Utah Grants And Un-Grants Women The Right To Vote (1870)
This Day in Esoteric Political History
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.6 • 982 Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2023
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s February 12th. This day in 1870, women in Utah become the first in the country to cast ballots in elections. But after granting women the right to vote, Utah then took it back a generation later.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why Utah’s move towards women’s suffrage was tied up in questions of polygamy, and how rights can be taken back just as easily as they are enshrined.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia. |
| 0:07.0 | My name is Jody Avergan. |
| 0:09.0 | This day, February 12th, 1870, Utah grants women the right to vote. |
| 0:16.8 | Now, the women of Utah weren't technically the first to be given this right in the United States. |
| 0:21.8 | Wyoming had just passed a law a few months before |
| 0:25.3 | but women in Utah were the first to actually cast ballots just a couple days |
| 0:29.6 | after this law took hold in the Salt Lake City municipal election. |
| 0:33.3 | It is quite the milestone, but also a little bit of a enjoy it while at last moment because |
| 0:39.3 | one of the things we're going to be talking about on today's episode is the fact that 17 years later |
| 0:43.5 | Congress took back the right of women to vote in Utah and they no longer had |
| 0:48.8 | representation. So let's talk about it and as we will discuss a lot of this was tied up into very Utah |
| 0:54.0 | e questions about the Church of Latter-day Saints and polygamy and lots more. |
| 0:57.6 | It's a really fascinating story here to discuss Utah's give and take on women's suffrage |
| 1:01.9 | are, as always |
| 1:03.1 | Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. |
| 1:06.8 | Hello there. |
| 1:07.8 | Hello Jody. |
| 1:08.8 | Hey there. |
| 1:09.8 | So we'll talk about the take in a little bit but let's talk about the We talked about why some of the frontier states were out of front in this. |
| 1:23.0 | What is our sense of why Utah is all the way back in 1870 granting the right to women to vote? |
| 1:29.1 | So part of it has to do with these issues around the Church of Latter Day Saints around issues of |
| 1:35.3 | polygamy there was a real resistance outside of Utah to allowing Utah to become a |
... |
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