When Women Lost the Vote: Virtual Presentation

Short description

According to the Museum of the American Revolution, women voted in Revolutionary America, over a hundred years before the 19th Amendment granted that right to women. Register for a Zoom event link.

Description

Women voted in Revolutionary America, over a hundred years before the United States Constitution guaranteed that right to women nationally.

The 1776 New Jersey State Constitution referred to voters as "they," and statutes passed in 1790 and 1797 defined voters as “he or she." This opened the electorate to free property owners, Black and white, male and female, in New Jersey. This lasted until 1807, when a new state law said only white men could vote.

What can this story of changing laws about who could vote from the earliest days of American democracy teach us about what it means to vote and what it takes to preserve and expand that right?

A newly discovered set of sources - lists of men and women, Black and white - who voted in New Jersey between 1798 and 1807 set off our quest to find the answers.

Follow the links for further information:

When Women Lost the Vote Virtual tour of the exhibit

Did You Know: Women and African Americans Could Vote in NJ before the 15th and 19th Amendments?

This program will be presented on Zoom.

You will receive an e-mail with the participation weblink three days before the program. Please contact the Library if you are unable to attend.

If you do not have an e-mail address, please contact the Green Branch Library at 330.896.9074 to learn how to participate by phone.

A webcam and microphone may be necessary to participate fully in this interactive event. If you have one or neither of these, your participation may be limited.