Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/73

 

In Colorado the period from 1900 to 1920 began and ended with a victory for equal suffrage. In 1901 the woman suffrage law of 1893 was by vote of the people made a part of the State constitution. In 1919 a special session of the Legislature ratified the Federal Suffrage Amendment. A half-century ago, Jan. 4, 1870, Governor Edward M. McCook in his biennial report to the Territorial Legislature had urged it to be a leader in this "movement of progressive civilization,” but it was twenty-three years later when the lone example of the sister State, Wyoming, was followed and Colorado became the second State to enfranchise woman.

When Colorado was admitted into the Union in 1876 a strong effort was made to have its constitution provide for equal suffrage but it was not successful. School suffrage was given and provision was made that the Legislature might at any time submit a measure to the voters for the complete franchise, which, if accepted by the majority, should become law. This was done in 1877 and defeated. It was submitted again in 1893 and adopted by a majority of 6,347. Women were thus entitled to vote on the same terms as men but it was by law and not by constitutional amendment. Aliens could vote on six months' residence and on their "first papers," without completing their citizenship. In 1901 the Legislature submitted the following amendment: "Every person over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections: He or she shall be a citizen of the United States and shall have resided in the State twelve months immediately preceding the election at which he or she offers to vote." It is