In the four years intervening since this book was first written, the progress of equal rights for women has been so rapid that the summary on pages 175-235 is now largely obsolete; but it is useful for comparison. In the United States at present (August, 1914), Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, and Alaska have granted full suffrage to women. In the following States the voters will pass upon the question in the autumn of 1914: Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio, the last three by initiative petition. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New York, and Massachusetts a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage has passed one legislature and must pass another before being submitted to the people. The advance has been world-wide. Thus, in 1910 the Gaekwar of Baroda in India allowed the women of his dominions a vote in municipal elections, and Bosnia bestowed the parliamentary suffrage on women who owned a certain amount of real estate; Norway in 1913 and Iceland in 1914 were won to full suffrage. The following table presents a convenient historical summary of the progress in political rights:
On July 2, 1776, two days before the Declaration of Independence was signed, New Jersey, in her first State constitution, enfranchised the women by changing the words of her provincial charter from "Male freeholders worth £50" to "all inhabitants worth £50," and for 31 years the women of that State voted.
GAINS IN EQUAL SUFFRAGE
Eighty years ago women could not vote anywhere, except to a very limited extent in Sweden and in a few other places in the Old World.
| TIME | PLACE | KIND OF SUFFRAGE |
| 1838 | Kentucky | School suffrage to widows with children of school age. |
| 1850 | Ontario | School suffrage, women married and single |
| 1861 | Kansas | School suffrage. |
| 1867 | New South Wales | Municipal suffrage. |
| 1869 | England | Municipal suffrage, single women and widows |
| Victoria | Municipal suffrage, married and single women | |
| Wyoming | Full suffrage. | |
| 1871 | West Australia | Municipal suffrage. |
| 1875 | Michigan | School suffrage. |
| Minnesota | Do. | |
| 1876 | Colorado | Do. |
| 1877 | New Zealand | Do. |
| 1878 | New Hampshire | Do. |
| Oregon | Do. | |
| 1879 | Massachusetts | Do. |
| 1880 | New York | Do. |
| Vermont | Do. | |
| South Australia | Municipal suffrage. | |
| 1881 | Scotland | Municipal suffrage to the single women and widows |
| Isle of Man | Parliamentary suffrage. | |
| 1883 | Nebraska | School suffrage. |
| 1884 | Ontario | Municipal suffrage. |
| Tasmania | Do. | |
| 1886 | New Zealand | Do. |
| New Brunswick | Do. | |
| 1887 | Kansas | Do. |
| Nova Scotia | Do. | |
| Manitoba | Do. | |
| North Dakota | School suffrage. | |
| South Dakota | Do. | |
| 1887 | Montana | School suffrage |
| Arizona | Do. | |
| New Jersey | Do. | |
| Montana | Tax-paying suffrage. | |
| 1888 | England | County suffrage. |
| British Columbia | Municipal Suffrage. | |
| Northwest Territory | Do. | |
| 1889 | Scotland | County suffrage. |
| Province of Quebec | Municipal
suffrage, single women and widows | |
| 1891 | Illinois | School suffrage. |
| 1893 | Connecticut | Do. |
| Colorado | Full suffrage. | |
| New Zealand | Do. | |
| 1894 | Ohio | School suffrage. |
| Iowa | Bond suffrage. | |
| England | Parish and
district suffrage, married and single women. | |
| 1895 | South Australia | Full State suffrage. |
| 1896 | Utah | Full suffrage. |
| Idaho | Do. | |
| 1898 | Ireland | All offices except members of Parliament. |
| Minnesota | Library trustees. | |
| Delaware | School suffrage to tax-paying women. | |
| France | Women
engaged in commerce can vote for judges of the tribunal of commerce. | |
| Louisiana | Tax-paying suffrage. | |
| 1900 | Wisconsin | School suffrage. |
| West Australia | Full State suffrage. | |
| 1901 | New York | Tax-paying suffrage; local taxation in all towns and villages
of the State. |
| Norway | Municipal suffrage. | |
| 1902 | Australia | Full suffrage. |
| New South Wales | Full State suffrage. | |
| 1903 | Kansas | Bond suffrage. |
| Tasmania | Full State suffrage. | |
| 1905 | Queensland | Do. |
| 1906 | Finland | Full suffrage; eligible for all offices. |
| 1907 | Norway | Full parliamentary suffrage to the 300,000 who already had
municipal suffrage. |
| Sweden | Eligible to municipal offices. | |
| Denmark | Can vote
for members of boards of public charities and serve on such boards. | |
| England | Eligible as
mayors, aldermen, and county and town concilors. | |
| Oklahoma | New State
continued school suffrage for women. | |
| 1908 | Michigan | Taxpayers to vote on question of local taxation and granting
of franchises. |
| Denmark | Women who
are taxpayers or wives of taxpayers vote for all offices except of
members of Parliament. | |
| Victoria | Full State suffrage. | |
| 1909 | Belgium | Can vote for members of the conseils des prudhommes, and
also eligible. |
| Province of Voralberg (Austrian Tyrol) | Single
women and widows paying taxes were given a vote. | |
| Ginter Park, VA | Tax-paying
women, a vote on all municipal questions. | |
| 1910 | Washington | Full suffrage. |
| New Mexico | School suffrage. | |
| 1910 | Norway | Municipal suffrage made universal. Three-fifths of the women had it before. |
| Bosnia | Parliamentary
vote to women owning a certain amount of real estate. | |
| Diet of the Crown Prince of Krain (Austria) | Suffrage to the
women of its capital city Laibach. | |
| India (Gaekwar of Baroda) | Women in his
dominions vote in municipal elections. | |
| Wurttemberg | Women engaged in
agriculture vote for Kingdom of members of the chamber of agriculture;
also eligible. | |
| New York | Women in all
towns, villages and third-class cities vote on bonding propositions. | |
| 1911 | California | Full suffrage. |
| Honduras | Municipal suffrage in capital city, Belize. | |
| Iceland | Parliamentary
suffrage for women over 25 years. | |
| 1912 | Oregon | Full suffrage. |
| Arizona | Do. | |
| Kansas | Do. | |
| 1913 | Alaska | Do. |
| Norway | Do. | |
| Illinois | Suffrage for
statutory officials (including presidential electors and municipal
officers). | |
| 1914 | Iceland | Full suffrage. |
In the United States the struggle for the franchise has entered national politics, a sure sign of its widening scope. The demand for equal suffrage was embodied in the platform of the Progressive Party in August, 1912. This marks an advance over Col. Roosevelt's earlier view, expressed in the
Outlook
of February 3, 1912, when he said: "I believe in woman's suffrage wherever the women want it. Where they do not want it, the suffrage should not be forced upon them." When the new administration assumed office in March, 1913, the friends of suffrage worked to secure a constitutional amendment which should make votes for women universal in the United States.