Suffrage in Maine
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the U. S. constitution which states:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
This simple change was a long time coming. Suffrage was one of the three parts of the progressive movement. The other two were temperance and abolition of slavery which were both addressed before suffrage.
The Women’s Rights Convention was first held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Its resulting declaration pointedly started like the Declaration of Independence, but with a difference.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal, ...”
Maine women started organizing for the vote in the 1850s. In 1857, the same year as the Dred Scott decision on fugitive slaves, Bangor women petitioned the legislature for a Maine constitutional amendment, but the legislature ignored their petition. Also that year national leader Susan B. Anthony spoke in Bangor and Ellsworth at rallies organized by Ann Greely of Ellsworth. By 1865 women factory workers were marching for suffrage in the Lewiston independence day parade. The Maine Woman Suffrage Association was founded in Augusta in 1873, but the legislature voted down their petition that year and many other times. It was not until 1917 that the Maine legislature would pass a Maine constitutional amendment for suffrage, but it was voted down 36,713 to 19,428 in statewide referendum that fall. At that point Maine women turned their efforts to a national amendment, led by people such as Gail Laughlin, the first woman to practice law in Maine and the Vice President of the National Woman’s Party.
The national constitutional amendment passed and in 1919, Governor Carl Milliken called a special session of the legislature to ratify the 19th amendment. It passed there by only 72 to 68. Finally, in August 1920, Tennessee, the necessary 36th state, ratified the amendment and it became the law of the land.
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
This simple change was a long time coming. Suffrage was one of the three parts of the progressive movement. The other two were temperance and abolition of slavery which were both addressed before suffrage.
The Women’s Rights Convention was first held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Its resulting declaration pointedly started like the Declaration of Independence, but with a difference.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal, ...”
Maine women started organizing for the vote in the 1850s. In 1857, the same year as the Dred Scott decision on fugitive slaves, Bangor women petitioned the legislature for a Maine constitutional amendment, but the legislature ignored their petition. Also that year national leader Susan B. Anthony spoke in Bangor and Ellsworth at rallies organized by Ann Greely of Ellsworth. By 1865 women factory workers were marching for suffrage in the Lewiston independence day parade. The Maine Woman Suffrage Association was founded in Augusta in 1873, but the legislature voted down their petition that year and many other times. It was not until 1917 that the Maine legislature would pass a Maine constitutional amendment for suffrage, but it was voted down 36,713 to 19,428 in statewide referendum that fall. At that point Maine women turned their efforts to a national amendment, led by people such as Gail Laughlin, the first woman to practice law in Maine and the Vice President of the National Woman’s Party.
The national constitutional amendment passed and in 1919, Governor Carl Milliken called a special session of the legislature to ratify the 19th amendment. It passed there by only 72 to 68. Finally, in August 1920, Tennessee, the necessary 36th state, ratified the amendment and it became the law of the land.