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LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - NOVEMBER 6, 2016
Votes for Women
This Saturday, November 4,
there are two events that might
be of interest. First, there is an
antique show at the American
Legion. The proceeds from the
tickets at the door will help the
Historical Society. The project
we have designated is the
repair of the steampipe in the
basement of LeRoy House. The
repairs have already been done
and the bucket on the floor has
been moved just in time for our
school programs. So stop by
the American Legion and see
if there is some little treasure
that might find a new home, or
might be a Christmas gift for
someone.
The other event is at
Genesee Community College.
It is a Heritage Fair and
features exhibits by several of
the museums and organizations
in the area. The theme for the
event is Presidential Elections
and the LeRoy Historical
Society is focusing on the
events that led up to the 1920
election, which was the first
presidential election in New
York in which women could
vote. The road to women’s
suffrage was long. In July
1848, the first women’s rights
convention was held in Seneca
Falls. During the next twenty
years, Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
many others attempted to
keep the issue of women’s
rights on the national agenda
as well as the state level. In
1867, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Lucy Stone addressed
the New York Constitutional
Convention, with a proposal
to allow suffrage to women.
In the meantime, Susan B.
Anthony was in Kansas, trying
to get support for women’s
suffrage. It was defeated.
But there was success in the
Territory of Wyoming where
in 1869, women were not only
given the right to vote, but also
to hold public office. (Other
states allowed women to vote
in local school elections, but
none in federal elections.) In
1870, Utah Territory granted
full suffrage to women. On
November 5, 1872, Susan B.
Anthony and fourteen other
women voted in the national
election in the Eighth Ward
of Rochester. Anthony was
arrested and judged guilty.
She never paid the fine.
Colorado joined Wyoming
and Utah, granting women
universal suffrage. In some
states, it was necessary to
amend their state constitution.
Idaho adopted a constitutional
amendment in 1896 and
Washington voted for women’s
suffrage in 1910 followed by
California in 1911. In 1912,
Wisconsin
and
Michigan
defeated proposed suffrage
amendments, but Kansas,
Oregon and Arizona approved
constitutional
amendments.
Illinois became the first state
east of the Mississippi to vote
for women’s suffrage in 1913.
Then in 1914, Mississippi,
Nevada and Montana accepted
women’s suffrage. But suffrage
was rejected in New York,
New Jersey, Massachusetts,
and Pennsylvania in 1915.
The
proponents
for
women’s suffrage in New
York State, presented a
suffrage measure to the State
Legislature every year (with
the exception of the Civil War)
from 1854 until 1917. In 1880,
the Legislature undertook to
give women the right to vote
at school meetings, but the
law could not be enforced.
At that time, all efforts were
attempts to change the state
constitution which required
a voters referendum (which
meant that only men would
vote on women’s rights). In
1901, Governor Theodore
Roosevelt, a proponent for
women’s suffrage, advised the
suffragists to abandon their
constitutional strategy, and to
look for other ways to secure
partial suffrage. But after five
years, State leaders decided
to return to the original effort
for the submission to the male
voters of a constitutional
amendment.. In 1908, Senator
Percy Hooker of LeRoy (who
lived in the house, we now
known as the Creekside Inn)
introduced the resolution.
In 1915, the men of New
York voted against women’s
suffrage. The state vote was
553,348 for suffrage and
748,332 against. Finally in
1917, the referendum was
passed. (It should be noted that
in LeRoy, the men defeated the
proposal by 38 votes.)
Women in LeRoy voted in
their first election in March
1918. Ninety-one year old
Miss Delia Phillips of Myrtle
Street, cast the first vote at the
Municipal Building. She was
first in line and was not only the
first women to vote, but also
the first person to cast a ballot.
The second ballot was cast
by Mrs. A.C. Upham. It was
noted that the last two votes of
the day were cast by women
– Mrs. B.W. Logan and Miss
Sarah Bissell. The newspaper
article read: “Practically all the
interest attached to the election
was the voting of women. They
seemed to enjoy it thoroughly,
many of them coming down
from the Red Cross rooms in
their caps and aprons to vote.
(Because of World War I, the
LeRoy Red Cross was actively
involved with projects at the
Municipal Building.) They
apparently had little trouble
in working the machine, and
the percentage of votes lost is
no larger than before women
voted.” There were 134 votes
cast and 58 of those votes were
cast by women. It was noted
that the Republican slate of
officers for the Village was
unopposed.
The 19th Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution, which
would give all women the
right to vote was submitted
to Congress on June 4, 1919.
New York’s Senators split
their vote. Senator William
Calder voted in favor. Senator
Wadsworth (from Geneseo,
who had always opposed
women’s suffrage) voted no.
Of NewYork’s Representatives
in Congress, 35 voted in favor;
five were absent; three voted
against – including Archie
Sanders of Stafford. The
19th Amendment was finally
ratified in 1920 which gave
women throughout the United
States the right to vote.