The road to the vote was a long one for North Dakota women. In 1883, they gained the right to vote in school elections. In 1885, state legislators laughed when J.A. Pickler introduced a bill granting universal suffrage to women. The measure passed, but Dakota Territory Governor Gilbert Pierce, claiming women didn’t want the vote, refused to sign it.
North Dakota women continued to lobby for their right to vote, with national leaders coming to the state to offer support. In 1893, the legislature passed a women’s suffrage bill, but opponents blocked it from reaching the governor’s desk, and the issue faded away.
In 1914, suffrage supporters introduced a new strategy. The 16th Amendment, passed in 1913, allowed Congress to impose a federal income tax. Since women would have to pay income tax, suffragists argued this amounted to “taxation without representation,” a claim that alarmed the political establishment.
On this date in 1914, the Bismarck Tribune editorialized against using taxation without representation as a justification for women’s suffrage. The newspaper suggested that suffrage supporters should be concerned about this unwise tactic, calling it "militant" and a serious mistake.
By then, women’s suffrage was gaining momentum. Nine states had granted women the right to vote in state elections, and other states had granted limited suffrage, as North Dakota had done. Women’s suffrage was starting to seem inevitable. The Tribune predicted that linking suffrage to income tax could embarrass both the government and the suffragists, who might face legal challenges. The editorial urged women subject to the income tax to pay it "under protest" to raise publicity for their cause, without jeopardizing the movement's progress.
In the end, the protest over taxation without representation proved ineffective. Suffragists continued to focus on winning the vote. Although a suffrage measure on the 1914 ballot failed, the 19th Amendment was passed in 1919. North Dakota's legislature ratified it, making the state the twentieth to do so. Tennessee cast the final vote needed for ratification in 1920.
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Bismarck Daily Tribune. “Suffrage and Income Tax.” Bismarck ND. 1/3/1914. Page 4.
- National Archives. “16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/16th-amendment Accessed 11/21/2024.
- NDStudies. “A Brief History of Woman Suffrage in North Dakota.” https://www.ndstudies.gov/sites/default/files/PDF/Suffrage%20in%20ND%20introduction.pdf Accessed 11/21/2024.
