Samuel A. Thumma of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One authored “Women’s Suffrage in the Western States and Territories” for the summer edition of the ABA Judges’ Journal (Volume 59, Number 3). 

In the piece, Judge Thumma offers a comprehensive look at the women suffrage efforts in the western states and territories predating the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and examines the stark contrasts in approaches from west to east.   

The following is an excerpt:  

This article provides an overview of the history of women’s suffrage in the western states and territories of the United States before the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment. These developments did not follow a straight line, at times were temporary, and had to be maddingly frustrating. But the history shows, in these ways, that the western states and territories were achieving the goal of women’s suffrage before the nation followed with the Nineteenth Amendment. And in this way, civilization absolutely moved from the west to the east, perhaps starting as far west as statehood would ever reach. 

Read the full piece here [Courtesy of the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission].