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Article Title: “Striving for Equal Rights for All”: Woman Suffrage in Nebraska, 1855-1882

Full Citation: Kristin Mapel Bloomberg, “‘Striving for Equal Rights for All’: Woman Suffrage in Nebraska, 1855- 1882,” Nebraska History 90 (2009): 84-103.

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH2009EqualRights.pdf Date: 12/20/2010

Article Summary: Three times in the nineteenth century Nebraska considered granting full suffrage to women. When the third attempt ended in a resounding defeat in 1882, the suffrage movement abandoned the goal of achieving legislative change one state at a time. The national campaign waged after that Nebraska defeat culminated in the passage and ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution thirty years later.

Cataloging Information:

Names: Clara Bewick Colby, Leonard W Colby, Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, George Francis Train, Hannah Tracy Cutler, Lucy Correll, Erasmus M Correll, Harriet S Brooks, D C Brooks, Ada M Bittenbender, H C Bittenbender, Orpha Dinsmoor, Lucinda Russell, Lucy Stone

Place Names: Beatrice, Gage County; Omaha, Douglas County; Osceola, Polk County; Hebron, Thayer County

Keywords: Fourteenth Amendment, Sixteenth Amendment, school suffrage for women, married women’s property rights, National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), Nebraska State Suffrage Association, Hebron Journal, Western Woman’s Journal, Woman’s Tribune, Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU); National Citizen and Ballot Box, Nebraska House Roll No 162, liquor lobby, Brewers’ Association, prohibition

Photographs / Images: Clara Bewick Colby, organizer of the Nebraska suffrage movement; portrait of Susan B Anthony in Nebraska City (1871); Lucy Correll, who wrote for her husband’s pro-suffrage newspapers; Erasmus M Correll, founder of the Hebron Journal and publisher/editor of the Western Woman’s Journal; Ada M Bittenbender, attorney, editor of Nebraska’s first Farmer’s Alliance newspaper; inset article reporting on a Susan B Anthony lecture, Hebron Journal, November 1, 1877; the town of Hebron, Nebraska, in the 1870s (one two-page view and one single-page view); upper half of page 1 of the first issue of the Western Woman’s Journal, April 1881, including a letter from editor Erasmus Correll; Harriet Sophia Brewer Brooks, the most senior Nebraska women’s rights activist; Edward Rosewater, anti-suffragist editor of the Omaha Daily Bee, who debated Clara Bewick Colby and Susan B Anthony; inset petition form printed in a Woman Suffrage supplement to the Western Woman’s Journal, 1882, to gather support for the suffrage amendment; inset article about a National Woman Suffrage Association meeting in Omaha, Omaha Bee, September 28, 1882; inset headline describing the Anthony/Rosewater debate, Omaha Daily Bee, October 16, 1882; inset article announcing Nebraska election results, Lincoln Daily State Journal, November 8, 1882; Matthew Brady studio’s 1890 photograph of Susan B Anthony, Clara Bewick Colby, and sculptor Bessie Potter

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Woman Suffrage in Nebraska 1855-18821 For years, suffrage leaders saw Nebraska as the nation's best hope to grant women the right to vote, but an 1882 statewide election caused the movement to rethink its national strategy.

SUMMER 2009 • 85 he morning of November 7, 1882, was far The first push for woman suffrage began in 1856 from an ordinary morning in Nebraska. It was during Nebraska's territorial days. Writing in the TElection Day, and a special one at that. Ne­ 1880s, Clara Bewick Colby of Beatrice observed, braska was poised to become the first state in the "It is remarkable ... that, thirty years ago, when Union to recognize women's right to full suffrage· the discussion of woman's status was still new in and equal citizenship with men. It was a moment Massachusetts and New York, and only seven years nearly thirty years in the making and a result both after the first woman-suffrage convention ever held, of Nebraska's history of progressivism and of a here-half way across a continent, in a country serendipitous convergence of people and politics. almost unheard of, and with but scant communi­ Women's rights advocates hoped to transform na­ cation with the older parts of the Republic-this tional politics by changing their state constitution, instinctive justice should have crystallized into but they were to be disappointed. legislative action,'? That legislative action was Three times prior to the twentieth century, spearheaded by Amelia Jenks Bloomer of Council Nebraska women stood on the threshold of full Bluffs, Iowa, in a speech given to the Nebraska citizenship, and three times their efforts were territorial legislature at Omaha in 1856, less than a denied. Like any social movement, the nearly cen­ decade after the landmark Seneca Falls Woman's tury-long struggle for woman's rights was made up Rights Convention of 1848. Bloomer, formerly of of local failures and achievements, both of which New York State, founder of the woman's rights helped propel the national movement forward. journal the Lily and popularizer of the "Bloomer And while Nebraska's early suffrage initiatives costume," found herself in this remarkable position failed, they were key historical moments that as a result of an earlier visit to the eight-month-old shaped the trajectory of the national women's city of Omaha on July 4, 1855, when she spoke on rights movement that ultimately led to a strategy the subject of woman's rights." Her lecture aroused to amend the United States Constitution. In other curiosity among Nebraska's political leaders and as words, after striking out in Nebraska three times a result, twenty-five members of the Nebraska ter­ in thirty years, many woman suffrage advocates ritoriallegislature extended a formal invitation for decided that.state legislative change-even in pro­ Bloomer to address their assembly. Her persuasive gressive states-was better left behind in favor of speech influenced lawmakers to consider a woman national legislative change. suffrage bill in both houses; however, by virtue of being placed on the agenda for the last day of the Clara Bewick Colby's ef­ forts to organize a sUffrage session, the bill died for lack of vote. Had it been movement in Nebraska approved, Nebraska would have been the first terri­ impressed iiationalleaders tory or state in the United States to give women the such as Susan B.Anthony. Colby, however, knew that right of equal franchise,' the local movement had The spirit of progressivism that marked Ne­ deep roots. "It is remark­ braska's early consideration of liberal legislation able," she wrote in the 1880s, that thirty years continued in 1867 when it joined the Union as the earlier "in a country with . thirty-seventh state in March, and in June ratified but scant communica­ the Fourteenth Amendment," Woman suffrage was tion with the older parts of the Republic, this instinc­ not part of that state constitution; however, Nebras­ tive justice should have ka's affirmation of universal male suffrage crystallized into legislatIve and its earlier consideration of female suffrage at­ action." Wisconsin Historical Society, tracted the interest of eastern suffrage activists Image ID: 26613 who had decided to abandon the strategy of link­ ing woman suffrage and Negro suffrage after failing to do so in Kansas-after all, they believed, the question of suffrage for black men was now de­ cided in Nebraska," As a result, woman suffrage advocates could fo­ cus solely on arguing for women's enfranchisement under the Fourteenth Amendment. On November 15, 1867,Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stan­ ton, and George Francis Train arrived in Omaha to speak on the question as they worked their way

86 • NEBRASKA history During the same winter [as Cutler] Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured in Lincoln, and presented a petition to be signed by women, asking to be allowed to vote under the four­ .teenth amendment-She also called a meeting of ladies in a hotel parlor and aided in organiz­ ing a State suffrage society. Her rare executive ability accomplished what other hands would have failed to do, for the difficulties in the way of such a movement at that early day were great. Lydia Butler, wife of Governor Butler, was elected president, and other representa­ tive women filled the various offices, but after a short time it was deemed wise to disband, as circumstances made it impossible to keep up an efficient organization. Time and money were not plentiful with western women, but we did what we could, and sent a petition to the legislature that winter asking a resolution recommending the coming State convention to omit the word "male" from the constitu­ tion. The petition was signed by about 1,000 women, and received respectful attention from the legislature,'? With support from this petition, resolutions for woman suffrage and women's legal rights were considered by Nebraska's 1871 constitutional convention, including a resolution granting mar­ ried women's property rights. But the amendment Susan B. Anthony sat for this portrait in Nebraska City for woman suffrage was defeated when it was during an 1871 visit. NSHS RG2669-5 sent to Nebraska's male voters, 3,502 for and 12,668against," back east following the Kansas defeat? Their For a variety of reasons, woman suffrage advo­ efforts bore some fruit, for according to Colby, cates were not able to overcome their opponents "The early legislation of Nebraska was favorable and effect an efficient organization. For one, to woman, and much ahead of that passed in the woman suffrage was not taken seriously by some ­ "Many self-sat­ same period by most of the older States." For lawmakers who introduced, for example, ridiculous isfied women ... example, Nebraska granted school suffrage for resolutions advocating that the word "male" be women in 1869,and at almost every legislative ses­ stricken from the entirety of the state's constitution were soon awak­ sion of the next few years, the question of woman and "female" inserted instead. Another suggestion suffrage was introduced," was that men be removed by force of law from all ened to a new Even though Nebraska's early initiatives for occupations, legally place women therein, and consciousness. female suffrage failed, eastern women's rights require men to "fillthe occupations and employ­ activists visited the state hoping to organize lo­ ments heretofore usually filled by women, such as of their true sta­ cal support for another constitutional challenge. nursing and the usual household duties of females These activists included Hannah Tracy Cutler, a together with running sewing societies, tea parties tus wherein they well-known national suffrage speaker and writer and all other employments of females not herein discovered their who spoke in Lincoln during the winter of 1870and enumerated so as to properly fit him for both a attempted to organize a state suffrage association, useful and ornamental person in society?" Com­ 'rights'were only but failed. Similarly, Anthony addressed sympa­ pounding or perhaps causing a lack of funds and thetic audiences in Lincoln and tried her hand at sympathetic workers was the fact that Lydia Butler, 'privileges.": organizing a state association, but was similarly then president of Nebraska's nascent state suffrage -Lucy Correll thwarted. Esther L. Warner of Roca, Nebraska, society, had a larger task on her hands as a result of described the difficulties of creating permanent the impeachment of her husband Governor David organizational interest in suffrage: Butler," But in spite of these setbacks, Nebraska's

SUMMER 2009 • 87 Lucy Correll of Hebron political opportunity that could be used to build wrote for her husband's a better America. Brooks (b. 1828), the most se­ pro-suffrage newspapers and was instrumental in nior of Nebraska's woman's rights activists, was establishing the firstper­ college-educated and raised in Michigan, and had manent woman suffrage experience in Chicago's Cook County Woman's association in Nebraska. NSHS RG241 l-l106 Franchise Association and the Illinois Woman's Suf­ frage Association, as well as the National Woman Suffrage Association." She arrived in Nebraska in 1876 when her husband accepted the editorship of the Omaha Republican. Bittenbender (b. 1848) was also college-educated, and gained distinction as Nebraska's first "lady lawyer." With her husband, she emigrated from Pennsylvania to Osceola, Ne­ braska, in 1878, where Henry Bittenbender began practicing law and in 1879 purchased and Ada be­ gan editing the Osceola Record. Ada Bittenbender, with her husband, later established the Polk County Agricultural Association, and became editor of the first Farmers' Alliance newspaper in Nebraska. A temperance advocate, she was an influential member of the Nebraska Woman's Christian Tem­ perance Union, who in 1888was admitted to argue woman's rights advocates pushed their cause cases before the United States Supreme Court and forward, and Nebraska women achieved rights served as the attorney for the National WCTUY consistent with other states, including married women's property rights." ErasmusM. Correll, Lucy'shusband, founded the He­ bronJournalin 1871. It soon gained a reputation as a newspaper favorable to women's rights. In 1881-1882, s a result of Nebraska's quickly chang­ he published and edited.the Western Woman's Jour­ Aing demographics, the work done by national nal, Nebraska's firstsuffrage paper. NSHS RG2141-512 -_.-.---...... activists in the early 1870swas largely forgotten. But . "'" 1 in the late 1870s,a grassroots movement for woman suffrage emerged from southeast Nebraska, gener­ ally organized by newcomers to the state, who Lucy Correll of Hebron called a "band of progressive, thinking women" residing in Gage, Douglas, Jef­ ferson, Polk, and Thayer counties," These women were broadminded and educated civic activists married to progressive and politically active men; among them were Clara Bewick Colby, whose hus­ _ band Leonard W. Colby was a well-known Beatrice attorney; Lucy Correll, whose husband Erasmus M. Correll was editor of the Hebron Journal; Harriet S. Brooks, whose husband D. C. Brooks was editor of the Omaha Republican; and Ada M. Bittenbender, who with her husband H. C. Bittenbender, was edi­ tor of the OsceolaRecord. This activism was in large part due to the per­ sonal experiences and networks brought by the core group of Ada M. Bittenbender, Harriet Brooks, Erasmus M. Correll, and Clara Bewick Colby. Their shared values regarding political philosophy and education, as well as their professional experi­ ence, united them-as did their understanding of the West as a place of social transformation and

88 • NEBRASKAhistory But among this group, Clara Colby and Erasmus Ada M. Bittenbender Correll could be counted as particularly influential became editor of Nebraska's first Farmer's during this crucial time. Correll (b. 1846) was a Alliance newspaper. She college-educated newspaperman who moved to served as an attorney for Nebraska from lllinois in 1869. In 1871 Correll es­ the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and tablished the Hebron Journal, which immediately in 1888was admitted to gained a reputation as a newspaper favorable to argue cases before the woman's rights. During 1881 and 1882, he edited United States Supreme Court. TheNew Republic and published the Western Woman's Journal, (Lincoln), Aug. 23, 1888. which served as the organ of the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association and was the first woman suffrage paper in the state. He was elected from Thayer County to the Nebraska House of Repre­ sentatives in 1880, and as a result of that position, introduced the bill for woman suffrage that was the focus of the Nebraska campaign in 1881 and 1882.18 Lucy Correll worked on both of her husband's newspapers, and was instrumental in establishing the first permanent woman suffrage association in Nebraska. Like the others in this group, Colby (b. 1846) was college educated. Raised on the Wisconsin frontier, she moved to Beatrice, Nebraska, in 1872 with her husband, Leonard Wright Colby, who set three women each had ties to national progres­ up a thriving legal practice. In 1876Leonard pur­ sive women's networks. For example, Bittenbender chased the Beatrice Express, the town's Republican was active in the Woman's Christian Temperance newspaper, and became its editor and proprietor; Union, Colby was active in the Association for the Clara later contributed columns." In 1877Leonard Advancement of Women, and Brooks had ties to Colby was elected a Nebraska state senator. With the National Woman Suffrage Association. But im­ the other Nebraska suffrage leaders, Clara Colby portantly, this group held passionate views about shared a passion for civic improvement, society frontier America; their interest was driven by a building, and newspapering. In Nebraska she threw Turnerian sense of American progress, social herself into public life, where she worked to estab­ idealism, and sense of responsibility in helping to lish the Beatrice Public Library, engaged speakers create a better society as it was being constructed of national reputation for the Ladies' Literary As­ in the West." With other progressives who settled sociation, served as the principal of the Beatrice Nebraska, they held the distinct view that they Public School District, assisted with Correll's were there to help build up a good society, not Western Woman's Journal, and later edited and take profit from it. Thus, their personal experienc­ published the Woman's Tribune (1883-1909),which es, political beliefs, and extended networks helped was the second woman suffrage paper in Nebraska prime the pump for a revitalized focus on woman and the second-longest-running-woman suffrage suffrage in Nebraska. paper in the United States." As the local movement gained momentum, A number of common characteristics unified Nebraska suffrage activists rediscovered Susan B. these Nebraska suffrage leaders, and may account Anthony, who accepted Erasmus Correll's invitation for the revitalized effort for woman suffrage. Three to lecture in Hebron on the topic "Bread versus the of the four came of age on America's emerging Ballot" on October 30, 1877.22 Significantly, now it western frontier: Correll in lllinois, Brooks in Michi­ was Nebraska advocates seeking the assistance of gan, and Colby in Wisconsin. All earned college national workers, not the other way around, and degrees, and shared a similar European Protestant the early work done by the CorrelIs, Colby, and heritage. Correll, Colby, and Bittenbender were others had shaped a constituency ready to hear of the same generation, and as adults all worked Anthony's message. Her talk electrified the cause in the educated professional class and lived in because, Lucy Correll explained, "Previous to this town. None were wealthy; their economic position time many self-satisfied women believed they had is best classified as middle class. In addition, the all the 'rights' they wanted, but they were soon

SUMMER 2009 • 89 Erasmus M. Correll was -_._-- -"'. -",;,-:_. :..:.._" - " ... -. '_.'.-"'..-- adept at using the Hebron Journalto unite a far-flung frontier constituency sym­ pathetic to the cause of women's rights. In doing ·~!~I~1i~>~1~~!~~~~I~~f. so, he began to develop a more comprehensive state ~~¥:~S:;':~j:\. VOL.VII;Nq;19.· .··mlBBON.NEB:~!~4Y;,NOV:'1,.1877; .";~~~~o.:~:: ~~=: suffrage movement.

The November 1, 1877, .SUSAN B AN'l.'HOYY. Such women as you ... have individual issue of the Hebron Journal work to do -to lift the world into better condi­ reported Susan B.Antho­ THE lecture by Susan B. Antho.. ny's lecture there a tions- &I hope you will not allow anything few days earlier. ny, 'l'U6ISd;\y DUlhtj on the subject, to estop [sic] you from doing what seems to 'I W ()QIIUa wtl.ntiS Bread, not the Hal. be your duty- I long to see women be them­ lut," wal!f a clear, lo{Cical. and mAR­ selves -not the mere echoes of men-... Mrs. terly' exposluion of the theory Colby-do, please, write a brief letter of your kuowu a~ '"\'fOmIUl'li rigbts!' library work-& lecture Course for the Decem­ 'fhe firm. massrve under jaw of ber number of the Ballot Box... Foryou- & the lady iH indicat.lve or the stern every woman to tell what you are doing-helps (,b~t to rouse other women to do likewise-Women will has aetuated her in her want to be helped into the feeling that they 10llg ban.le in behalf of her sex, can help on the good works they like to see ~iven ner the tlLle ot "tbe iovinei done- We have been told we couldn't do hte," and inscribed her name iu anything but help the individual man or men itnperiAhalJle charueters on the of our families-So long &so constantly-that surnmtt of the rugged mount of very few women can of themselves get into any fame, work above that-25 By praising Colby's public reform efforts in awakened to a new consciousness of their true Beatrice, and by asking her to submit pieces to status wherein they discovered their 'rights' were the radical journal the NationalCitizen and Ballot only 'privileges.'"23 As the Western Woman'sJournal Box (1878-1881), Anthony's request illustrates the reported, Anthony "aroused the community, and a importance assigned to journals and newspapers majority of the leading citizens became converts to advocating the suffrage cause. In this way, Nebras­ the doctrine of equal rights,'?' kans framed their work as part of f1 larger social Colby scheduled Anthony to speak in Beatrice effort, thus uniting what might be seen as disparate the day following her lecture in Hebron. Anthony local activities into those that furthered a struc­ Below: Hebron, Nebraska, declared the stop in Beatrice a resounding tured, national plan. in the 1870s,during the success, and was impressed with Colby's feminist Erasmus Correll was particularly adept at using time that Erasmusand Lucy Correll were involved with activism which she acknowledged in a letter writ­ the vehicle of the newspaper to unite a far-flung the Hebron Journal. NSHS ten from Lincoln while waiting for the next leg of frontier constituency sympathetic to the cause of RG2719-8-3 her journey: women's rights. In doing so, he began to develop a more comprehensive state suffrage movement­ which had been lacking in previous attempts to pass woman suffrage legislation-by building on the political momentum gained by Anthony's visit. In early 1879, Correll established a woman's column in his newspaper, the Hebron Journal, and was thus able to further the discussion of woman's rights by publishing-often on the front page-ar­ ticles written for a readership of women, on topics of interest to women, and usually signed by women writers. A range of topics from the column's first ten weeks were illustrative of those covered during its multi-year run, and included articles on women and education, labor, and temperance; woman suf­ frage; a discussion of reading material appropriate for young women and girls; and a-discussion of women's roles in the family." Keen to encourage debate, Correll also printed the article, "From an Anti-Suffragist.?" Thus, through the pages of the Hebron Journal, Correll began to build up a broad Hebron, Nebraska, ca. 1870s.Thanks to the leader­ constituency supportive of woman's rights." ship ot the Corrells, national sUffrage leaders such Correll followed a pattern of igniting debate as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton "A host of women and continuing discussion in the pages of the lectured there, helping create momentum for the movement. NSHS RG2719-8-1 Journal when in the spring of 1879he extended an suddenly found invitation to another national speaker-this time The mission of that first association was "to Elizabeth Cady Stanton." Stanton's lecture topic secure State and National protection for women themselves gifted was "Our Girls," which the Hebron Journal reported, citizens in the exercises of their right to vote," with the power to had she lived in the Middle Ages, she "would have and fewer than two months after its founding, its been burned at the stake as a martyr to advanced membership counted thirty-five women." The As­ speak and write, principles.?" Nebraskans were ready to hear Stan­ sociation immediately began its work, and made ton's radical woman's rights message; as a result, its first project the circulation of a suffrage petition which 'they con­ /if her presence in southeast Nebraska left a lasting to be sent to the United States Congress." In cele­ secrated to the mark on the Nebraska woman's rights movement. bration of their organization, the women of Hebron Following her address to the citizens of Hebron, declared Stanton their champion, which was noted cause of their civil Stanton led a private program for women which in the Hebron Journal's "Women's Column" on resulted in the organization of the Thayer County May 15, 1879: liberties." -Clara Woman's Suffrage Association-the first perma­ We congratulate the women that they Bewick Colby nent woman suffrage association in the state of have organized the Women's S[uffrage] Nebraska, counting a total of fifteen members." A[ssociation] under such favorable circum­ 92 . NEBRASKAhistory stances. Whoever had the privilege of listening April 1881 as the first woman suffrage paper in Ne­ to Mrs. Stanton, enjoyed a "feast of reason and braska. Although its tenure was little more than a a flow of soul" .... Let us consider this matter year and a half, the women's rights news contained carefully, not thinking of it lightly, as we would within its pages solidified the suffrage movement in the organization of a newly formed social Nebraska and, Colby observed, "a host of women or [wife] society, but as something to mould suddenly found themselves gifted with the power and move the nation-a thing not of to-day, to speak and write, which they consecrated to the but for coming time .... Truly,as Mrs. Stanton cause of their civilliberties."35 said, we may be thankful to the editor of the JOURNAL for giving us the control of a column As Nebraska women formally organized in in his paper, a column devoted to the interests support of woman suffrage and woman's rights, of women-a liberality not shown by many Harriet Brooks took action to create a state suf­ papers. This pioneer paper is opening the way. frage association in order to unite the variety of No doubt many will be ready to follow," local associations springing up around the state. Many did follow. Emulating the Hebron Journal's In her Omaha home on May 30, 1880, Brooks and "Woman's Column," the following year saw other a half-dozen other women including Clara Colby newspapers dedicate space to their own woman's of Beatrice and Lucy Correll of Hebron met for the columns edited and written by Nebraska's female purpose of organizing an association to be known woman suffrage leaders whose political passion as the Nebraska State Suffrage Association. The and strength of personality took them through the organization itself was tentative, designed to begin door opened by the Hebron Journal. These includ­ a process that would be expanded later," The main impetus of the meeting, however, was to appoint ed columns in the Beatrice Express, edited by Clara "This town con­ Bewick Colby; in the Omaha Republican, edited by Brooks and one other as delegates to the mass Harriet S. Brooks; in the Osceola Record, edited by meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Associa­ tains scarcely a tion in Chicago to be held in June 1880. Brooks's ties to both the NWSA and the Chicago associa­ woman who is op­ tions would prove to be important connections now that Nebraska was ready to move forward with posed to woman another challenge to the state's constitution. suffrage. We know

D the f a II 0 f 1 8 8 0 , two members of the weare a power I Thayer County Woman's Suffrage Association were elected to the Nebraska legislature: Erasmus here•.. II -Lucinda Correll to the House of Representatives and his col­ Russell league Charles B. Coon to the Senate." From these positions and backed by a growing grassroots support, Correll and Coon were in place to offer a constitutional question at Nebraska's sixteenth regular session of the legislature in 1881. Accord­ ingly, Correll introduced Nebraska House Roll No. 162,a "Joint resolution providing for the submission to the electors of this state of an amendment to sec­ tion 1, article 7, of the constitution,"38which aimed to strike the word "male" from the suffrage article The most senior of Nebraska women's rights activ­ of the Nebraska constitution of 1875 and replace it ists, Harriet Sophia Brewer Brooks.had experfence in with the word "person." SUffrageorganizations before arriving in Nebraska With growing public attention to the suffrage in 1876. Her ties to the National Woman Suffrage As­ sociation and the Chicago associations would prove issue as a result of the planned introduction of important to the Nebraska movement. House Roll 162,interest developed in creating a NSHS RG2411-620 formal statewide woman suffrage association Ada M. Bittenbender; and in the Johnson County beyond the scope of the tentative one formed in Journal, edited by Lucinda Russell. The crown Omaha in May 1880. Noting the urgency of gather­ jewel of the Nebraska woman's rights campaign, ing organized support, Lucinda Russell of however, was later set in the form of the Western Tecumseh issued this call in Harriet Brooks's col­ Woman's Journal, established by Erasmus Correll in umn in the Omaha Republican:

SUMMER2009 • 93 We think it best to call a meeting, even now legislature-this had not been done in a meaning­ "As long as at this somewhat late day, and send women ful way during the prior two attempts for woman to Lincoln who will attend personally to this suffrage. To this end, testimony before the legisla­ woman is unjustly matter. We have left these things neglected too ture was given by Harriet Brooks, Orpha Dinsmoor, long. Willyou call on all women of the State Clara Colby and others who detailed support who can do so to assemble at Lincoln during withheld 'from ex­ from all corners of the state. As Colby explained, the session of the legislature, appointing the "Though we who are present are few in numbers, ercising her right day, etc.? I think we would be surprised at the result. This town contains scarcely a woman we know that the desire in the section from which of suffrage, she who is opposed to woman suffrage. We know we come is very great that this measure be submit­ we are a power here; and we do not know ted to the people. I may [say] that the ladies in my should not be but the same hearty support which Tecumseh 'own town are nearly unanimous in favor of the suf­ held answerable would afford may exist in many towns through frage for women." Brooks noted the support the State. All we need for good earnest work of "many prominent men and women throughout to the laws nor and mighty results is organization." the state," and singled out "reports from every sec­ As the legislature began to meet in January, tion of 'a constant pressure' for this measure." She subject to taxa­ Nebraska women convened in Lincoln, and on explained, "The question had passed beyond tri­ tion." - Resolution January 27, 1881, the Nebraska Woman Suffrage fling and ridicule many years ago; and it has Association was formally organized with Harriet now almost passed beyond the necessity of argu­ adopted by Ne­ Brooks at the helm, and representation from ment." Dinsmoor seconded Brooks, noting, "Many each judicial district in the state." The Nebraska ladies of Omaha said to me before coming: 'Tell braska Woman, WSAimmediately turned its attention to supporting the members of the legislature that we want a Suffrage Associa­ Correll's bill and, Colby explained, "Headquarters voice.' .... while woman has been knocking at the were established in Lincoln. Mrs. Brooks remained door, the black man has received the suffrage­ tion, 1881 during the session, and Mesdames Holmes, and justly and rightfully, too, for his own protection Russell, Dinsmoor and Colby all, or most of the as a free citizen. It has now come to the question of time, until the act was passed, interviewing the absolute right-whether one class of people shall members and securing the promise of their votes say to another: 'You can come only thus far in the for the measure."41 direction of liberty,"? Critical to securing passage of the amendment But for women like Colby,woman suffrage was getting voices of its beneficiaries heard by the reflected the best tenets ofwestern life that placed the building of state and society on the shoulders of equally hard-working and patriotic women and men: The sentiment in many parts of the east, among the learned and society classes is strongly in favor of this, but in the west we have the heart of the people.... In the east­ as in Massachusetts, where there are 100,000 more women than men-the men seem more tenacious of their rights. Here there is no such sentiment, for there is no occasion for it. In­ deed, we women consider ourselves pioneers, equally with our brothers and husbands, and we know that we are helping build up the state in equal measure with you. We, like you, are proud of this state, of ourstate, and we wish perfect liberty to help you build it up in all that is befitting a great and good commonwealth." For Colby, then, the question of woman suffrage Edward Rosewater, the had already been answered by the people of Ne~ anti-suffragist editor of the braska who viewed themselves as pioneers-both Omaha Daily Bee, debat­ ed Clara Bewick Colby in on the prairies and in politics. Suffrage, then, was 1881 and Susan B. Anthony a right earned by those who would use it to further in 1882. NSHS RG2411 the best interests of their chosen state, bestowed

94 • NEBRASKA history equally upon women who worked shoulder to of the convention was the adoption of convention shoulder with men and had gained their respect. resolutions-worthy daughters of the 1848Seneca The bill passed and was signed by the governor Falls convention: 44 on February 26, 1881. With legislative approval Resolved, That a,naristocracy of sex is in­ secured, the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Associa­ , consistent with republican principles. tion swung into action with the monumental goal of passing the state suffrage amendment when it Resolved, That the fundamental principles came before the electorate in November 1882, giv­ of our American republic are: ing them less than two years to campaign. From First-"Government derives its just powers February to July 1881, efforts focused on building from the consent of the governed"; an educated popular voter base. As Colby explains, "Lectures were given, and societies and working Second-That "Taxation and representa­ tion are inseparable"; as woman is governed committees formed as rapidly as possible." By and as woman is taxed, woman is clearly the time the Thayer County Woman's Suffrage As­ entitled to a voice in the government and rep­ sociation celebrated its second anniversary in the resentation in the halls of the legislature; and spring of 1881, thirty-nine Nebraska woman's rights that the constitution in prohibiting woman The SUffrageforces gath­ associations had been created across the state, in­ suffrage, not only violates natural rights, but is ered petitions to urge the cluding the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association, equally antagonistic to itself. "qualified electors of the nine county associations, and twenty-nine local state" (men) to support Resolved, That the act of men in continuing the suffrage amendment. associations." And by the time the governor's proc­ From the Woman Suffrage lamation announcing the vote on the amendment the disfranchisement of one-half of the citizens supplement to The Western of this commonwealth, is an unwarranted use was published in the Western Woman's Journal in Woman's Journal (1882), of power no longer to be patiently tolerated. NSHS Filmstrip Roll 36 September 1882, more than 175 woman suffrage associations were active in Nebraska." While Wyoming Territory had granted women full suffrage in 1869and Utah Territory in 1870,48 PETITI'ONI PETITION!! , Cut ~ut, pa.steon a sheet of lette,r, paper,8etallthe 8lgfteispoSsible~andinall no state had yet done so, and Nebraska was now September 16th to MRS. CERTRUDE Mc:iDO~ELL!Falrbllry,Neb.','rhl.gilles ~ou bu~ poised to become the first. Next on the suffragists' on~weekforwork~ Read, ",4n,~ppeal"_eIB~w,he",!~: ' , ' , agenda was the organization of the first general WH£R~, we, ihe Women ~f Nebraska: are disfranchis& by the Co~tifutiori SoI~Y'OD ~t or sex; .;,~ convention of the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Asso­ WHEREAS, We do respectfully demand theright of sulfroge-:L right .which involves all "other rights of citizen­ ship-which 'cannctjustly \"'wilhheld :LS the following admitted principles of' goVernment show: ' , ciation held in Omaha in July 1881, which attracted . FIRST-"AII me• .ire ;n""J "l"a/;" ,_.' , '" . ' many of the leading women and men citizens of SECOND!:...... G_rni.!'ellls "'rivi i/"ir jrlSijrnL>= ./rPm/lie mutt!l',iJ./.iM g".,m.td!' Omaha who listened to speeches such as Ada M. THIRO:-U TtU4/iqn anJ rqracHt"ti.... tin insepdr.a6le:" '- . ',', , " ,. ". -.. -'" _' r Ti.erc/J;'e, We, 'he.underSigned Wo~en' or Nebra"sb,eatDest!>":-petitlon the ·qualifia!.' eleCtoisoftheSt~te, :L . Bittenbender's "Legal Disabilities of the Women of the general' e1ec\ionto b.iheld iiiNovember, 188., to vole in favot:lll"the propo;edaniendmenno the COnstitution, Nebraska," and a lively debate between Clara Colby ~strikiDi out, the word um:r.te~ ':' .' - ,". ~-..' .' ~m" _ S and Edward Rosewater, the prominent anti-suffrag­ r . ,com'TT' ist editor of the Omaha Bee.49 But the main business I~Q·~!!J?L.'.IJ~::::) ",MAKE IN 'FACT'·A8.IN,N.Uli ~~BRASKA'S·".M~9,:.·:·;EqU~TTjY·~E.~Q~·-#rE,'-:I~A)v"ti'" - ,', ..:,:,<,,-'"

SUMMER 2009 • 95 Resolved, That as long as woman is unjustly trusting, hoping and striving for equal rights withheld from exercising her right of suffrage, for all, and the lifting of the yoke of bondage she should not be held answerable to the laws from the oppressed of every class, sex and nor subject to taxation. condition in life, and to this end we pledge our solemn determination to prosecute this effort Resolved, That the abridging of woman's until a satisfactory result is reached; and that right to hold office and have trial by a jury of our declared purpose shall continue to be her peers, is a tyrannical exercise of power. the removal of all social, moral and political distinctions that to-day discriminate unjustly Resolved, That the most unjust distinction between the sexes and consecrate our lives is made in the statutes of Nebraska in favor and united energies to the ultimate adoption of man; Therefore, we urgently request the of the proposed constitutional amendment legislature, at its next session, to reconstruct securing to the women of Nebraska the right the laws, doing away with all discrimination of franchise." between the sexes. The Kearney convention also made clear that in­ Resolved, That it is clearly the duty of the terest in the amendment was rising. As the Western women of Nebraska to become intelligently Woman's Journal reported: "As illustrative of how acquainted with the laws by which they are much in earnest some of the Nebraska women are, governed; that the apathy of woman in regard to the wrongs of her sex, instead of being a we note that one lady, in order to attend the con­ plea for remaining in her present condition, is vention, rode thirty-five miles in a lumber wagon n53 "The difficulty the strongest argument against it. ... and another rode forty miles on a load of wheat. Nebraska suffragists understood the impor­ is that the men Resolved, That we pledge ourselves not to tance of their bill to national politics; they also relinquish our untiring efforts to wipe out for­ understood that valuable political capital could ever the stigma of aristocracy of who will vote no sex." be gained by connecting their work to both the .neither go out to Following the adoption of these resolutions, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) convention continued its program of speeches and and the National Woman Suffrage Association lectures nor read addresses that included "a masterly constitutional (NWSA), the two national organizations focused on argument" from Clara Colby, and two speeches by achieving woman suffrage.54 Drawing support from tracts or newspa­ Amelia Bloomer, who "gave reminiscences of her both the AWSA and the NWSAwould bring not pers. They... are work in the Nebraska Legislature twenty years ago," only resources, but also national attention to their and another "reviewing the position of the Bible on cause. And while the two associations enjoyed a amenable only to the subjugation of wornen,'?' strong rivalry, Nebraskans believecf'all might profit In the Same way Nebraskans used newspapers, by setting aside differences to work together for the bribes and bitters." conventions were an important way to excite and common goal of seeing the state become the first -Lucy Correll . inform the electorate, and this first state conven­ to recognize woman suffrage. tion paved the way for a third general convention Only days after the Kearney convention, Erasmus and first delegate convention held later that year Correll, Clara Colby, and Lucinda Russell boarded at Kearney in October, where the faithful were a train to attend the eleventh annual meeting of the sustained with speeches and a reaffirmation of the AWSA in Louisville, Kentucky, October 26 and 27, - resolutions adopted at July's convention in Omaha. hoping to strengthen ties to the national movement. The most important work of this convention how­ To their great surprise, Correll was unanimously . ever, was adopting the woman suffrage platform: elected president of the American Woman Suf­ We, the representatives of the Nebraska frage Association, while Colby was elected a vice State Woman Suffrage Association, in conven­ president serving Nebraska. Russell, by virtue of her tion assembled at Kearney, Nebraska, October delegate status, was appointed the Nebraska mem­ 19th, '81, hereby declare our fealty to the great ber to the AWSA Executive Committee." The three principles on which our government is found­ returned to Nebraska to great acclaim, having had ed, and reiterate the principles of the National their efforts marked by a national body, thus adding Woman Suffrage Association...whose object is greater emphasis to their work. to secure to woman political equality with man. But unlike the early support offered by the Contemplating these facts and mindful AWSA, the NWSAremained cautious. Anthony, of the blessings we enjoy, we here earnestly who had been observing these developments from resolve to continue the struggle for the suprem­ the sidelines, cautioned Correll: acy of the right and the abolition of all wrong;

96 • NEBRASKA history Allow me to congratulate Nebraska general­ Omaha Daily Bee, ly,and yourself particularly on the honor of the THE SUFFRAGISTS. Sept. 28, 1882. Presidency of the American Woman Suffrage Association, conferred upon you at the recent Louisville Convention. I hope with the office and honor will go to Nebraska lots ofmoney to Ltve)y PrGo8edinga at the lorn­ help you carry forward .... I am hoping to see the end of [my current work] by May, so that ing Session of the I can give personal thought and work to Ne­ braska, for I feel the importance of making the Oon1'81lUon. vote there as large as possible, though, after my experience in Kansas, Michigan, and Colo­ rado, in each of which (of the two first at least) Obatr&perous Kales Oan be our hopes were as bright, seemingly, as are yours to-day. The difficulty is that the men who Talked to Death will vote no neither go out to lectures nor read tracts or newspapers. They cannot be reached by our educational instrumentalities-they are amenable only to bribes and bitters, neither, • nor both of which can we stoop to.... such men are not earnest on our side, but intensely A.ftet the haUl- in the opeahoUIII against us-every one-because they know laM D1aht, and .. gentle tepoIe ill tba their own mothers, wives, sisters, and daugh­ the of ters would vote down the three great pet anna of )lorpheUl, lIdiea dm institutions of such men-grog shops, brothels, !TMioUl Sutrrap uaooIation me. at: and gambling houses. Still I cannot but hope BoJCl~ opera hOWl8.t t:SO a. 111.. look..· for Nebraska. 56 iDa milch refreahed. The rain had While she remained cautiously optimistic, oeued early thia moraing, aad b, 8 Anthony's concern about the influence of the powerful liquor lobby, which vehemently opposed o'oloak the clouda bepn to dis.. woman suffrage on the grounds that women would :appear .ad. fe.. blOlum glemna­ use the vote to prohibit the sale of liquor, was well oJ _aU.. aDOn dried ap tha founded in light of Nebraska's large population of working men and immigrants. alhwa1k.. Ttte.dragtata lOit Done Fiercely competitive and each eager to claim the of their ...1b, the .Jdnniab. with the victory, the AWSA and the NWSA both converged 1OuDIIim.. of ~"l&w 1_night, but on Nebraska. In the spring of 1882,the AWSA an­ OIl the GOD.b'afJ th., had det8rmina. nounced its annual meeting-to be presided over by Erasmus M. Correll-was to be held in Omaha 'ion viYldIJ portraled upon their in the fall. Not be outdone, the NWSA announced ooUDtenan~ ad a relentleu warfare in early summer that its annual convention would also be held in Omaha at nearly the same time. By demand of society, fashion or amusement ought to August, speakers from Nebraska and around the fall. Now is the time for work:s8 nation engaged breakneck schedules around the Under the presidency of Erasmus Correll, the state to raise interest in the respective conventions, AWSA met in Omaha September 12, 13, and 14. which were themselves designed to raise interest Correll's presidential address noted the gravity in the forthcoming amendment." There was much of the movement in Nebraska, "a State, we most work to be done. As the Western Woman's Journal earnestly hope, that will be first to adopt an amend­ explained, "Let the watchword from now until the ment removing the political discrimination against last vote is cast at six o'clock in the afternoon of sex, and thereby carry into perfect realization the November 7th, be with every man and woman,­ principles of the Declaration of American Inde­ every impartial suffragist, 'work' .... Upon every pendence, establishing upon a basis of eternal friend of the cause rests a heavy responsibility, that equity a true republic."? His presidential address of doing his or her share of the work... Before this was followed by an inspirational speech from Bos­ responsibility and this duty, every frivolous ton suffragist Lucy Stone, who praised the work

SUMMER 2009 • 97 the question will meet success in all these states. ... Nebraska must not throwaway her chance to I be the first State to adopt woman suffrage.... Why should not Nebraska be first in suffrage, as she is '.:::!Z=!!!:~:"::; ahead on nearly every other national issue?"?' '::11 =: J 4 :::::::1=;,..:.======:::!=== Two weeks later, the NWSA held its annual con­ vention in Omaha on September 26, 27,and 28. _ALL WOM. YDTE' Because president Elizabeth Cady Stanton was not able to be present, the convention was overseen by •. t.> d • acting president Susan B.Anthony. Similar to the AWSA, the NWSA featured speeches by national luminaries and delegates from state associations 'lID' Debate Between ll8a such as Marietta Bones of Dakota Territory, "who was able to wring tears from the audience by re­ counting her own unfortunate experiences with a 118 B.1nthODJ and Ed· cruel husband whose brutalities drove her to flee with her two children-children whom the courts then ordered her to hand over to her husband.?" ward ·Iolawater. The tone of the NWSA convention carried more sentimental and sensational appeals than that of the AWSA, and openly engaged the issue of op- . position from African-Americans, immigrants, and ...... IIIIUYe...... of tile ~. religiously conservative voters. Anthony spoke at length about the viability of Nebraska's white, •••'• ...... 1•••· middle-class, temperance-focused voters, who un­ like Colorado's voters, were seen as more likely to • vote for the amendment. She explained Colorado's suffrage defeat, arguing, "native born white men, Omaha Daily Bee, of Nebraska by saying, "When our feet touched temperance men, liberal-minded decent men voted Oct. 16, 1882. Nebraska soil we felt as though we should take off for it. Against it were the rank and file of Mexicans our shoes, for the place on which we stand was in southern Colorado, miners, foreigners, German, holy ground. Not because of her grand prairies, her Irish. The Negro also voted againsttit.Another class magnificent harvests or her giant, limitless bound­ was that imbued with the bigotry and superstition aries, which we do not have in Massachusetts, but of the past, who believed if the right were given because her men are so noble and progressive her, that St. Paul would have greatly erred.ns3 These that they have offered their wives and mothers remarks were followed by others similar in tone, and sisters equal rights with themselves."? Stone's including those by Missourian Virginia Minor who address was followed by speeches by Henry urged the men of Nebraska "to stand before the Blackwell; Nebraskan Orpha Dinsmoor; and the world and prove that they had been educated up _ outgoing Governor of Wyoming Territory, John W. to the point where they were willing to give women Hoyt, who spoke on the success of women's use of an equal political status with themselves and not the franchise there. Later speeches were given by assign to her a position inferior to that enjoyed by luminaries of the AWSA, including Amelia Bloomer, the Chinese coolie.t" Certainly, racist and nativ­ who spoke both at length about the history of suf­ ist arguments are well known among historians frage initiatives in Nebraska, and paid tribute to the of woman suffrage who have examined their use work of Correll, Brooks, Bittenbender, and Colby. in urging supporters to vote for suffrage based on Great attention, however, was paid to the speech expediency," It is interesting, however, to note the given by guest lecturer Susan B.Anthony, who example and how these claims were constructed remarked, "This is the third campaign in which by national suffrage activists in Nebraska. my friend Lucy Stone and myself have shared. As Election Day drew near, Harriet R.Shattuck, In three different states-Michigan, Kansas, and who had been canvassing the state on behalf of Colorado-has the question of woman suffrage the amendment for the NWSA, worried that "while been placed before the voters. Though it failed in the advocates are earnestly at work, the opponents each state, yet the time is fast approaching when are not idle," Shattuck explained, "The German

98 . NEBRASKA history On Nov. 8, 1882,the lin­ coln Daily State Journal "There are those who announced state elec­ - tion results, including the conscientiously fear that women ,NEBRASK~. ELECTION. resounding defeat of the woman suffrage amend­ ment. will be changed beings, and that The Republican State Ticket homes will be no longer homes Elected by a Handsome when their wives and daughters are Majority. free." -Harriet Shattuck Laird and Weaver EJected to Congress by 6,000 Bach. Catholic priest at St. Helena commanded his con­ Valentine in the Third District gregation not to go to the hall to hear the lecture" in Doubt. in support of the amendment. Liquor dealers and patrons opposed the amendment, wrote Shattuck, Very Meager Returns from that because "they know too well that their worthless candidates and their bad measures will be less sure District. of success when women vote." And, she explained Female Suffrage Buried Under further, "There are the men who have made up their minds that women belong at home, and who an Avalanche. cannot realize that the women themselves have a right to choose their 'sphere,' whether it be the Probably 25,000 Majority home or the profession or the trades. Where they Against it. obtained the right to prescribe our sphere they cannot tell, though they claim they have obtained Scratching on Legislative Tick­ it somehow." Finally, she observed, "There are ets was the Rule. those who conscientiously fear that women will be changed beings, and that homes will be no longer Csunting Slow and Many Lead­ homes when their wives and daughters are free."66 ing Counties not Heard Colby also noted the determination of liquor from. interests to defeat the amendment, and described how "The organ of the Brewers' Association sent out its orders to every saloon, bills posted in con­ last moment, the liquor (German) interests are spicuous places by friends of the amendment flooding the state with circular letters and tracts mysteriously disappeared, or were covered by oth­ against it. ... I doubt our getting a majority of all ers of an opposite character, and the greatest pains the votes cast, although we may."68 was [sic] taken to excite the antagonism of foreign­ When the morning of November 7, 1882­ ers by representing to them that woman suffrage election day-arrived, Colby described it as ripe meant prohibition.?" It wasbeginning to seem that with promise: a campaign that had begun in all earnestness had The morning dawned bright and clear.... failed to account for the depth of feeling-and Everything wore a holiday appearance. Polling funding-of the opposition. places were gaily decorated; banners floated Was success slipping from their grasp? Writing to the breeze, bearing suggestive mottoes: to The Woman's Journal on November 5, Erasmus "AreWomen Citizens?" "Taxation Without Correll noted: "Just on the eve of the battle I feel Representation is Tyranny!" "Governments De­ intensely anxious. Day after to-morrow, all over the rive their Just Powers from the Consent of the Governed," "Equality before the Law," etc., etc. state, will be, I think, the most important contest for Under pavilions, or in adjoining rooms, or in the progress of humanity ever bloodlessly fought. the very shadow of the ballot-box, women pre­ One great element of solicitude is the uncertainty. sided at well-filled tables, serving refreshments In ordinary political campaigns, we can form to the voters, and handing to those who would tolerably close approximations in foretelling the take them, tickets bearing the words: "For results .... In this we are entirely at sea. Just in the Constitutional Amendment Relating to Right

SUMMER 2009 • 99 Susan B.Anthony (seated) among many candidates. As Colby explained, it and Clara Bewick Colby of had been hoped that the Republicans, at least, Beatrice (right) continued working together long after would endorse suffrage as a plank in their party the Nebraska SUffrage ini­ platform during their fall convention; however, tiative failed. In 1890 they they did not, and "while individually friendly, they and sculptor Bessie Potter sat for a portrait at Mathew almost to a man avoided the subject,'?" As a result, Brady's studio in Washing­ suffragists were left virtually alone on the political ton, D.C. landscape, leaving them vulnerable to a well­ Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Archives organized and well-funded opposition that fostered rampant election fraud, including illegally printed ballots, misread and misfiled ballots, ballot stuff­ ing, and illegal interference. Shattuck observed, "The liquor interest has been universally repre­ sented at the polls by workers against suffrage, and much money has been used by them and by oth­ ers in the effort to carry the election against US."74 Addison Sheldon, historian of Nebraska, concurs: "The liquor element felt that giving women the ballot would make it more difficult for it to control elections.?" Colby lamented, "It will always remain an open question whether the amendment did not, after all, receive an actual majority of all votes cast upon that question.?" While all who had worked so hard for the amendment were sorely disappointed, some were also in debt. Correll had taken out a large mortgage of Suffrage," while the national colors floated to fund his work," and the NWSA reported it "had alike over governing and governed; alike over invested over $5,000 in the Nebraska campaign and women working and pleading for their rights was now $500 in debt.'?"Anthony, who had earlier as citizens, and men who were selling woman's expressed skepticism to Correll about striking birth-right for a glass of beer or a vote. It out in Nebraska, was angered by this most recent looked like a holiday picnic-the well-dressed failure and announced at a post-election meeting people, the flowers, the badges, and the flags.69 on November 8 in Omaha that "she had enough of However, she wrote, "The tragic events of that soliciting votes for the cause," and that she would day would filla volume," for "the conservative focus her efforts solely on attaining a sixteenth joined hands with the vicious, the egotist with the amendment to the federal constitution," Anthony ignorant, the demagogue with the venial, and when further believed that "while a vast amount of work the sun set, Nebraska's opportunity to do the act of had been done in Nebraska by her co-laborers, the simple justice was gone,'?" work was so vast that the hem of the garment of The amendment was defeated 50,693to 25,756.71 the vast state had yet scarcely been touched. Itwas - Yet even after its conclusion, emotions continued totally impossible to canvass every town and neigh" to run high. Following the election, students at the borhood, and they never would again attempt it." In University of Nebraska enacted a mock funeral closing, Anthony "pled with the voters of Nebraska complete with an effigy of Susan B.Anthony car­ never to submit the question of woman suffrage to ried by pallbearers in a coffin, led by a torchlight the popular vote again,"? funeral procession. The students were ultimately The early suffrage initiatives mounted in Nebras­ thwarted by "another crowd of students who, to ka reveal the state's important role in establishing preserve the honor of the university, overpowered some of the first serious state legislative efforts for them and took the effigy away."72 woman suffrage, and the 1881-82 campaign reveals Nebraska's vitally important role in positioning the h y the resounding defeat? On later work of national suffrage activists. Notably, it Wthe one hand, both the Republican and the marked the point where Susan B.Anthony rejected Democratic parties refused to take a stand on suf­ work at the state level to focus instead on work­ frage, and a similar lack of endorsement was found ing for a federal constitutional amendment, thus

100 • NEBRASKA history marking a dramatic turning point in Anthony's States Congress passed the Nineteenth Amend­ philosophical approach to woman suffrage­ ment, Nebraska suffragists saw their long-sought popular voters, in her opinion, were no longer to be cause justified when on August 2, 1919, Nebraska Kristin Mapel trusted with such an important decision. And while became the fourteenth state to ratify the "Anthony Bloomberg is she would again be seduced by state campaigns Amendment'< After the amendment's final ratifica­ in South Dakota and elsewhere, she would devote tion by Tennessee on August 18, 1920, all women of . Professorof Women's most of her energy to passing an amendment to the United States shared the privilege of voting in Studies, Director the United States Constitution. But as a key mo­ presidential elections. ~ ment in the genealogy of national suffrage history, of the Hamline Nebraska's suffrage story should be less about its UniversityWomen's failure to achieve voting rights for women and NOTES more about the opportunities and conflicts it ex­ Studies Program, and posed as suffragists strategized the best way to I The author would like to thank Kathi Kern, David Bristow. Hamline University enfranchise women. It exposed the power of the Jim Potter, and the anonymous reviewer for Nebraska History for liquor industry's ability to mount a well-organized their helpful comments as this article was revised. Endowed Chair in the campaign that uncovered a clash of values that 2 Clara Bewick Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX: History ot Humanities in Sf. Paul, pitted progressives and labor against each other. WDman Suffrage. Vol. III, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, eds. (Rochester, New York: Minnesota. She is However, it also exposed the importance of Susan B.Anthony, 1886),672. organizing from the grassroots upward, and dem­ 3 Bloomer edited the Lily in Seneca Falls from 1849to 1854; currently completing onstrated the gains that were to be had by engaging Mary B. Birdsall from 1855to 1856.Bloomer participated in the a sophisticated strategy of local organization sup­ dress reform movement, which advocated healthful styles of a biography of women's clothing. The costume she adopted-long pantaloons ported by newspapers, lectures, and conventions gathered at the ankles worn under a skirt that had a hemline Nebraska suffragist that allowed a diverse group of citizens to follow below the knee-became known as the "Bloomer costume" as a and engage the debate. result of her passionate advocacy. Clara Bewick Colby. As a result of Nebraska's failure to pass a state , "First Female Suffragist Movement in Nebraska: Transac­ tions and Reports ofthe Nebraska State HistoricalSociety. Vol. I, constitutional amendment supporting woman Series I (Fremont, Neb: Hammond Brothers, 1885),59. Bloomer suffrage, Correll's Western Woman's Journal folded spoke to the legislature on Jan. 8, 1856.The Territory of Wyoming in the fall of 1882. Harriet Brooks, perhaps out of in 1869was the first in the United States to grant women full suffrage. In Great Britain, the Isle of Man granted land-owning frustration, retired from suffrage work, and turned women this privilege in 188L to "the congenial study of sociology?" She died in 5 The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed in 1866and rati­ 1888after a long illness," Erasmus Correll also fied in 1868.Itgranted the rights of citizenship to "all persons left suffrage work and in 1890became editor of born or naturalized in the United States; most importantly to the Ogden Daily Commercial in Utah. He returned former slaves. Colby claimed Nebraska's ratification made it effectively "the first state to recognize in its constitution the sov­ to Nebraska in 1892and continued his work as an ereignty of all male persons; including Blacks. See "Nebraska, influential newspaperman and politician, and Chapter XLIX; History ofWoman Suffrage, 674.Also James C. died in 1895at age 49.83 Clara Bewick Colby con­ Olson and Ronald C. Naugle, History ofNebraska, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 141-142; and "Amendments tinued her suffrage activism in Nebraska and to the Constitution of the United States; Government Printing Of­ nationally through her work on the woman's rights fice. www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/pdflconOOl.pdf. newspaper the Woman's Tribune, which she pub­ 6 See, for example, Ellen Carol DuBois's analysis of the Kansas lished from 1883to 1909. Bu_t in 1916, Colby died campaign of 1867in Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence ofan Independent Women's Movement in America 1848-1869 (Ithaca: without the suffrage for which she had fought so Cornell University Press, 1999). long.84 Ada M. Bittenbender turned her attention 7 See Addison E. Sheldon, ed., Nebraska Blue BODk, 1918 (lin­ to her work in the law; she later became a promi­ coln, Neb.: Nebraska Legislative Reference Bureau, 1918),431; nent attorney for the WCTU, and argued cases for and Susan B.Anthony to Olympia Brown, Nov. 7, 1867, especially note 3, The Selected Papers ofElizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan that organization before the Supreme Court of the B. Anthony Vol. II,Ann D. Gordon, ed. (New Brunswick: Rutgers United States. She died in 1925, the only member of University Press, 2000), 100-L the group of early Nebraska activists to see woman S Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX; History ofWoman Suffrage. suffrage achieved." 675. The agitation that led to the suffrage campaign 9 Unfortunately, this was repealed by the legislature of 1875and of 1881-82 never again regained its focused momen­ replaced with granting this right only on "every male citizen and .unmarried woman" instead of "every inhabitant." It was not until tum and national support, and although various 1881 that the right of school suffrage was again extended to both bills in support of woman suffrage were introduced men and women who have children of school age or have paid into the Nebraska legislature nearly every session, taxes on property. See Ann L. Wiegman Wilhite. "Sixty-FiveYears Till Victory: A History of Woman Suffrage in Nebraska; Nebraska none were successful. However, when the United History 49, (1968): 151; Colby, History ofWoman Suffrage, 675.

SUMMER 2009 • 101 10 Qtd in. Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX," History of Woman 26 See, for example, the Hebron Journal for Feb. 20 and 27, 1879, Suffrage, 676. as well as Mar. 6, 13, and 20, 1879.

\I Sheldon, Nebraska Blue Book, 432. 27 Hebron Journal, Apr. 3, 1879,p. 1.

12 Addison E. Sheldon, ed., Official Report ofthe Debates and 2BFor analyses of the rhetorical strategies deployed by Correll Proceedings in the Nebraska Constitutional Convention Assem- ". and other Nebraska suffragists, see Carmen Elizabeth Heider, bled in Lincoln, June Thirteenth, 1871, VoLVI,Series II (Nebraska "Equality and Individualism: Woman Suffrage Rhetoric in Thayer State Historical Society, 1905), 121. County, Nebraska, 1879-1882," Ph.D. diss., Pennsylvania State University, 2000; Gaylynn Jeanne Welch, "Natural Rights Versus 13 Governor David Butler, the first governor of Nebraska, was Motherhood: A History of the Woman Suffrage Movement in removed from office in June, 1871;his record was later expunged Nebraska, 1871-1917," M.A.Thesis, University of Nebraska at Kear­ and he was elected to the state senate in 1882. See Olson and ney, 1998; and Eleanor Claire Jerry, "Clara Bewick Colby and the Naugle, History ofNebraska, 154. Woman's Tribune: Strategies of a Free Lance Movement Leader," 14 Erasmus Correll explained, "Bya law passed in 1871and Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 1986. amended in 1875,a married woman's property, personal, real 29 Hebron Journal, Apr. 10, 1879, p. 4. and mixed, owned by her at the time of the marriage, or acquired after marriage by purchase or otherwise, or the property that 30 Ibid., Apr. 17,1879,p. 4. comes to her by descent, devise or the gift of any person except 31 Western Woman's Journal, May 1881,p. 25. her husband remains her sole property and may be disposed of by her to the same extent, and with like effect as a married 32 "Women's Column," "Constitution of the Thayer County, Neb. man may with his. She can also sue and be sued the same as if Woman Suffrage Association, Organized on April 15, 1879."He­ unmarried, and may carry on trade or business and perform any bron Journal, June 12, 1879,pp. 1,4. labor or service on her own account, and the proceeds of her 33 Hebron Journal, May 22, 1879,p. 1. labor, businesses or services, are hersole and separate property, and may be used and invested by her in her own name. She can 3.JIbid., May 15, 1879,p. 1.

also devise or bequeath her property as fully as a married man 35 Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX." History of Woman Suffrage, can dispose of his by will.""Nebraska Legislation for Women," 686. unpublished MSS,n.d., 9-10 (Correll's page numbers). Erasmus M. Correll papers, Nebraska State Historical Society (hereafter 36 The group noted, "It was decided that those being present NSHS), MS572, SIF5. being only a partial representation of the sentiment in our city that the officers elected should be considered as temporary, and 15 Lucy L. Correll, "Suffrage in Nebraska," Collection ofNebras­ actions of the first meeting rescinded at the second or thereafter, ka Pioneer Reminiscences, Nebraska Society of the Daughters should it be considered desirable." Report of the First State Suf­ of the American Revolution (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Torch Press, frage Association held in Omaha Nebraska, May 30th, 1880. Cook 1916),277. County Woman's Franchise Association Records Book. Papers

16 For biographical information on Harriet Sophia Brewer of Harriet S. B. Brooks, RG4054 AM, NSHS(hereafter Brooks Brooks, see the biographical note for her papers RG4054.AM, Papers).

NSHS. 37 Sheldon, Nebraska Blue Book, 432.

17 "Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender," A Woman ofthe Century: Four­ 38 House Journal ofthe Legislature ofthe State ofNebraska, Six­ teen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by teenth RegularSession, Begun andHeld at Lincoln, January 4th, Portraits ofLeading American Women in All Walks ofLife, Frances 1881 (Omaha: Henry Gibson, State Printer, 1881), 636. E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore., eds., VoLI (1893) (Facsimile Edition New York: Gordon Press, 1975),87-88. 39 Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX," History tif Woman Suffrage, 682. The letter was dated December 4, 1880, and signed "L. R.," 18 For biographical information on Erasmus Michael Correll, likely Mrs. Lucinda Russell, later active in the Nebraska WSA. see the manuscript record overview of the Erasmus M. Correll Pa­ pers MS572,NSHS;also his biographical sketch in A.T.Andreas's '0 For a complete list of officers, see Vermillion, "Woman Suf­ History ofthe State ofNebraska (Chicago: Western Historical Co., frage in Thayer County." Western Woman'sJournal, May 1881,p. 1882). 25. " Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX." History of Woman Suffrage, 19Beatrice Express, Dec. 11,p. I, Dec. 21, p.l, 1876. 684. 20 Ibid., Dec. 5 1872, p. 3, Apr. 16, 1874,p. 3. See also records of the Ladies' Library Association, Beatrice Public Library, Beatrice, <2 "Woman's Department," [Feb. 5, 1881]. newspaper clipping .JIIebraska. The Woman's Journal ran from 1870 to 1920 and was from scrapbook, p. 13, Brooks Papers. published by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry B. Blackwell. <3 Ibid. Emphasis in originaL 21 In his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American " Sheldon, Nebraska Blue Book, 433. History" (1893), Frederick Jackson Turner identified the Ameri­ " Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX," History of Woman Suffrage, can frontier as the place where freedom would bring out the best 686. in the American character. As a result, old social customs and institutions would be broken down and new, more progressive <6 For a comprehensive list see Thomas Chalmer Coulter, A and egalitarian roles would be created. History of Woman Suffrage in Nebraska, Ph.D. diss. (Ohio State University, 1967),23-24. 22 Correll, "Suffrage in Nebraska," 277. <7 Western Woman'sJournal, Sept. 1882, p. 274. 23 Ibid. '8 In spite of its early gains, Utah women were disfranchised 24 A. Martha Vermillion, "Woman Suffrage in Thayer County," by anti-Mormon provisions of the Edmunds-lucker Act enacted Western Woman's Journal May 1881,p. 25. TheJournal reported by Congress in 1887;however, women recouped their loss when on Anthony's talk four years later in order to document the his­ Utah was admitted as a state in 1896. As a result of pressure from tory of suffrage work in Nebraska while simultaneously providing the liquor lobby, Washington Territory, which gave women suf­ propaganda in support of the 1880suffrage campaign. frage in 1883, disfranchised them in 1889.Wyoming was the first 25 Nov. 2, 1877.Clara Bewick Colby papers, MSSM92-172. Wis­ state to enact female suffrage when it entered the United States consin Historical Society (hereafter WHS), Madison, Wisconsin. in 1890.

102 • NEBRASKA history 49 See Minutes, First Nebraska Woman Suffrage Convention, srColby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX: History of Woman Suffrage, Erasmus M. Correll papers, MS572, SlF3, NSHS;as well as cover­ 691. age of the convention in the Omaha Republican, qtd. In Colby, 68 "The Nebraska Campaign: The Woman'sJournal, Nov. l l, History of Woman Suffrage, 688. 1882, p. 360. 50 Minutes, First Nebraska Woman Suffrage Convention, Eras­ ssColby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX: History of Woman Suffrage, mus M. Correll papers, MS572, SlF3, NSHS. 691. 51 Republican, qtd. in Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX," His­ 70 Ibid. tory of Woman Suffrage, 688; minutes, First Nebraska Woman Suffrage Convention, Erasmus M. Correll papers, MS572, SlF3, 71 Ibid., 692; Official Report ofthe Nebraska State Canvassing NSHS. Board, Election Held November 7, ]882 (Lincoln, Nebraska, n.d.), 2. 52 "Nebraska Woman Suffrage Convention: Western Woman's Journal, Oct. and Nov. 1881,p. 123. 72 Ida Husted Harper, The Life and Work ofSusan B. Anthony, Vol. 1I (Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Co, 1898),545, footnote 53 Ibid. 2. 5-1 The political fallout resulting from the Kansas campaign 73 Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX: History of Woman Suffrage, of 1867and disagreements over the role of woman suffrage in 690. the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments had divided eastern woman's rights activists into two rival organizations. In 1869 74 "The Women's Defeat in Nebraska," Nov. 10, 1882. Harriet Anthony and Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage As­ Robinson Shattuck Scrapbook for Sept. - Nov. 1882, Robinson/ sociation in New York, while in Boston, Lucy Stone and Henry Shattuck papers, 70-71. • I Blackwell founded the American Woman Suffrage Association. 75 Addison E. Sheldon, Nebraska: The Land and the People, Vol. See Catherine Clinton and Christine Lunardini, The Columbia I (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931),594. Guide to American Women in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), 123-25;Nancy Woloch, Women 76 Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX: History of Woman Suffrage, and the American Experience (New York:Alfred A Knopf, 1984) 692.

327-37. 77 See Mrs. D.Y. King to Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Nov. 17,

55 Western Woman's Journal, Oct. and Nov. 1881,p. 124.See 1882, Papers of Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, 5:70, The Huntington also the letter from Lucy Stone to Erasmus Correll and Correll's Library, San Marino, California.

response regarding his appointment as president of the AWSA 7B Coulter, 107;see also the NWSA's Report ofthe Sixteenth published in the Western Woman's Journal, Oct. and Nov. 1881, Annual Washington Convention which listed receipts and dis­ p.l00. bursements for the 1882 Nebraska campaign, pp. 146, 150.

56 Anthony's letter was published in the Western Woman's Jour­ 79 "Lost Her Temper: Omaha Republican, Nov. 9, 1882.Papers of nal, Dec. 1881, p. 141.Emphasis in original. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Patricia G. Holland

57 Speakers in support of the amendment represented the and Ann D. Gordon, eds. (Wilmington DE:Scholarly Resources, AWSA, the NWSA,and the Nebraska WSA,and included Henry Inc., 1991),series 3, reel 22, frame 715 (hereafterStanton/An­ B. Blackwell, Helen M. Gougar, Susan B.Anthony, Margaret W. thony papers).

Campbell, Phoebe Couzins, Hannah Tracy Cutler, Rachel G. 80 "Sorry Sisters: Nov. 9, 1882, Omaha Daily Herald. Stanton/ Foster, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Matilda Hindman, MayWright Anthony papers, series 3, reel 22, frame 716. Sewall, and Harriette R. Shattuck, as well as a cadre of Nebraska woman suffrage supporters. See the fall 1882 issues of the West­ 81 Colby, "Nebraska, Chapter XLIX: History of Woman Suffrage, ern Woman's Journal for details about their schedules. 692. 52 "Mrs. D. C. Brooks, An Educated and Refined Lady Departs 58 Western Woman's Journal, Sept. 1882, p. 279. This Life After a Long Illness: June 23, 1888, obituary from the 59 "The American Woman Suffrage Association: Western Wom­ Omaha Herald, Brooks Papers. an's Journal, Sept. 1882, p. 284. 53 For information on Correll's death, see the scope and content 60 Western Woman'sJournal, Sept. 1882, pp. 282-83. notes for RG4430.AM: Erasmus Michael Correll Papers, NSHS;

6\ Ibid., pp. 285-86. as well as his obituary published in the Omaha World-Herald on Sept. 6, 1895. 62 Coulter, 89. ...See Olympia Brown's Democratic Ideals: A Memorial Sketch 63 Omaha Herald, Sept. 29, 1882,'p. 8; qtd. in Coulter, 93. ofClara B. Colby (n.p.: Federal Suffrage Association, 1917). 6-l Omaha Republican, Sept. 29, 1882, p. 8; qtd. in Coulter, 93. asSee the entry for Ada M. Bittenbender in Willard and 65 See, for example, Aileen S. Kaditor's The Ideas ofthe Woman Livermore's A Woman ofthe Century. See also biographical infor­ Suffrage Movement: 1890-]920 (New York:W.W.Norton, 1981); mation on Ada M.C.Bittenbender at NSHS. Rebecca 1.Mead's How The Vote Was Won: Woman Suffrage in 86 See Sheldon, Nebraska: The Land and the People, 431-35;and the Western United States, ]868-]9]4 (New York: New York Uni­ Wilhite, 149-64. versity Press, 2004); Suzanne M. Marilley's Woman Suffrage and Origins ofLiberal Feminism in the United States, 1820-]920 (Cam­ bridge: Harvard University Press, 1996); and Louise Michele Newman's White Women's Rights: The Racial Origins ofFeminism in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

66 "The Nebraska Suffrage Campaign: p. 69 of Harriet Robinson Shattuck Scrapbook, Sept. - Nov. 1882 Re: Nebraska Woman Suf­ frage Campaign. Papers of Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson and Harriette Lucy Robinson Shattuck. Women's Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger library, Radcliffe College, Series I, Part D, Reel 65, Series IX,Vol. 106 (hereafter Robinson/Shat­ tuck papers).

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