Why was Wyoming the front-runner with Women's Rights?
Did they need the extra votes for statehood?    Did they want to encourage women to come to this low populated state?
   Or did they really believe in equality of the sexes?

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"To the lovely ladies, once our superiors, now our equals." 1869

A toast made by the first Wyoming Territorial Legislature in 1869 after passing into law "An Act to Grant Women of The Wyoming Territory the Right to Suffrage and to Hold Office."

An interesting note. After passing the "Right to Suffrage Law" in 1869, an attempt to repeal the law at the next session of the legislature was defeated (only by the Governor) after being passed by both the House and Senate.

The Governor responded in part by stating that "a repeal would advertise to the world that the women of Wyoming in their use of this franchise had not justified it's passage. This, he declared was an entirely false imputation."
He further stated that since a woman already has the right to acquire and posses property and be taxed, that she should have a voice in the public management of her property. She should also have a voice in the schools where her children were educated.

Wyoming gained it's statehood in 1890, but they supported this original declaration and repeated it in the Senate in 1918 while arguing in favor of nationwide suffrage for all women.

A few of the many Wyoming Women that were First.