Suffrage in the United States has had many advances and setbacks. There is one thing we know for certain, there are those who want to disenfranchise voters. American history is filled with many things that have been forgotten.
Did you know that voting rights were available to most unmarried white women, as well as free Black men and women, in the newly formed state of New Jersey in the late 18th century? The first New Jersey state constitution (of 1776) allowed any person who owned property of a certain value the right to vote. In 1790, the state constitution was changed to specify that voters were “he or she.â€
During the 1800 election, the local press in New Jersey noticed that Alexander Hamilton and Sen. Matthias Ogden included women during their campaigning in parts of New Jersey. Many other politicians also targeted women during their campaigns.
Unfortunately, women were often blamed when a candidate lost his election. Candidates used the trope of the day that women were basically incompetent and easy to manipulate. Some losers believed denying women the right to vote would help them politically.
One loser maintained that he lost because a married woman and an enslaved woman illegally cast ballots.
When polling lists were studied, it is estimated that, between 1797 and 1807, women made up 7.7% of the total recorded votes, and in some areas, it was as high as 14%. An early newspaper wrote that women may have made up 25% of the vote in 1802.
As the number of women who voted began to increase after 1797, more complaints and challenges were filed about women’s right to vote. As a result of the election of 1807 being extremely close, women were seen as a political liability, rather than a political asset.
The first endeavor to remove the right for women’s and Black Americans’ right to vote took place in 1802, in “An Act Relating to Female Suffrage.†After the act was debated, it was withdrawn. The issue was brought up again in 1807 under the auspices of election reform and anti-corruption, and the corrupt legislature passed the bill. This law was one of the first political acts of voter suppression. Sadly, it was not challenged, and it remained in effect until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.
The women’s suffrage movement was launched at the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. The resolution adopted at Seneca Falls “that woman is man’s equal — was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such,†is as pertinent today as it was in 1848. After 72 years of struggle, the 19th Amendment was passed, and women finally won the right to vote.
Today, in these troubled times, our rights as citizens are under attack by unscrupulous politicians who are deviously working to dismantle democracy and disenfranchise voters. The SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act) is similar to “An Act Relating to Female Suffrage†in that it curtails suffrage.
Under the SAVE Act, members of our military who are serving overseas will no longer be able to use their military IDs alone to register to vote. Only half of American citizens have a passport. The Center for American Progress says there are 69 million women in the U.S. who have taken the names of their spouses, which means that their birth certificate does not match their current name, posing an obstacle to being able to register to vote. In some states, there are not enough polling places to meet the needs of large numbers of voters.
Are you aware that DOGE has been given the authority to review and audit voter registration? Now, more than ever, Americans need to hold politicians accountable; yet, the executive order giving DOGE this authority seeks to silence millions of American citizens.
Is this the land of the free and the home of the brave that we sing about? Shall our rights as American citizens be usurped by those who have no respect for the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights? If we don’t stand up for the essential right to vote, then none of us can claim the basic liberties we now enjoy. We will no longer be living in a democracy, but in an authoritarian state.
The struggle for democracy is ongoing and never-ending. American history did not begin with a golden age of democracy. Rather, democracy has grown because individual men and women courageously pursued the idea of democracy notwithstanding the personal costs of doing so.
The House of Representatives recently passed the SAVE Act; it is now awaiting action in the U.S. Senate. Tell Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, both R-W.Va., to oppose the SAVE Act. We cannot go back and change history, but it is never too late to change our future.
Wes Holden is a retired federal employee living in Sissonville.
