Who Cast the First Vote?
According to newspapers at the time, Louisa Swain, 70, of Laramie, was the first woman in Wyoming Territory to cast a vote under the new law granting full suffrage to women.
Politics & Government
Browse Articles about Politics & Government
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Cheney, Dick, biography of | Geoffrey O’Gara |
| Cheyenne, Northern, return from Oklahoma | Gerry Robinson |
| Cheyenne, Wyo., history of | Lori Van Pelt |
| Civilian Conservation Corps, Wyoming | Kerry Drake |
| Clark, Alonzo | Wyoming State Archives |
| Clark, Clarence Don | Barbara Allen Bogart |
| Coal miners, Black | Brigida R. (Brie) Blasi |
| Cokeville, Ethel Stoner, mayor of | Kylie Louise McCormick |
| Coolidge, Sherman | Tadeusz Lewandowski |
| Crane, Arthur | Wyoming State Archives |
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Politics & Government
A History of the Wyoming Capitol
Authorized by the territorial legislature in 1886 and designed initially by architects from Ohio, the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne has been expanded twice and, beginning in 2016, totally renovated. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973, it is among the best of Wyoming’s historic buildings.
The President Arthur Expedition: The Fishing Trip That Helped Save Yellowstone
Chester A. Arthur, the first president to visit Yellowstone, traveled there in 1883 by stage and horseback from the railroad at Green River through the Shoshone Reservation and Jackson Hole. The trip generated political pressure to preserve the park in its natural state—and to stave off commercial development.
Wyoming Parkitecture
In 1904, when the Old Faithful Inn opened in Yellowstone Park, it was seen as a treasure: rustic and luxurious, breathtaking yet casual. It came to be a symbol of Yellowstone, and its building style, called parkitecture, spread quickly to other national parks, dude ranches, state parks and small museums.
Mike Sullivan, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland
Four years after finishing his second term as governor of Wyoming, Mike Sullivan was named U.S. ambassador to Ireland. Sullivan arrived in Dublin in 1999, when the ink was barely dry on the Good Friday Agreement, bringing peace in Northern Ireland after three decades of disastrous bombings, murders and political stalemate.
Native Rights to Wind River Water
By treaty, Native Americans in 1868 were reserved land along—and water from—Wyoming’s Wind River. But it would take a century and a half for courts to work out what water was whose—and to begin to define what tribal owners of the water could and couldn’t use their water for.
Holding on to Sovereignty: The Tribes Mix Old Forms with New
In the early decades of the 20th century, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho people in Wyoming found new ways to keep old traditions alive. At the same time they settled an old dispute by means of a long lawsuit, while always negotiating and re-negotiating their evolving relationship with the U.S. government.
The Tribes Sell Off More Land: The 1905 Agreement
In 1905, Congress ratified an agreement with the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho by which the tribes ceded 1.5 million acres of reservation land north of the Big Wind River. Tribal leaders questioned the final terms, however, and payments were slow in coming and fell far short of promised levels.
When the Tribes Sold the Hot Springs
With the buffalo gone and poverty, hunger and disease increasing, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes came under intense pressure in the 1890s to sell their land. In 1896, they sold the U.S. government a piece of their reservation ten miles square—including the splendid hot springs at present Thermopolis, Wyo.
Fragmenting Tribal Lands: The Dawes Act of 1887
Congress in 1887 passed the Dawes Act, setting up a framework for dividing up tribal lands on reservations into plots to be held by individual Indian owners, after which they could be leased or sold to anyone. Critics saw it as a method clearly intended to transfer lands out of Indian hands.
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Encyclopedia | The National Park Service’s Mission 66, initiated in 1956, modernized facilities, built new ones, built roads and added dozens more parks and historic sites. In Wyoming, architects designed buildings meant to enhance visitors’ experiences while protecting the wonders they came to see. The results recast Americans’ relationships with natural beauty.
Encyclopedia | Esther Hobart Morris, appointed justice of the peace in South Pass City in 1870, was the first woman in the nation to hold public office. While she is notable for that and for her longtime advocacy for women’s rights, much of her fame comes from something she almost certainly didn’t do.
Encyclopedia | Suffragist and temperance orator Theresa Jenkins delivered a key address at Wyoming’s statehood celebration on July 23, 1890. Later, she spoke widely in Colorado and other states, promoting Wyoming’s example in women’s rights, and spoke at the 1920 W.C.T.U. World's Convention in London.
Encyclopedia | Not only was Wyoming Territory the first government in the world to pass a law allowing women unrestricted voting rights—the territory and state can claim a number of other firsts as well. See the list for dozens more firsts for Wyoming women.
Encyclopedia | When Wyoming became the 23rd state to ratify the amendment, on January 24, 1973, supporters decorated Esther Hobart Morris’s statue at the Wyoming Capitol with flowers. The amendment has yet to become part of the U.S. Constitution.
Encyclopedia | Some delegates drawing up a new state constitution in 1889 feared that, once Wyoming’s statehood came before Congress, continuing to allow women to vote would jeopardize Wyoming’s chances of becoming a state. And they were right.
Encyclopedia | Estimates of the numbers of women who voted in the principal towns of Wyoming Territory, and a review of the methods used to make those estimates.
Encyclopedia | A look at the law, an anecdote from the election and some population statistics.
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