Clio Logo
Ratification of the 19th Amendment: Timeline and Story Map
Item 32 of 48

In the 1864 Nevada state constitution the right to vote was specifically for men. In 1869, a women’s suffrage bill was introduced and passed by both houses of the legislature, but it failed to pass again at the next legislative session two years later (as required by the state constitution). The women’s suffrage movement did not gain new momentum until the 1900s. In 1911 women organized the Nevada Equal Franchise Society and under the leadership of Jeanne Elizabeth Weir, Anne Martin, and Bird Wilson women again pushed for the right to vote. The state legislature passed an amendment to allow women’s suffrage in 1911 and again in 1913, allowing the issue to go to a general vote. The Nevada suffrage movement faced a fierce anti-suffrage movement that included prominent women and business leaders. Several businessmen threatened to pull their businesses out of the state if women’s suffrage was approved. Because much of the opposition was concentrated in urban areas, the Nevada Equal Franchise Society focused their campaigning on rural areas where voters would not face the same economic pressure. As a result, when the issue of women’s suffrage went to a general vote in 1914, the suffrage amendment was approved by a vote of 10,936 to 7,258. When Congress passed the 19th Amendment, Nevada ratified it on February 7, 1920.


Governor Emmett D. Boyle of Nevada signs the ratification of the 19th Amendment, February 7, 1920

Coat, Font, Adaptation, Hat

Map used during the 1911-1914 campaign for women's suffrage in Nevada.

Map, World, Font, Urban design

Anne Martin and Mabel Vernon in the Nevada desert during the 1914 campaign for suffrage

Wheel, Tire, Vehicle, Motor vehicle

"Two More Bright Spots on the Map" by Harry Osborn, November 14, 1914

Organism, Font, Style, Art

Green, Michael. "Women's Suffrage." Nevada Public Radio. December 26, 2020. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://knpr.org/knpr/2020-12/womens-suffrage.

"Nevada and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 22, 2019. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/nevada-and-the-19th-amendment.htm.

"Nevada Suffrage." Women in Nevada History. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.womennvhistory.com/nevada-suffrage/.

"Women's Suffrage in Nevada." Nevada Public Radio. November 13, 2014. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://knpr.org/knpr/2014-11/womens-suffrage-nevada.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

"Nevada and the 19th Amendment." National Park Service. August 22, 2019. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/articles/nevada-and-the-19th-amendment.htm.

"Nevada Women's History Project celebrates 100 years of women's suffrage." Reno Gazette Journal. July 21, 2014. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.rgj.com/story/life/2014/07/22/nevada-womens-history-project-celebrates-years-womens-suffrage/12946725/.

Starbuck, Lucia. "Commemorating Women's Suffrage in Nevada." KUNR. November 29, 2019. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.kunr.org/post/commemorating-womens-suffrage-nevada#stream/0.

"Women's suffrage in Nevada." Wikipedia. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Nevada.