February 4 – February 6, 1887
The Day Seattle Suffrage Died
Paper reports territorial Supreme Court voided women’s suffrage and jury service in 1887.
4 reports in Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer, February 4 – February 6, 1887.
The story
In early February 1887, the Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer reported that the territorial Supreme Court struck down the 1883 law that had granted Washington women the right to vote. The paper attributed the ruling to a technical legal oversight or wording problem in a territorial act; one report said the decision also stripped women of the right to serve on juries. The reports described the ruling as blindsiding the territory and said local lawyers, politicians, and citizens were scrambling to interpret its effects, but they gave few specifics of the court’s reasoning.
Told from the 4 reports below. The reports are the record.
The archive grouped these reports automatically, by date, place and subject.
The reports 4
- Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerThe Day Seattle Suffrage Died
A technical legal oversight by the Territorial Legislature has stripped women of their right to vote and serve on juries.
- Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerThe Day Seattle Women Lost the Vote
In a bombshell ruling that blindsided the territory, the Supreme Court struck down the 1883 law that first granted Washington women the right to cast a ballot.
- Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerThe Day Seattle’s Women Lost the Vote
When the Territorial Supreme Court struck down women’s suffrage in 1887, the city’s lawyers, politicians, and citizens scrambled to interpret the fallout of a ruling that suddenly stripped thousands of their hard-won rights.
- Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerThe Day Women Lost the Vote in Washington
A legal technicality regarding the wording of a territorial act effectively stripped Washington women of their hard-won voting rights in 1887.
From the pages
Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer · Feb 4, 1887
Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer · Feb 4, 1887
Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer · Feb 4, 1887
Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer · Feb 6, 1887
Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Public domain.