In 1889 Delegate Joseph M. Carey wrote from the House of Representatives at Washington: "Wyoming Territory has for twenty years had full woman suffrage. It has commended itself to the approval of our people of all parties ... I sincerely hope the new States will adopt suffrage principles without regard to sex, or provide by a clause in their respective constitutions that the Legislatures may by statute confer the right of franchise upon women." Throughout his subsequent term in the United States Senate he was consistent in this attitude and has remained so ever since.
Following the example of every Territorial Governor, Amos W. Barber, the first State Governor, declared:
Woman suffrage does not degrade woman. On the contrary, it ennobles her and brings out all the strong attributes of true womanhood. To their credit be it said, the women are almost a unit for ability, honesty and integrity wherever found, in high life or low life. A man must walk straight in Wyoming, for the women hold the balance of power and they are using it wisely and judiciously. The cause of education is their first aim. They are making our schools the model of the country, and, too, they can make a dollar go much further than their husbands can.
In 1900 a petition was circulated in the State, asking Congress to submit a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex. It was signed by the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor of State, the State Superintendent of Instruction, the State engineer, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the United States district attorney, the United States surveyor general, the director and the observer of the United States Weather Bureau, the mayor of Cheyenne and a long list of editors, ministers, lawyers, physicians, bankers and the most prominent women in the State. Mrs. Carey, who had the petition in charge, wrote to Miss Anthony: "Thousands of names could be secured if it were necessary."
Literally speaking the testimony from Wyoming in favor of woman suffrage is limited only by the space for this chapter.[481]
In 1901 this joint resolution was passed:
Whereas, Wyoming was the first State to adopt woman suffrage, which has been in operation since 1869 and was adopted in the constitution of the State in 1890; during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been elected for office, methods of election purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore,
Resolved, By the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That, in view of these results, the enfranchisement of women in every State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order;
Resolved, That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the Governor of the State to the Legislature of every State and Territory, and that the press be requested to call public attention to these resolutions.
Edward W. Stone, President of the Senate.
J. S. Atherley, Speaker of the House.Approved Feb. 13, 1901.
DeForest Richards, Governor.
For a number of years women served on grand and petit juries. In compiling the first volume of the Laws of Wyoming, Secretary and Acting Governor Edward M. Lee said:
In the provisions of the woman suffrage clause, enacted in 1869, we placed this youngest Territory on earth in the van of civilization and progress. That this statement has been verified by practical experience the testimony is unanimous, continuous and conclusive. Not a link is wanting in the chain of evidence and, as a Governor of the Territory once said: "The only dissenting voices against woman suffrage have been those of convicts who have been tried and found guilty by women jurors." Women exercised the right of jurors and contributed to the speedy release of the Territory from the régime of the pistol and bowie-knife. They not only performed their new duties without losing any of the womanly virtues, and with dignity and decorum, but good results were immediately seen. Chief Justice J. H. Howe, of the Supreme Court, under whose direction women were first drawn on juries, wrote in 1872: "After the grand jury had been in session two days the dance-house keepers, gamblers and demi-monde fled out of the State in dismay to escape the indictment of women jurors. In short, I have never, in twenty-five years' experience in the courts of the country, seen a more faithful and resolutely honest grand and petit jury than these."
The best women in the Territory served as jurors, and they were treated with the most profound respect and highly complimented for their efficiency. The successor of Chief Justice Howe was opposed to their serving and none were summoned by him. Jury duty is not acceptable to men, as a rule, and the women themselves were not anxious for it, so the custom gradually fell into disuse. The juries are made up from the tax lists, which contain only a small proportion of women. There are no court decisions against women as jurors, and they are still summoned occasionally in special cases.