Equal Rights for All?

The first attempt to get Illinois women to vote came at the end of the Civil War.  Illinois was writing a brand new state constitution in 1870. Women who had been part of the Abolitionist movement and supported the troops during the Civil War began to realize that the voting rights which should be granted to the freed slaves were rights that they did not yet have themselves. An effort was made to have the new Illinois Constitution include equal voting rights for all - men and women, regardless of color. 

This campaign failed, and Illinois law continued to specify that only men could vote. Worse yet, the new state constitution could not be changed for a minimum of 20 years. The fight for women's right to vote would have to change tactics.