HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, WYOMING–ARGUABLY OUR MOST BEAUTIFUL RED STATE: The Wyoming Territory’s constitution was the first to guarantee women the right to vote. When Wyoming applied for statehood, Congress initially balked, with some members fearing that admitting Wyoming would lead to demands for women’s suffrage in other states. But the Wyoming legislature stood its ground and cabled back to Congressional leaders, “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.”
Congress eventually relented, and on this day in 1890, Wyoming was admitted as our 44th state. Those who feared that Wyoming’s example would lead to pressure for women’s suffrage were, of course, right. Before the turn of the century, there were four women’s suffrage states—Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho—and many more soon thereafter. Good-o (except for the part about women being more likely to vote for progressives … there’s not a lot of that in Wyoming, y’know).