Women's suffrage in Montana
The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was an early organizer that supported suffrage in the state, arriving in 1883.
While that proposition did not pass, women retained their right to vote in school and tax elections as Montana became a state.
In 1895, National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) came to Montana to organize local groups.
Suffragists continued to organize, hold conventions and lobby the Montana Legislature for women's suffrage through the end of the nineteenth century.
In the early twentieth century, Jeannette Rankin became a driving force around the women's suffrage movement in Montana.
It wasn't until 1924 with the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act that Native American women gained the right to vote.
The earliest suffrage organizing in the territory of Montana started with the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
[2] In 1887, Clara McAdow requested help organizing suffrage groups in Montana from suffragists in the east, but was not able to get a commitment.
[5] During the 1889 state Constitutional Convention, Clara's husband, Perry McAdow from Fergus County, proposed adding women's suffrage language.
[6] Blackwell said, writing to Lucy Stone, "There has never been a woman suffrage meeting held in Montana.
[8] He spoke to the convention and begged that at the very least delegates did not remove any suffrage women were already entitled to in Montana.
[6] However, even that proposal failed, though women retained their right to vote in school board elections as Montana became a state.
[12] On May 15, 1895, Emma Smith DeVoe from the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) came to Montana where she organized chapters in several cities.
[12] The NAWSA chapters worked to create a state suffrage convention in Helena which was held September 2 and 3 in 1895.
[13] The creation of the Montana Woman's Suffrage Association (MWSA) came out of the convention and Harriet P. Sanders accepted the role as first president.
[19] Haskell was an effective leader and helped get 2,500 signatures on a petition for a women's suffrage amendment to the 1887 state legislature.
[27] Helena suffragists lobbied at the Republican, Democratic and Populist party conventions for a women's suffrage plank in 1900.
[31] Catt, Gail Laughlin and Laura A. Gregg returned to Montana and helped reorganize the women's suffrage club in Helena in 1902.
[36] In 1911 and 1912, women's suffrage groups hosted booths at the Montana State Fair where they passed out literature and buttons.
[37] Leading up to the referendum vote in 1914, suffragists staged a publicity campaign and Rankin organized women throughout the state.
[40] Maggie Smith Hathaway traveled 5,700 miles through Montana bringing the message of women's suffrage, earning her the nickname of "The Whirlwind.
[44] James Laidlaw and Wellington D. Rankin founded a Montana chapter of the National Men's Suffrage League.
[50] Hundreds of women marched wearing yellow outfits and thousands of spectators came to view the parade which stretched out over a mile.
[55] Edith Clinch took control of the situation in Anaconda and in Boulder, Montana, Mary Atwater was in charge of watching the count.
[58] On July 29, 1919, Governor Samuel Stewart recalled Montana legislators to open a special session.
[59] During the session, Stewart urged legislators to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment because "Montana already has woman suffrage; her women vote upon every important issue presented to our people.
[60] In order to keep the issues separate, the Montana Equal Suffrage Association (MESA) would not allow the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) to march in their parade in 1914.
[66] Anti-suffrage women did not get organized as quickly as the suffragists because antis believed that becoming involved in politics was "unwomanly.
In Butte, at the end of the summer in 1914, women founded the Montana Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage.
