Women's suffrage in Utah

A New York suffragist, Hamilton Wilcox, proposed testing women's suffrage in the territories in 1867, specifically in Utah, because of the large population of females, and that, as a "fringe benefit, the Mormon system of plural wives would be eliminated."

[3] Congressman George Washington Julian in 1869 attempted to pass legislation to enfranchise women in western territories.

When William Godbe was excommunicated (for apostasy, not for suffrage activities), his other three wives left the Church of Jesus Christ.

Charlotte continued to promote women's rights as a representative of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[6] Within Utah Territory, Sarah Ann Cooke and Jennie Anderson Froiseth founded the Anti-Polygamy Society in response to the Carrie Owen case.

[8] The Chairman of the House and Committee on territories, Shelby M. Cullom, in 1869 sponsored a bill to enforce the 1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act.

The bill would increase federal authority over Utah Territory and prevent polygamists from holding public office.

William Henry Hooper stated that the reason for enfranchisement was "to convince the country how utterly without foundation the popular assertions were concerning the women of the Territory, some members of the Legislative Assembly were in favor of passing the law."

[5] On February 14, 1870, two days after the territorial legislature's decision to enfranchise women, Seraph Young became the first American woman to vote under equal suffrage laws.

"[16] Then later spoke at the old tabernacle on Temple Square where Stanton presented the National Woman Suffrage Association's (NWSA) views on equal rights to the women of The Church of Jesus Christ.

During this lecture, Stanton counseled the Latter-day Saint women to focus on "quality rather than quantity" when raising and bearing children.

[3] A law was passed by the legislature in the previous term to give women officeholding rights, but the governor had failed to sign it.

[3] It wasn't until Utah was admitted to the Union as a state in 1896 that women were re-enfranchised and given the right to hold office, with their state constitution providing that the right "to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.”[3] The Woman's Exponent was founded in 1872 with Lula Greene Richards as its first editor.

The standard informed the public that woman suffrage was used by the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to have an even larger majority over the non-members of the Territory.

Although Jennie Anderson Froiseth believed strongly in rights for women she was concerned with the polygamous activity of the Latter-day Saints.

Froiseth published The Women of Mormonism; Or, the story of polygamy as told by the victims themselves during the three-year span of The Anti-Polygamy Standard.

Belva Lockwood represented the National Woman Suffrage Association in lobbying congress to defend Utah women's right to vote.

Richards, with the support of the LDS church, assigned major roles to Latter-day Saint women not involved in polygamous marriages.