Carolina Lucas

The New Jersey Exception: When the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act was defeated by the Senate

How Political Interests in the State Allowed Women filibuster, Republicans chose their party over to Vote from 1776 to 1807 necessary voting reforms that would assist in

Carolina Lucas the enfranchisement of people of color; several Democrats chose allegiance to outdated systems instead of supporting their constituents. As demonstrated by the Senate in 2021, the history of voting in the United States has been consistently plagued by one ill: the rampant effects of partisan interests on who is entitled to the franchise. No other The Scythe of example of this ill is clearer than the New Jersey Exception (Appendix Progress: A).1 Accurately named due to its unparalleled nature, this period in New Jersey was the first instance in the world of English-speaking women Lincoln Center and the voting in government elections.2 In the midst of the radical idealism Complexity of Urban fostered by the American Revolution, New Jersey’s State Legislature Renewal in New York City crafted its first constitution in 1776, enfranchising unmarried and widowed women with two remarkable words: “all inhabitants.”3 New Iliana Weisberg Jersey would be the only state in the country to expressly enfranchise women less than fifteen years later, with the Election Law of 1790.4 The law emerged as the result of an intense election between political factions, and served to manipulate the voting demographic in favor of Federalist counties. The year 1790 served as a turning point, as the The Perpetual decades that followed saw the constant grasp that political groups held on the evolution of female suffrage. While the roles of women shifted Foreigner: as America transitioned from the Revolutionary Periodto the Victorian The E ects of Orientalism on Period, the return of women to domestic duties instead of battlefronts US Race Relations with Asians was not primarily responsible for New Jersey’s voting legislation in this and Asian Americans during the Cold War (1945-1991) 1 Howard Pyle, Women at the Polls in New Jersey in the Good Old Times, 1880, illustration, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/history/new-Julian Hough jersey-women-vote-1776-suffrage/. 2 Edward Raymond Turner, “Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey 17901807,” Smith College Studies in History 1, no. 4 (July 1916): 166, https:// dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10929/54916/J324.3t945.pdf 3 Constitution of New Jersey, A. (NJ 1776). http://hdl.handle.net/10929/50466. 4 An Act to Regulate the Election of Members of the Legislative Council and General Assembly, Sheriffs, and Coroners, in the Counties of Bergen, Monmouth, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Hunterdon, and Sussex., 1790 NJ Laws 669 (Nov. 18, 1790). Accessed October 21, 2021. https://njlaw.rutgers.edu/ cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?collect=njleg&file=015&page=0001.

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period.5 Instead, the fate of female enfranchisement became inextricably linked with the tide of political fortunes, and whether political groups viewed female voters as an asset or threat to their power. This struggle ultimately met its end in 1807, when the necessity to control who voted outweighed any support of female suffrage. Although the radical idealism of the American Revolution inspired gender neutrality in New Jersey’s first state constitution, the evolution of female enfranchisement in New Jersey between 1776 and 1807 was primarily driven by partisan interests, rather than shifting perceptions of gender roles during the period, as demonstrated by political groups’ use of female enfranchisement as a tool to manipulate the voting demographic in their favor.

In the lead up to 1776, New Jerseyans expressed radical tendencies in favor of revolution, which would later influence the state legislature to act in accordance with their views while drafting the state’s first constitution. As demonstrated in publications by the state’s assembly, New Jersey fiercely opposed Britain’s suffocating grasp on the colony. In 1765, they wrote, “Resolved... that it is... essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubtable right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them but with their consent.”6 Their publication of the well-known slogan “no taxation without representation” demonstrated New Jersey’s early desire for a truly representative government. In contribution to the revolutionary zeal of the state, students at The College of New Jersey intercepted a 1770 letter from New York merchants, in which they said that they would be breaking their policy of nonimportation with Britain, to Philadelphia merchants.7 This action was taken to prevent merchants in Philadelphia from doing the same. In 1774, in another example of revolutionary behavior, students burned the steward’s supply of tea in support of Boston’s protest of the Tea Act.8 These acts in protest of colonial rule demonstrate the extensive scope and power of revolutionary ideas in New Jersey in this period.

In correspondence with the revolutionary idealism exhibited by its citizens, in May, 1776, the New Jersey State Legislature took its first

5 Marcela Micucci, interview by the author, Video Interview, USA, October 25, 2021. 6 Maxine L. Lurie, “New Jersey: Radical or Conservative in the Crisis Summer of 1776?,” in New Jersey in the American Revolution, ed. Barbara J. Mitnick (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ Press, 2007), 35. 7 Dennis P. Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Chronology (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975), 13, http:// hdl.handle.net/10929/18632. 8 Ryan, New Jersey, 14.

concrete steps towards enacting radical change in the state in favor of independence. At this crucial time for the Revolution, William Franklin, the Royal Governor, was arrested and forced to leave his gubernatorial post.9 His Assembly and Council were also removed from power.10 This decision solidified New Jersey’s position in support of the Revolution. In June, the state legislature replaced all of its Delegates to the Continental Congress with ones “favorably disposed toward Independence.”11 They continued their steadfast support of the Revolution on June 22nd when the state legislature directed the new Delegates to vote in favor of independence.12 Both the appointment and direction of these delegates were drastic steps, and demonstrated New Jersey’s commitment to the cause of Independence and a willingness to act on their belief.

The radical political idealism supported by New Jerseyans not only resulted in the state legislature’s steadfast support of independence and revolution, but it also caused the suffrage clause of New Jersey’s first constitution to be remarkably inclusive. While some historians argue that New Jersey was not entirely radical and instead somewhat conservative during the Revolutionary Period, 1776 represented a distinct and radical shift in the state, as demonstrated by the state constitution.13 Prior to 1776, the most recent voting provisions were established by Queen Anne in 1702. They referred to voters using “he,” and only permitted freeholders who owned an estate of one hundred acres to vote.14 In June, 1776, the Third New Jersey Provincial Congress met in Burlington to begin work on the state constitution. However, the Provincial Congress had been discussing voter eligibility requirements for more than a year prior to June.15 Although one proposal in February, 1776 refersto votersas “he,” the final draft of the constitution used gender neutral language in

9 Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (NY: Knopf, 1997), 64. 10 Lurie, “New Jersey,” 34. 11 Maier, American Scripture, 64. 12 Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Trenton, NJ: Naar, Day & Naar, 1879), 473, accessed January 5, 2022, https://archive.org/details/minutesofprovinc00newj/page/472/ mode/2up. 13 Lurie, “New Jersey,” 33. 14 Julian P. Boyd, “The Instructions from the Queen in Council to the Governor of the Province of New Jersey: November 16, 1702,” in Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of New Jersey, The New Jersey Historical Series (Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1964), 17:131, accessed January 20, 2022, https:// dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/27383. 15 Marc W. Kruman, Between Authority and Liberty: State Constitution Making in Revolutionary America (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 105.

reference to voters.16 This was a distinct and intentional shift from the language used in 1702 in and the February 1776 clause. The 1776 New Jersey State Constitution was adopted on July 2, 1776, and included the following voter eligibility clause:

All inhabitants of this colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds, proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for representatives in council and assembly; and also for all other public officers that shall be elected by the people of the county at large.17

This provision expanded suffrage significantly compared to previous requirements. Neither race nor gender were mentioned, and the new law permitted residents who had only lived in New Jersey for one year to vote. Of the three other states which made no reference to race or gender in their constitutions, only two had greater liberalized requirements for voting eligibility.18 This 1776 provision places New Jersey as one of the three most radical states in the nation in terms of voter qualifications, even prior to the explicit reference of suffrage for women.

The revolutionary atmosphere of New Jersey in the 1770s produced a desire for inclusive suffrage requirements, and New Jerseyans generated demand for these provisions. Many New Jerseyans favored universal suffrage for all taxpayers during the Revolution, while many others favored expanded suffrage, but to a lesser extent. As published by the New-York Journal in March, 1776, one Essex County resident desires, “widows paying taxes to have an equal right to vote, as men of the same property.”19 Similarly, the Trenton True American published the argument that the legislature needed to act “from a principle of justice, deeming it right that every free person who pays a tax should have a vote.” 20 These demands are what made the usage of the phrase “all inhabitants” a clear intentional calculus by the legislature. By using this phrase, New Jersey officials could draw more support for the Revolution and independence

16 Minutes of the Provincial, 373. 17 Constitution of New Jersey (1776). 18 Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (New York City, NY: Basic Books, 2000), 327-8. 19 Kruman, Between Authority, 105. 20 Rosemarie Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 32.

from those who would fight in and fund the war.21 Thus, to meet the demands of the populace and retain political popularity, the legislature drafted an inclusive constitution that followed the revolutionary ideals and attitudes of its citizens.

Although the immediate effects of the 1776 Constitution were not dramatic in regard to women, its signing opened the door in New Jersey to female suffrage. The legislature referred to voters as male in the years following 1776, and the concept of female suffrage was neither publicly supported nor criticized. 22 However, the vast importance of the State Constitution of 1776 cannot be underestimated. A poll list from an election in 1787 for members of the Assembly and Council includes the names of two women, Iona Curtis and Selvenia Lilvey.23 Although they are the only known recorded women to have voted prior to 1790, their presence suggests that the state constitution must have been interpreted to include women. In addition, those outside New Jersey viewed the constitutional language radically, expressing their support for the female enfranchisement they believed it granted. Abigail Adams remarked in regard to New Jersey’s constitution, “If our State Constitution had been equally liberal with that of New Jersey and had admitted the females to vote I should certainly have exercised it...”24 Adams’ interpretation of the constitution was echoed decades later by Lucy Stone, a prominent New Jersey feminist in the mid to late 19th century. In 1867, Stone delivered remarks on women’s suffrage where she makes it clear to her audience, the state legislature, that the 1776 State Constitution opened suffrage to all and was crucial in the history of female enfranchisement.25 New Jersey’s first state constitution was the key to the future of female suffrage in the state, unlocking the door to enfranchisement for women that had never been opened before. 21 Irwin N. Gertzog, “Female Suffrage in New Jersey, 1790-1807,” Journal of Women, Politics and Policy 10, no. 90 (1990): 48, accessed October 18, 2021, https://cawp.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/resources/ femalesuffrageinnj1790_1807.pdf. 22 Jan Ellen Lewis, “Rethinking Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey, 17761807,” Rutgers Law Review 63, no. 3 (Spring 2011): 1020, accessed October 9, 2021, http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/vol63/ Issue3/Lewis.pdf.; Turner, “Women’s Suffrage,” 167. 23 Henry C. Shinn, “An Early New Jersey Poll List,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 44, no. 1 (January 1920): 77, http://www. jstor.org/stable/20086404. 24 Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, November 15, 1797, https://founders. archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-12-02-0166. 25 Lucy Stone, “Woman Suffrage in New Jersey,” address presented at A Hearing Before The New Jersey Legislature, March 6, 1867, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/ rbnawsa.n2760.

Although idealism shaped New Jersey’s first constitution, when political factions began to emerge in the 1780s, political interests soon took control over the evolution of women’s suffrage. Due to the state’s history of sectional conflict, the strength of these factions when they first appeared was immense. The political factions that emerged in the 1780s resulted from the previous, longstanding divide between East Jersey and West Jersey, as their separation dated back to their origins of existing as two different colonies.26 From the very beginning of the settlements, Western New Jersey, dominated by Quakers, was more conservative and favored “hard currency.” Eastern New Jersey, however, favored a “mercantile” economy with a mix of paper money and bartering.27 This conflict reappeared in full force as New Jersey began to find its political footing as a state in the new nation. This divisiveness lead one historian to remark that New Jersey’s unification in its support for the US Constitution in 1789 was an “illusionary oasis” of unification.28 Such dramatic language exemplifies how fractured New Jersey had become politically by the end of the 1780s. The political turmoil that was natural to the state by 1789 set the stage for that year’s congressional elections, and the necessary voting reforms that would follow.

When conflicting interests between powerful political factions grew in the late 1780s, groups employed drastic measures to ensure their victory, and as a result they ushered in the legislation that extended the vote to women explicitly. The widespread election fraud of 1789 due to the creation of the Junto ticket represented such measures, and illustrated a shift in party politics in New Jersey. In that year’s congressional elections, a group of conservative businessmen, almost all Quakers, put together the slate known as the “Junto” ticket. The slate was comprised solely of future Federalists, who would soon describe themselves as such.29 During the election, the creators of the Junto ticket kept the polls open in the South long after the North had closed theirs, as they had control of all Southern polling locations.30 By waiting to close their polls until after the North had, the supporters of the Junto ticket could determine the amount of votes they would need to win the state. This clear tactic of manipulating the vote also included getting the vote in Essex County dismissed due to how long

26 Carl E. Prince, New Jersey’s Jeffersonian Republicans: The Genesis of an Early Party Machine 1789-1817 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1967), 6. 27 Prince, New Jersey’s, 7. 28 Prince, New Jersey’s, 6. 29 Rudolph J. Pasler and Margaret C. Pasler, The New Jersey Federalists (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1975), 27. 30 Lewis, “Rethinking Women’s,” 1023.

their polling sites had stayed open.31 During the same election, polling places were even moved around to favor one faction over another. The disastrously evident fraud of this election generated by political greed and power seeking caused the turn in New Jersey politics that led to the introduction of voting reforms in 1790.32 The election was a clear indicator of the polarization New Jersey politics experienced by the end of the 1780s, and made evident the need for election reforms.

The following year, members of the Junto ticket put forward the Election Law of 1790 to explicitly grant women the right to vote in majority Federalist and Quaker counties, and standardize voting in those counties to prevent future fraud. The remarkable phrase “he or she” referred to voters in those seven counties.33 This crucial placement of “she” along with “he” marked the first time American women, or any Englishspeaking woman, would explicitly be granted the right to vote.34 The law also expanded the number of polling places in the state by introducing township voting, it ensured public knowledge of upcoming elections, and finally standardized elections in those counties as a whole.35 Some historians argue that the Election Law of 1790 was put forth by Quakers due to their belief in social and political equality for women.36 While this is a possibility, its basis in specific individuals isn’t concrete. A clearer answer follows the logic that by giving women the right to vote in their counties, conservatives could ensure future success.37 This was made clear by the specifics of the reform. The Election Law of 1790 only applied to the following counties: Bergen, Monmouth, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Hunterdon, and Sussex.38 Of these counties, four had extremely high concentrations of Quakers, and all seven were heavily Federalist leaning.39 Five of the seven counties were also in West Jersey and five were southern (Appendix B). 40 These show clear inclinations toward assisting Quaker, conservative, and future Federalist counties in elections, cementing partisanship as an integral factor to the New Jersey Exception. Following the Election of 1789 and the enactment of Election Law of 1790, the Junto faction was extremely successful, and by the early 1790s

31 Gertzog, “Female Suffrage,” 51. 32 Prince, New Jersey’s, 8. 33 An Act to Regulate (1790). 34 Turner, “Women’s Suffrage,” 166. 35 An Act to Regulate (1790). 36 Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash, 31. 37 Gertzog, “Female Suffrage,” 51-2. 38 An Act to Regulate (1790). 39 Gertzog, “Female Suffrage,” 51. 40 Ryan, New Jersey, 3-4.

New Jersey became a Federalist stronghold.41 This was in large part due to their political strategies, including the utilization of women voters.

Following 1790, both the Federalist and Republican parties began to vie for female votes in earnest, entangling the right to vote with partisan tactics to gain power and retain it over time. Having expanded the right to vote to women across predominantly Federalist counties, the Federalists attempted to gain popularity and votes from women in the early 1790s. A large aspect of this campaign relied upon newspapers. Newspaper propaganda was instrumental to the tactics of party leadership, and as such they began to revitalize Federalist papers and increase their quantity during this time.42 Published in the Burlington Advertiser were articles that supported women’s rights and expressed fondness towards female voters. In addition, the paper published articles written by women in support of causes of importance to them.43 As seen in these publications, Federalist interests were clearly in favor of using the female vote as a political tool. Such tactics can also be seen in an oration by Elias Boudinot, a prominent New Jersey Federalist and Hamiltonian, to the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jersey on July 4th, 1793.44 During the address, he paid careful attention to the female listeners and directed several minutes towards them. He remarks, “Have you not at all times and do you not still continue to participate deeply in the multiplied blessings of our common country?” Boudinot then continues, harking on the importance of women to the Federalist cause and to the country.45 In conjunction with these expressions of support, a Newton Township polling list records one woman, Hope Carpenter, as a voter in a 1793 election, marking this beginning of more widespread female participation at the polls.46 While Boudinot’s tone of support demonstrates the view of the party at the time, this excitement by the Federalist party towards women would not last.

41 Prince, New Jersey’s, 9-10. 42 Pasler and Pasler, The New Jersey, 118-9. 43 Judith Apter Klinghoffer and Lois Elkis, “The Petticoat Electors: Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey, 1776-1807,” Journal of the Early Republic 12, no. 2 (Summer 1992): 173, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3124150. 44 Prince, New Jersey’s, 11. 45 “Oration before the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey -- ‘A Star in the West’ -- Other Publications,” in The Life Public Services, Addresses and Letters of Elias Boudinot, LL. D. President of the Continental Congress, ed. J.J. Boudinot (Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1896), 2:374. 46 “Newton Township Election Records,” table, 1793, MG 608, Box 17, Folder 4, Anderson Family Papers, The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ. 85

By the mid-1790s, the emergence of the Republican Party lead to the expansion of women’s suffrage across the state. The foundation of several anti-Federalist groups beginning in 1793 produced desires to implement legislation to standardize voting across the state. Several of these groups joined to form the Essex County Democratic Society, the most prominent precursor to the Republican Party that would appear beginning in the elections of 1796.47 This allowed for a unified stance against Federalist policy for the first time. The political strife over Jay’s Treaty in 1795 proved critical to the Republican cause, as the treaty marked a turning point in New Jerseyan perceptions of Federalist policies and generated support for the new party.48 That same year, almost 900 Essex County residents signed a petition complaining over their lack of township voting.49 Township voting was an electoral system that ensured there were polling places in every town, and that citizens could only cast a ballot in the town that they resided in. The previous system divided polling places by county, making voting much more tedious and inaccessible.50 The Essex County petition served as an indicator of statewide attitudes, and it demonstrated the power that dueling political groups had on the implementation of new voting legislation.

By 1797, women’s suffrage expanded across New Jersey as a result of Republican interests in the statewide standardization of election procedures and the voting demographic. This legislation would allow for township voting throughout the state, satisfying earlier demands from Republican constituents.51 In addition, due to Republican gerrymandering enacted by the law, they would gain three of New Jersey’s five congressional seats in 1798.52 The Election Law of 1797 extended suffrage to women across New Jersey, due to its inclusion of the terms “she” and “her” when referring to voters. This language was entirely deliberate, as demonstrated by the clerk using carrots to insert the words in the draft (Appendix C).53 Including

47 Prince, New Jersey’s, 12-13. 48 Prince, New Jersey’s, 16-17. 49 Jack Richon Pole, The Reform of Suffrage and Representation in New Jersey: 1744-1844 (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1975), 121. 50 Lewis, “Rethinking Women’s,” 1023-4. 51 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 165. 52 Pasler and Pasler, The New Jersey, 93 53 An Act to Regulate the Elections of Members of the Legislative Council and General Assembly, Sheriffs, and Coroners in This State, NJ Laws (Feb. 21, 1797). Accessed November 8, 2021. https://www.amrevmuseum.org/ virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story/pages/1797electoral-reform-enrolled-law-2.

women to ensure its similarity to the Election Law of 1790, this piece of legislation directly emerged as a result of increased interest in election standards due to the heightened political atmosphere of the state.

Following the passage of the Election Law of 1797, female suffrage increased substantially in New Jersey, and New Jerseyans no longer viewed it with ambivalence, as it was publicly treated as political tool by both parties. When women began voting across the state, Federalists quickly realized that female participation at the polls would actually greatly favor the Republicans, due to two major factors. First, wealthy and educated women were not necessarily more likely to engage in politics, and second, it was much easier to get residents in towns to the polls, which were emerging as Republican leaning.54 As the New Jersey Federalist Party began to decline rapidly after 1797, a desire to revoke the right to vote from women as a means of regaining power emerged. The party was already fracturing internally, and due to the way that the new legislation divided congressional districts, Federalists began to suffer at the polls beginning in 1798.55 Their misjudgment of who the female vote would benefit soon demonstrated the political expediency of female voters.

In a final attempt to revitalize their party, Federalist legislators proposed a revision to New Jersey’s state constitution in 1799 which would disenfranchise women and remove them as a political threat. The measure displayed their growing desperation to cling to power. 56 William Griffith, a prominent New Jersey Federalist, wrote in his 1799 critique of the constitution in regards to female voters:

The great practical mischief, however, resulting from their admission, under our present form of government, is, that the towns and populous villages gain an unfair advantage over the county, by the greater facility they enjoy over the latter, in drawing out their women to the election.57

Although Griffith labels women as domestic earlier in the piece, his main qualm is not with their gender, but rather where their votes are

54 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat, ” 177-8. 55 Pasler and Pasler, The New Jersey, 92. 56 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 178. 57 William Griffith, Eumenes: Being a Collection of Papers, Written for the Purpose of Exhibiting Some of the More Prominent Errors and Omissions of the Constitution of New-Jersey, as Established on the Second Day of July, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Six: and to Prove the Necessity of Calling a Convention, for Revision and Amendment (Trenton, NJ: G. Craft, 1799), 33, http://hdl.handle.net/10929/53061. 87

cast. Griffith’s description of the power of women voters, and therefore his charge to dispense with them, shows how changing political tides directly affected female enfranchisement.

The 1799 campaign for a constitutional revision was unsuccessful, and therefore Republicans advocated for the votes of women to use female enfranchisement as a political weapon to benefit their party. Similarly to their Federalist counterparts, Republicans demonstrated their support of female suffrage through newspaper publications. The Centinel of Freedom, a key Republican outlet, published an article titled “Female Festivity” in July, 1800. In the “Ladies Toast,” a line reads: “The rights of women -- may they never be curtailed.”58 An oration by a male “Citizen” published by the Genius of Liberty, another Republican newspaper, in August, 1800, celebrates equality between the sexes.59 Notably, celebrations of Jefferson’s presidential victory thank women most graciously. Toasts recorded in the Centinel of Freedom in March, 1801 from various meetings read: “[to] the Republican fair of New Jersey... [to] the fair daughters of Columbia; may they always stand unrivalled in their love of freedom and virtue... [to] the rights of women; may they equally participate with men in the rights of man.”60 These sudden Republican interests in appealing to women demonstrate how changing political fortune controlled the favorability of women’s suffrage in New Jersey.

When Republicans began viewing consistent women voters as a threat to their dominance among the voting population, rather than as an asset to capitalize upon, this phase of Republican support of female suffrage soon ended. After 1800, women started voting consistently, with several polling lists between 1800 to 1807 listing women as electors.61 This includes a December, 1800 election where 29 women voted for the members of Congress, making up roughly 13% of all the voters

58 Clara, “Female Festivity: The Ladies Toast,” Centinel of Freedom (Newark, NJ), July 29, 1800, ID 721, The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ. 59 Citizen, “An Oration, Delivered by a Citizen of the United States, on the Fourth of July,” The Genius of Liberty (Morristown, NJ), August 7, 1800, North Jersey History and Genealogy Center, The Morristown and Morris Township Public Library, Morristown, NJ. 60 Centinel of Freedom, “Republican Festivity,” Centinel of Freedom (Newark, NJ), March 24, 1801, ID 721, The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ. 61 Museum of the American Revolution, “When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story,” The Museum of the American Revolution, last modified October 2, 2020, accessed November 4, 2021, https://www.amrevmuseum.org/ virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story.

(Appendix D).62 When women truly began to utilize their right to vote, both parties chose to label them as a liability rather than a benefit: in 1799 by Federalists, and in 1802 when Republicans lost a seat in the state legislature. In the 1802 election, the Republican candidate lost his race by a slim margin. In an effort to place blame, many Republicans claimed that their candidate only lost because of a married or enslaved woman voting.63 Soon after, William Pennington, a Republican, proposed “An Act Relating to Female Suffrage” to the legislature.64 This proposal, which had the goal of revoking the right to vote from women, was dismissed by the legislature before it could be called to a vote.65 In almost identical fashion to the Federalists, Republicans wanted to rid women of the voting populace when their growing presence was no longer in their favor.

By 1807, the political turmoil present in New Jersey resulted in another entirely fraudulent election, not dissimilar to that of 1789, which cast women as expendable members of the voting demographic in an attempt to restore political order. The beginning of the end of female suffrage started at the turn of the century. As New Jersey entered the late 1790s, accounts of voter suppression were considerable.66 These mostly stemmed from complaints about the county voting system, and the difficulty it posed to voters. However, in 1800 these allegations shifted into ones of voter fraud. Some of these allegations blamed men dressed as women running between multiple polling sites, but the vast majority cited poll inspectors or other election officials in their complaints.67 Although election dishonesty occurred across New Jersey, the fraud reached its peak at a disastrous election in Essex County over the location of the courthouse.68 Eventually, the immense polarization

62 Poll List Upper Penns Neck Township Salem County, New Jersey December 23 and 24, 1800, accessed November 8, 2021, https://www.amrevmuseum.org/ virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story/pages/upperpenns-neck-township-salem-county-new-jersey-poll-lists-1800. 63 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 183. 64 Journal of the Proceedings of the Legislative Council of the State of New Jersey (Trenton, NJ: Wilson and Blackwell, 1803), 169, accessed January 20, 2022, https://books.google.com/ books?id=aVhNAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_ summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. 65 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 183-4. 66 Micucci, interview by the author. 67 Museum of the American Revolution, “When Women,” The Museum of the American Revolution. 68 Turner, “Women’s Suffrage,” 181-2.

and partisanship of the state and nation that crept into the state’s elections caused a referendum that proved devastating for women’s suffrage.

The Essex County election, between moderate and liberal Republicans, served as a final catalyst for women losing the right to vote due to negotiations over voter requirements in its aftermath. Moderate Republicans from southern Essex County favored Elizabeth Town, while liberal Republicans from northern Essex County supported Newark for the courthouse location. Although voting was honest when the election began, the situation devolved quickly. The Centinel of Freedom described it as the “most spirited” election in the county’s history, or even in that of the state.69 The fraud was glaring, as the amount of ballots cast were, in some cases, ridiculously high. In Newark, where 1,600 ballots had been cast in an 1806 election, 5,000 were cast in the 1807 referendum. In Springfield, 300 ballots were cast in the previous election while over 2,400 were counted in the referendum.70 Although the Newark liberals came out of the election victorious, their attitudes towards women voters were still quite unfavorable. One Newark Republican claimed that women and girls were “used,” characterizing them as the ones who swayed the election.71 Following the election, a group of conservative Republicans petitioned against the results of the referendum because they were so skewed. They demanded not only a new election, but an entire overhaul of the state’s election process.72 The fraud and ballot stuffing of this election would have grave consequences for the future of female suffrage in New Jersey.

After the Essex County referendum, Republicans chose to revoke the right to vote from several marginalized groups, including women, to ensure the voting demographic remained in their favor. The election reflected the increasing political divide between liberal and moderate Republicans across the state, whose disputes were causing alarm to the party leadership. An emerging faction of conservative Republicans found themselves in between the more traditionally liberal Republicans and the highly conservative Federalist party.73 Essex County had a history of lacking party unity, as there was even a chasm between two Republican

69 Centinel of Freedom (Newark, NJ), February 17, 1807, ID 722, The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ. 70 Gertzog, “Female Suffrage,” 55. 71 A Newark Republican, “To the Legislature of the State of New Jersey,” Centinel of Freedom (Newark, NJ), November 15, 1807, ID 722, The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ. 72 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 188. 73 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 187.

news outlets, the Centinel of Freedom of Newark and the New Jersey Journal, which served the outer edges of the county.74 However, with the upcoming presidential election of 1808, the party required unity. In a desire to satisfy both factions of the party, the courthouse was built in Newark, but the liberal Republicans agreed to support a conservative measure to restrict voting parameters to white, male, taxpayers. Due to new law, Republicans would lose the votes of both non-taxpayers along with immigrants, two bodies that typically supported them. To retain a favorable voting demographic, they also removed two historically Federalist leaning groups from the voting populace: African Americans and women.75 Federalists supported the measure, and it passed easily with only five dissenting votes.76 In the name of restoring party unity for the Presidential Election of 1800, thousands became disenfranchised because of their political expendability.

After the New Jersey Exception met its conclusion, New Jersey women did not regain the right to vote for over a century. The importance of retaining a favorable voting demographic proved more important than retaining inclusive voting qualifications in 1807, which followed the decades long trajectory of female suffrage in New Jersey. On two separate occasions, two separate parties attempted to revoke the right to vote from women due to their partisan interests. The longevity of the New Jersey Exception is quite remarkable, considering the politically tumultuous conditions it endured. The Exception places the beginning of female suffrage at the same place in history as the dawn of the United States in 1776. The revolutionary ideas that accompanied the birth of America also ushered in the modern concept of female suffrage. However, the Exception also demonstrates a dangerous lesson in regard to voting rights. This period emphasizes the threat of partisanship to voting rights, a fault in the American electoral system that persists to this day. The ability for parties to disenfranchise slews of American citizens simply for their benefit is one of the greatest threats that democracy faces today. By looking to the New Jersey Exception, perhaps history’s lessons can prevent future disasters.

74 Prince, New Jersey’s, 73-80. 75 Klinghoffer and Elkis, “The Petticoat,” 188. 76 Pole, The Reform, 146.

Appendix A: Engraving titled “Women at the Polls in New Jersey in the Good Old Times,” published in 1880. Source: Howard Pyle, Women at the Polls in New Jersey in the Good Old Times, 1880, illustration, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/history/ new-jersey-women-vote-1776-suffrage/.

Appendix B: Map of New Jersey, 1775, divided in two halves. Source: Dennis P. Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Chronology (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975), 13, http://hdl.handle.net/10929/18632.

Appendix C: Page 7 of the 1797 Electoral Reform Enrolled Law of New Jersey. The addition of female pronouns can be seen in the gaps between the lines in Section 9. Source: An Act to Regulate the Elections of Members of the Legislative Council and General Assembly, Sheriffs, and Coroners in This State, NJ Laws (Feb. 21, 1797). Accessed November 8, 2021. https://www. amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/ when-women-lost-the-vote-arevolutionary-story/pages/1797electoral-reform-enrolled-law-2.

Appendix D: Several names of women can be found on this polling list from an election in Salem County, 1800, as highlighted. Poll List Upper Penns Neck Township Salem County, New Jersey December 23 and 24, 1800, accessed November 8, 2021, https://www.amrevmuseum.org/ virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story/pages/upperpenns-neck-township-salem-county-new-jersey-poll-lists-1800.

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