After married women gained the right to control
their own property, they steadily pushed for additional political and economic
rights. The women’s suffrage movement
arose in New England and across the nation in
the late 1860s, inspired in part by Reconstruction-era expansion of black civil
rights. Many American states gave women
the limited right to vote in school elections in the late 1800s, decades before
women were granted an unconditional right to vote, and most New England states
followed suit. Because the region placed
a high value on education and striving for success, New
England women pushed early for the right to practice professions
such as medicine and law which had long been denied them; and once the issue
was raised, legislatures were quick to accommodate them. Robinson’s Case – Massachusetts, 1881 (131 Mass. 376); In re Hall – Connecticut, 1882 (50 Conn. 131); In re Ricker – New Hampshire, 1890 (29 A. 559)
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EMPIRE OF LAWS - The Legal History of the 50 American States > 1. NEW ENGLAND LEGAL HISTORY > 1.4. New England (1865-1900): The Republican Era > 1.4.1. New England (1865-1900): Civil Rights After the Civil War >