NH Women & The Suffrage Movement
100 Years Of The Right To Vote
by Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr.
Weirs Times Contributing Writer
If the laws on the books before women’s suffrage concerning the right to vote were followed today in New Hampshire’s elections a great many people who are now allowed to vote would no longer be afforded that privilege.
First, one had to be a male inhabitant of the town in which he voted. Note that the requirement was that he had to be male, thus excluding all females. The 1843 town resident was required to have lived in the state for six months and in the town he was dwelling in for three months before he could vote. He couldn’t vote if he had been excused, at his request, of paying taxes, or if he was a pauper, a pauper being someone who had received town assistance within 90 days of the election at which he desired to vote.
No alien was entitled to vote, nor was any person attending any college, academy, or other literary institution when their permanent residence was in another town in which they would be eligible to vote. Added later to the list of those who were denied the vote were the insane, idiots, and felons.
We may well wonder why it took so long for women to obtain the legal right to vote, especially when it still took many years after some women began to demand the right to do so. The simple answer may be because “times were different back then,” and we should remember that cultural norms were not the same even 25 years ago as they are today.
There were many failed attempts to secure women’s suffrage in New Hampshire before an amendment to the United States Constitution which required that was ratified on August 18, 1920. Congress approved the amendment in June of the year 1919 and New Hampshire voted to ratify on September 10, 1919. The vote of thirty six states was needed to make the 19th Amendment part of the U.S. Constitution and that occurred on the August 18 date of 1920.
There were some states that had already approved women to vote in state elections, but apparently New Hampshire men were not in a hurry to allow their wives to vote, and, what may be a surprise to today’s women is that many of their own sex were not in favor of women’s suffrage. Suffrage, by the way, regardless what it may have meant when first used, today, simply means “ the right to vote.”
In 1868 Armenia and Nathaniel White founded the New Hampshire Woman Suffrage Association. She was from Massachusetts and he was from Lancaster, New Hampshire and was a stage driver when they married, but he soon went on to invest in bigger and more lucrative enterprises which resulted in the accumulation of considerable wealth. The White’s were also involved with the temperance and abolitionist movements and became known as generous philanthropists and supporters of various social reforms. Their Concord home was opened to host Woman’s Suffrage meetings, and after Nathaniel’s death Armenia continued to donate money for the cause. Armenia lived until the age of 98, but died in 1916 without seeing women’s suffrage being adopted in New Hampshire.
Sallie Hovey, the daughter of a popular Portsmouth minister was another of New Hampshire’s women who promoted women’s suffrage. Miss Hovey was known for her help to the poor in Portsmouth as well as her work to improve the lives of women, including allowing them to vote. Being younger than the White’s, she did live to see the 19th amendment ratified. In her effort to see suffrage laws passed she traveled to other cities, including Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. In June of 1920 she picketed the Republican National Convention because of feeling that the Republican Party was not working fast enough to get the 19th Amendment passed. After that was passed she and others representing the National Women’s Party went to visit President Coolidge to ask for a Constitutional Amendment stating than men and women were equal.
Another New Hampshire woman who appears to have had much influence concerning women’s suffrage was Marilla Marks Young Ricker who was born in New Durham in 1840 and died in 1920, not long after voting for the first time. Ricker has been described as being a suffragist, philanthropist, lawyer, free thinker, atheist, abolitionist, author, humanitarian, teacher and Whig. Teacher should probably be at the head of the list because she began teaching at a young age after attending Colby College in New London. She was married to John Ricker in 1863, a wealthy farmer who was 33 years her senior. She was widowed five years later. Marilla Ricker is credited with being the first woman lawyer in New Hampshire and the first woman to try to vote in the state, an unsuccessful attempt in 1870. She continued to try to vote each year afterwards. Though not eligible to serve, because she was not a registered voter, Ricker ran for Governor of New Hampshire in 1910.
It seems as if many of the leaders in the suffrage movement in New Hampshire were also involved in other causes as was the case with Mrs. Ricker. She was particularly known for being an advocate for prisoners, and like many others who were involved with women’s rights were also abolitionists, campaigning for the end of slavery in the United States. Though other women suffragists were involved with churches, Ricker was an atheist who spoke out against religion, and did not approve of the manner in which suffrage meetings were run, as is obvious from this quote from her: “..at every meeting in behalf of suffrage some minister opens the meeting with prayer; in the middle of discussion there is another prayer; then at the close of deliberations you hear a third prayer. No wonder men laugh and call the meetings of women suffragists prayer meetings.” I don’t know how many men were laughing (I doubt that many were), but I find it puzzling that a woman who worked and gave of her wealth to give women the freedom to vote also promoted the idea of setting women free from religion.
The ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was indeed a big deal and a huge game-changer. Imagine what things would be like in 2020 if we approached the upcoming elections with only men being eligible to vote.
The women who spent time, energy, and money over the period of many years to gain the right to vote were not all of the same opinion when it came to other issues. Most seemed intent on furthering action on issues concerning children, healthcare, and moral standards, but they needed the support and votes of men to add their vote. And so it came to be.
Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr., welcomes your comments at danahillsmiths@yahoo.com