Why Do Women Have The Right To Vote In New Jersey

After the American Revolutionary War, New Jersey was the only state that granted suffrage to any citizen that met the voting qualifications. Women first gained the right to vote via the vague wording in the voting clause, in the New Jersey Constitution of 1776. The voting rights acts of 1790 and 1797 explicitly indicated that women had the right to vote, though each law affected a different area of New Jersey. Then in 1807, there was a voting act which revoked the right to vote for women. The varying laws about women’s suffrage in New Jersey from 1776 until 1807 resulted from the struggles between the political parties. The widespread corruption associated with the New Jersey elections also affected the different laws that applied to
However, some historians regard the New Jersey women’s suffrage, from 1776 until 1807, as an accident resulting from an oversight of the vague wording of the voting clause, by the framers of the New Jersey Constitution of 1776. Since some historians acknowledged women’s suffrage as an oversight, the events surrounding the New Jersey’s women’s suffrage have been distorted. This has led to the New Jersey women’s suffrage being un-widely known. This paper will make a significant contribution to the literature regarding the New Jersey women’s suffrage, from 1776 until 1807, by showing how New Jersey lawmakers intended to grant women’s suffrage due to the struggles of New Jersey’s political
Women, during the American Revolution, had an interest in political participation, including the right to vote. New Jersey women, during the American Revolution, had displayed their interest in political participation through their reaction to the war. A “Lady in New-Jersey” felt that the American Revolution was justified because the British, “have desolated the aged and unprotected, and even waged war against our sex.” In other words, the women of New Jersey were willing to take political actions in support of the war due to the British actions. However, some scholars feel that, “women did not actively seek the vote” because there was little mention of women’s voting activities in the newspapers of that time. But, these scholars depended solely on newspapers printed in the New Jersey counties which stated that New Jersey did not explicitly gain women’s suffrage until 1797. In fact, propertied women like Mary Willing Byrd and Hannah Lee Corbin displayed their interest in political participation, but they particularly showed their desire to vote. Mary Willing Byrd was a wealthy widow that protested that she lacked representation yet had to pay taxes to the state of Virginia. Hannah Lee Corbin wanted a law which would allow “‘freeholders and housekeepers’ to elect tax commissioners” and thus would supersede the Virginia law