Timeline of women's suffrage in Connecticut

This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Connecticut. Women's suffrage efforts began in the 1860s. Later, women earned the right to vote for school officials in 1893. Connecticut ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on September 14, 1920.

19th century

1860s 1866

November: Hartford Courant publishes articles in favor of women's suffrage.

1867

Frances Ellen Burr introduces a women's suffrage bill in the Connecticut General Assembly which is narrowly defeated. December: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton visit Hartford.

1869

October 29: Women's suffrage convention held in Hartford, Connecticut. The Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA) is formed.

1870s 1870

September: CWSA held its annual meeting in Hartford. 1873

December 15: John Hooker's opinion on the trial of Susan B. Anthony is published in the Hartford Courant. Hooker wrote that "she had the right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment." 1874

Anthony and Isabella Beecher Hooker speak at Cheney Hall in Manchester, Connecticut. 1877

Married women are able to legally control their own property.

1880s 1884

State suffrage convention is held in Hartford. A bill to allow women the right to vote in school district meetings loses in the state legislature.

1885

The Hartford Equal Rights League is founded. The state legislature again defeats a school suffrage bill. 1886

A bill for full women's suffrage is defeated in the state legislature.

1887

Two women's suffrage bills in the state legislature are marked as "Ought not to pass" and go no further in committee.

1889

The Meriden Political Equality Club was formed.

1890s 1893

Women gain the right to vote for school officials. Rose Payton is the first African American woman to register to vote in Hartford. 1894

The Equal Rights Club of Willimantic is formed. 1895

A presidential suffrage bill does not pass in the state legislature. A bill for women's municipal suffrage passes in the state House, but fails in the state Senate.

1897

School suffrage law is amended, making voter registration more complicated. Bills for presidential and municipal suffrage do not pass in the state legislature. 1899

A municipal suffrage bill does not pass again in the state legislature.

20th century

1900s 1901

The state suffrage convention is held in Hartford. 1902

During the revisions to the Constitution of Connecticut, suffragists presented equal suffrage resolutions which were not dismissed without debate. The state suffrage convention is held in Collinsville, Connecticut. Mary Seymour Howell campaigns in Connecticut on behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

1903

The state suffrage convention is held at the home of Isabella Beecher Hooker in Hartford.

1905

November: The state suffrage convention is held in Hartford. 1906

The state suffrage convention is held in Meriden, Connecticut.

1907

October: Suffragists hold their state convention in Hartford.

1909

The state suffrage convention is held in Meriden. Women gain the right to vote on school and library issues. October: Emmeline Pankhurst visits and speaks in Hartford. The Hartford Political Equality League (later called the Hartford Equal Franchise League) is formed.

1910s 1910 The Connecticut Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (CAOWS) is formed. Fall: The state suffrage convention is held in Greenwich. At the Greenwich annual farmer's picnic, suffragists from CWSA invited Ella Reeve Bloor to speak. 1911

Activists hold the state suffrage convention in Bridgeport. August 1: Suffrage auto tour arrives in Watertown. August 22: Suffrage auto tour arrives in Norfolk.

1912

January 24: The CWSA trolley campaign kicks off. January 25: The trolley campaign held a rally in Milford. February 20: The Trolley Campaign has a reception in Southington. February 28: The trolley campaign holds a suffrage meeting in Bristol. March 28: Last event of the trolley campaign is held in Hartford. Hartford suffrage groups send postcards to people in surrounding areas in order to advertise women's suffrage events. The annual suffrage convention is held in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Political Equality Club is founded after the convention. 1913

July: The Wallingford Equal Franchise League raises money and awareness by selling food and giving away brochures at July 4th events. The state suffrage convention is held in Hartford. August 8: How the Vote Was Won, produced by The Connecticut Players opens and tours the state. November: Pankhurst gives a speech in Hartford for CWSA called "Freedom or Death."

1914

May 2: Thousands march in suffrage parade through Hartford. Summer: CWSA holds a "rowboat platform" at beaches in Connecticut, sharing information about women's suffrage to beach-goers. June: A car tour supporting women's suffrage started through Connecticut. September: CWSA staff a booth at the Connecticut Fair Grounds, providing suffrage literature and outreach. The annual suffrage convention is held in Hartford.

1915

October: State suffrage convention is held in Hartford.

1916

The Connecticut branch of the National Woman's Party (NWP) is formed. A large parade with thousands of participants and spectators takes place in New Haven. September 7: The Connecticut State Federation of Labor votes in favor of women's suffrage. The state suffrage convention is held in New Haven. 1917

February: The Connecticut House judiciary committee hears testimony from both CWSA and from anti-suffragists on women voting in Connecticut. November 7-8: Forty-eighth annual state suffrage convention is held in Hartford.

1918

The Connecticut Federation of Labor endorses the Nineteenth Amendment almost unanimously. African American suffragists organize their own suffrage league in New Haven. Spring: CWSA starts a political literacy and citizenship education campaign for women. July 12: Suffragists form rallies in Hartford and Simsbury, Connecticut and decide to appeal directly to the President on the question of women's suffrage. States suffrage convention is held in Hartford.

1919

The Actual Government of Connecticut, created by CWSA, is published by the National American Woman Suffrage Publishing Company. January 8: Josephine Bennett, a member of the NWP, is arrested for burning Woodrow Wilson's speech in front of the White House. January 18: The Connecticut League of Women Voters is founded in New Haven. March 10: The Prison Special stops in Hartford. The annual suffrage convention is held in Bridgeport.

1920s 1920

May 3-7: "Emergency Week" is declared in regards to blocking the vote on women's suffrage. The Suffrage Emergency Corps is assembled to support the federal amendment. September 14: Connecticut state legislature ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment.

1921

January 18: The Connecticut League of Women Voters is formed.

See also

List of Connecticut suffragists Women's suffrage in Connecticut Women's suffrage in the United States Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States

References

Sources