September 6, 1870 - Louisa Ann Swain

Louisa Ann Swain becomes first U.S. woman to vote in nearly a century. Except for a brief period of New Jersey’s history around 1807 – a constitutional loophole quickly closed, rather than a progressive decision – women could not cast a vote in the U.S. until 1870. Change came nearly a year after the governor of Wyoming Territory, John A. Campbell, signed a bill on December 13, 1869 to give women the vote. When Wyoming joined the Union the following year, it meant Wyoming women could vote. Thus, by casting her vote in a state election on September 6, 1870, Swain became the first American woman to do so in almost a century. However, it would take decades before many American women would be granted the vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution in 1920.

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