Michigan
Michigan’s Fight for Suffrage
Women worked for over 70 years to get the vote. Divisions over race, tactics, and strategy did not stop suffrage efforts. Women kept their eyes on the prize . . . suffrage. Learn more about the fight for suffrage in Michigan in the timeline below, or download the timeline as a printable PDF.
Michigan’s Suffrage Timeline
1855
Michigan suffragists began presenting petitions to the state legislature which were generally ignored.
1870
After founding the Michigan State Woman Suffrage Association (MSWSA), suffragists lobbied the legislature for a constitutional amendment and held suffrage rallies and lectures. The legislature allowed women to vote in school board elections—a small, first step.
1874
MSWSA campaigned for a state suffrage amendment, but the amendment failed by a wide margin—only 40,077 votes for and 135,957 votes against.
1893
The legislature granted women municipal suffrage, but imposed a literacy test to limit broader voting. Five months later, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned suffrage expansion not based on the literacy provision, but because it did not believe that the legislature had the authority to expand suffrage rights on its own.
1912
The Michigan Legislature passed legislation authorizing a suffrage referendum. With less than five months to plan, suffragists partnered with other organizations, including labor groups, men’s suffrage leagues, and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Before the referendum, rallies and car parades took place in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo, and suffragists canvassed across the state. Amid allegations of missing votes and opposition by the powerful liquor lobby—including saloonkeepers and brewers associations—suffrage failed by approximately 760 votes out of nearly 500,000 cast.
1918
With the U.S. at war with Germany, many Americans associated the liquor industry with Germany and were not as likely to be swayed by its opposition to suffrage. After the legislature again placed a suffrage referendum for presidential and municipal elections on the ballot, voters approved the amendment by a margin of 229,790 to 195,284. Women now had the right to vote in Michigan.
June 10, 1919
The Michigan Legislature unanimously ratified the 19th Amendment.
References
Cooney, Robert. (2005). Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement. American Graphic Press.
Michigan and the 19th Amendment. (2019, August 9). National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/michigan-and-the-19th-amendment.htm
Michigan Women’s Suffrage Amendment (1912). (n.d.). Ballotpedia. https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Women%27s_Suffrage_Amendment_(1912)
Michigan Women’s Suffrage Amendment (1918). (n.d.). Ballotpedia. https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Women%27s_Suffrage_Amendment_(1918)
Reverend Dr. Anna Howard Shaw. (2019, June 27). National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/anna-howard-shaw.htm
Woman’s Suffrage in Michigan: A Timeline of the Movement. (2024, April 2). Library of Michigan. https://www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan/public/michigan/featured-michigan-materials/womans-suffrage-in-michigan-a-timeline-of-the-movement