This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Vermont. Women's suffrage efforts began in the 1850s and intensified in the 1870s. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Vermont was very active in women's suffrage efforts. Different strategies were used and finally, in 1917, women in Vermont were able to vote in municipal elections. Eventually, Vermont women were fully enfranchised by the Nineteenth Amendment.
1800s
edit1850s
edit1852
- Clarina I. H. Nichols petitions the state legislature for women's right to vote, but was unsuccessful.[1]
1854
- Lucy Stone gives a women's rights speech in Randolph.[2]
1858
1860s
edit1869
- During the state constitutional convention, a women's suffrage amendment was proposed by the Vermont Council of Censors, first as a joke, but was later taken seriously by the State Legislature; the amendment still fails.[3]
1870s
edit
1870
- January: The Vermont Woman Suffrage Association (VWSA) is formed by men.[4]
- February: American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) members arrive in Montpelier to campaign, going on to other cities including Burlington, Montpelier, St. Albans, and St. Johnsbury.[5][6]
- June: VWSA presents the women's suffrage issue to the Council of Censors' convention to update the state constitution.[7] It is defeated with only one yes vote by legislator, Harvey Howes.[7]
1872
- Two women's suffrage proposals go to the state legislature: one for taxpaying women to vote in school elections and the other for full equal suffrage.[8] Neither passes.[8]
1879
- The Vermont Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is formed and advocates for women's school suffrage.[9]
1880s
edit1880
- Women in Vermont are able to vote on "all questions pertaining to schools and school officers in cities, towns and graded school districts."[10]
- The Vermont WCTU successfully advocated for women taxpayers receive the right to vote at school district meetings.[1]
1881
- Summer: AWSA plans a series of suffrage meetings for the state.[11]
1883
- September: Hannah Tracy Cutler speaks on temperance and women's suffrage in Cambridge.[12]
- November 8-9: First state suffrage convention is held at St. Johnsbury.[13][14]
1884
- January: VWSA executive committee meets and announces they will petition the state legislature for municipal suffrage.[15]
- May: Twenty nine Vermont towns have organized suffrage groups by May.[16]
- November 22: A municipal suffrage bill is introduced to the state House.[16]
- The Municipal Suffrage bill does not pass.[17]
1886
- November 3: A municipal suffrage bill is introduced to the state House and passes by 135 to 89.[18]
- The suffrage bill does not pass.[17]
- The Vermont WCTU endorses women's suffrage.[19]
1887
- The VWSA proposes a municipal suffrage bill.[20]
- September: Frances Willard visits and speaks in Vermont.[21][22]
1888
- April: The Vermont Republican Party endorses women's suffrage.[23]
- The Vermont WCTU publishes the series, "Resolutions Relating to Women's Rights, Temperance, and Other Reforms.[24]
- November: Another Municipal Suffrage Bill is introduced to the state House, but does not pass.[17][23] Defeated 37 to 192.[25]
- The Prohibition Party forms a Vermont chapter that has backing from the state temperance and suffrage activists.[26]
1890s
edit1890
- The Vermont Methodists and Free Baptists come out in official support for women's suffrage.[27]
- A Municipal Suffrage Bill is introduced to the state House and does not pass.[17]
1892
- Wendell Phillips Stafford introduces a Municipal Suffrage Bill in the state House, but it does pass the state Senate.[28]
- Women are allowed to vote on school issues at town meetings.[29]
1894
- A Municipal Suffrage Bill is reintroduced in the state House by Hosea Mann, but it is defeated.[28]
1896
- The Municipal Suffrage Bill is introduced in the state Senate, where it passes, but it does not make it through the state House this time.[30][27]
- VWSA has its greatest membership in this year at 276 members.[27]
1898
- Over 2,500 Vermont citizens present a petition for women's Municipal Suffrage to the state legislature, and though a bill is introduced, it is unsuccessful.[31]
1900s
edit1900s
edit1900
- Petitions for women's suffrage lead to another bill being unsuccessfully introduced into the state legislature.[31]
- June 12-13: Henry Browne Blackwell speaks at the state suffrage convention held in Waterbury Center, Vermont.[32]
1901
1902
- The Vermont Baptist Association comes out in favor of allowing women to vote on limited issues relating to prohibition.[33]
- The Universalist Church in the state endorsed full equal suffrage for women.[34]
- Both Municipal and Presidential suffrage bills are introduced into the state legislature, but do not pass.[35]
- June 18-19: The state suffrage convention is held in West Concord.[32]
1903
1904
- June 22-23: The state suffrage convention is held in Woodstock.[34]
- November: The state legislature considers a Municipal Suffrage bill, but it does not pass both houses.[36]
1905
- Around 10,000 copies of a pamphlet, "Opinions on Equal Suffrage by Vermont Men and Women," was distributed throughout the state.[34]
- June 7-8: State suffrage convention takes place in Springfield.[34]
1906
- June 6-7: The state suffrage convention is held in Brattleboro.[34]
- October 24: An attempt to change the statues for voting by substituting "person" for "male" passes the state House, but is later narrowly defeated in the state senate.[36]
1907
- June 13-14: The state suffrage convention takes place in Burlington.[34] Anna Howard Shaw is a featured speaker.[37]
1908
- December: Annette W. Parmelee addresses the Vermont state house on the subject of women's suffrage and "taxation without representation."[38]
1910s
edit
1910
- May 28: Parmelee requests a proposed amendment to the State Constitution for women's suffrage.[39]
- A Municipal suffrage bill fails to pass in the state legislature.[40]
1911
- May: Parmelee and the Vermont WCTU stage a suffrage satire called "Man's Suffrage Bill," in Bristol.[41][42]
1912
- A bill to allow women to vote in town meetings about taxes and fund appropriates is introduced and passed in the Senate, but fails in the House.[36]
1914
- May: VESA hosts meetings and picnics in fourteen Vermont towns.[43]
1915
- January 21: A public hearing on bills for women's Municipal and Presidential suffrage is heard.[44]
- February 2: Anti-suffrage speakers attend the senate hearing, the suffrage bill eventually fails.[44]
1917
- February 27: A municipal suffrage bill comes out of the state House committee.[45]
- March 8: The same bill is reintroduced and amended.[45]
- March 21: The bill passes.[45]
- March 30: The bill is signed into law.[45] Vermont women earned partial suffrage at the city and town level, where they could vote for officers, except for "road commissioners."[46]
- November 10: L. J. C. Daniels marches and protests at the White House with other women in the NWP.[47]
1919
- February 20: Governor Percival W. Clement vetoes the presidential women's suffrage bill.[48]
- February 24: Daniels and twenty one other women from the NWP protest President Wilson's Boston visit.[49]
1920s
edit
1920
- April: Around 400 women demand that Governor Clement call a special session to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment; Clement refuses.[19]
- July 1-2: The state suffrage convention is held in St. Albans.[35]
- July 2: The Vermont League of Women Voters is formed.[50]
1921
- February 8: Vermont ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment.[51]
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 Blackwell 2023, p. 3.
- 1 2 Bassett 1946, p. 48.
- ↑ Rodrigues & Rodrigues 2020, p. 23.
- ↑ Rodrigues & Rodrigues 2020, p. 23-24.
- ↑ Rodrigues & Rodrigues 2020, p. 24.
- ↑ Clifford 1975, p. 1.
- 1 2 Guma, Greg (September 10, 2012). "Changing the narrative: A new history of Vermont women, Native and African Americans". VTDigger. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
- 1 2 Clifford 1979, p. 173-174.
- ↑ Rodrigues & Rodrigues 2020, p. 25.
- ↑ Anthony 1902, p. 961-962.
- ↑ Clifford 1979, p. 175.
- ↑ Clifford 1979, p. 173.
- ↑ Anthony 1902, p. 957.
- ↑ "Woman Suffrage Convention". The St. Johnsbury Caledonian. November 16, 1883. p. 2. Retrieved February 6, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Clifford 1979, p. 176.
- 1 2 Clifford 1979, p. 177.
- 1 2 3 4 Anthony 1902, p. 958.
- ↑ Clifford 1979, p. 179.
- 1 2 Rodrigues & Rodrigues 2020, p. 21.
- ↑ Rodrigues & Rodrigues 2020, p. 27.
- ↑ Clifford 1984, p. 157.
- ↑ "Temperance Department". Barre Enterprise. September 27, 1887. p. 1. Retrieved February 18, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Clifford 1979, p. 178.
- ↑ "Women's Suffrage". Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
- ↑ Clifford 1979, p. 181.
- ↑ Clifford 1979, p. 180.
- 1 2 3 Clifford 1979, p. 182.
- 1 2 Anthony 1902, p. 959.
- ↑ Anthony 1902, p. 962.
- ↑ Anthony 1902, p. 959-960.
- 1 2 Anthony 1902, p. 960.
- 1 2 3 Harper 1922, p. 651.
- ↑ Harper 1922, p. 651-652.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Harper 1922, p. 652.
- 1 2 Harper 1922, p. 660.
- 1 2 3 Harper 1922, p. 661.
- ↑ "Mrs. Shaw's Lecture". The Burlington Free Press. June 12, 1907. p. 5. Retrieved February 13, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Blackwell 2023, p. 7-8.
- ↑ Harper 1922, p. 661-662.
- ↑ Harper 1922, p. 662.
- ↑ "Bristol". Bristol Herald. May 11, 1911. p. 8. Retrieved February 13, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Blackwell 2023, p. 10.
- ↑ Blackwell 2023, p. 15-16.
- 1 2 Harper 1922, p. 663.
- 1 2 3 4 Clifford 1979, p. 188.
- ↑ "An Advancing Army". Waukesha Freeman. April 26, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved February 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Blackwell 2023, p. 21-22.
- ↑ "Governor Vetoes Woman Suffrage". Burlington Daily News. February 21, 1919. p. 10. Retrieved February 14, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Blackwell 2023, p. 25.
- ↑ "League of Women Voters of Vermont". League of Women Voters of Vermont. February 11, 2026. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
- ↑ "Vermont and the 19th Amendment". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
Sources
edit- Anthony, Susan B. (1902). Anthony, Susan B.; Harper, Ida Husted (eds.). The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 4. Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press.
- Bassett, T. D. Seymour (April 1946). "The 1870 Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Vermont" (PDF). Vermont Quarterly. 14 (2): 47–61.
- Blackwell, Marilyn S. (January 2023). "One Mission, Two Pathways: Annette Parmelee and Lucy Daniels in the Campaign for Woman Suffrage" (PDF). Vermont History. 91 (1): 1–30 – via Vermont Historical Society.
- Clifford, Deborah (Summer 1984). "The Women's War Against Rum" (PDF). Vermont History. 52 (3).
- Clifford, Deborah P. (Summer 1979). "The Drive for Women's Municipal Suffrage in Vermont 1883-1917" (PDF). Vermont History. 47 (3): 173–190.
- Clifford, Deborah P. (Winter 1975). "The Invasion of Strong-Minded Women: The Newspapers and the Woman Suffrage Campaign in Vermont in 1870" (PDF). Vermont History. 43 (1).
- Harper, Ida Husted (1922). The History of Woman Suffrage. New York: J.J. Little & Ives Company.
- Rodrigues, Dawn; Rodrigues, Raymond (2020). "The Evolution of Woman Suffrage in Vermont: Bennington and Beyond" (PDF). Walloomsack Review. 27: 19–35.