Esther Hobart Morris’ life was turned upside down when her husband passed away in an accident. She was unable to claim their land in Illinois. Women were not able to inherit or own property legally.
Esther later took the railroad west to Green River, Wyoming. She boarded a wagon and joined her new husband in South Pass City, Wyoming, where gold had been discovered along the continental divide.
At the time, every single member of the first Territorial legislature in Wyoming was a Democrat. But they passed laws favorable to women. Esther was a big part of that. Her statute stands outside the U.S. and Wyoming Capitols today.
In 1869, the legislature set a trap for the Governor, a Republican appointed by President Ulysses Grant. Gov. John Campbell had a bill before him for territory-wide women’s suffrage. Should women be allowed to own land, have custody of their children, and receive equal pay to male teachers? There were two territorial Supreme Court justices with Campbell the night he considered the legislation. The justices encouraged Campbell to sign. And they debated long into the night.
Imagine a time when Campbell, a military officer who served in a Civil War in the name of freedom, had mothers and sisters of men who fought the war not enjoying the same rights as those they sought to free.
Campbell signed the bill Dec. 10, 1869.
Justice Kingman wrote, “At our first election, before women voted, we had pandemonium. The saloons were all open. Whiskey was dealt out freely by the candidates to all who would vote for them. The streets were filled with men partially intoxicated all armed with knives and pistols; it was dangerous to pass through them.”
Justice Kingman described the following post-suffrage election, “At the next election women voted, and perfect order prevailed...After a while a carriage drove up with four of these colored girls in it. They were helped out, and as went to the polls the crowd quietly parted; they voted and returned to the carriage without a word said. Then I breathed freely; I knew that all was safe.”
Women’s suffrage legislation was quickly followed by women holding office. Esther Hobart Morris was the first woman to hold office as Justice of the Peace in the nation, beginning her tenure in South Pass City, Wyoming.
In 1870, women began serving on juries. In fact, both Justices Kingman and Howe were present when in Laramie, Wyoming, the words “ladies and gentleman of the jury,” were spoken for the first time in history.
But in 1871, the legislature passed a bill to repeal women’s suffrage in the middle of the night on a fast track.
Governor Campbell vetoed it.
In his speech, he said, “This bill says too little or too much - too little if you legislate upon the assumption that woman is inferior, who will be kept in such a subordinate position, for in that case the other laws affecting her should be repealed or amended; and too much if she is, as no one will deny, the equal of man in heart and mind, for in that case we cannot afford to dispense with her counsel and assistance in the government of the territory.”
The veto was sustained by one vote.
The fight for women’s rights predates our statehood. If only women could have pretended to be men back then, oh the rights they could have so easily enjoyed.
Yet now, in 2025 our Governor allowed the “What is a Woman Act” to be entered into law without his signature. Chalking up our quest to be acknowledged in a court of law and having privacy rights and a biological reality as a “national political itch to be scratched.” Perhaps he believes we should sit quietly like good little girls instead. Clearly Mr. Governor has never been terrorized or marginalized and his lack of empathy and common sense shows. But, history is our best teacher.
In 1889 at Wyoming’s constitutional convention, some sought to attempt to place suffrage into a separate vote for ratification of our new constitution. The effort failed on the backs of real leaders like Mr. Holden of Uinta County who said, “...Rather than surrender the right which the women of this territory have so long enjoyed, a privilege which they have not only used with credit to themselves but with profit to the country, in which they live, I say rather than surrender that right, we would rather remain in a territorial condition throughout the endless cycles of time.”
Real women through the endless cycles of time will prevail. Adversity be damned.
Cowboy State Daily columnist Cassie Craven is a University of Wyoming College of Law graduate who practices law in Wyoming. She can be reached at: longhornwritingllc@gmail.com
