Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma grant woman suffrage.

1919
1919
March

Vermont Legislature passes Presidential suffrage bill; Governor Percival Clement vetoes it. Women over 21 may vote in town meetings after paying the same poll tax as men ($2).

1919
June

Congress passes the 19th Amendment.

1920
1920
February

Carrie Chapman Catt of NAWSA founds the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to supporting women’s voting rights.

1920

VESA state organizer Lillian Olzendam (Woodstock, VT) persuades a legislative majority to favor a special session to ratify the 19th Amendment.

1920
April

“March of 400” Vermont women to demand a special legislative session; Governor Percival Clement refuses to call a special session.

1920
August 18th

Harry Thomas Burn casts the deciding vote making Tennessee the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

1920
August 26

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is signed into law.

1920
November 2nd

First national election in which women had the right to vote in all 48 states.

1921
1921
February 8th

Vermont ratifies the 19th Amendment.

National Women’s Suffrage Timelines

http://tag.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/suffrage-timeline.pdf
Source: Rutgers Institute of Politics

http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/timeline/
Source: National Women’s History Museum

http://www.loc.gov/static/collections/women-of-protest/images/detchron.pdf
Source: Library of Congress
National Woman’s Party Timeline

Member of Women's Suffrage Association of Vermont at the 1912 Vermont State Fair in White River Junction.
Member of Women’s Suffrage Association of Vermont at the 1912 Vermont State Fair in White River Junction. Courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.