Existing comment:
Congress disfranchises Utah women
In 1870, Utah's majority Mormon territorial legislature adopted woman suffrage. Congress, which was strongly opposed to the Mormon practice of polygamy, passed legislation in 1887 that outlawed the practice and disfranchised Utah women -- the only time that Congress took voting rights from women. It argued that women in plural marriages could not vote independently. Utah won statehood in 1895 and once again fully enfranchised women. This memorial opposed an attempt Congress made to disfranchise Utah women in 1878. |