Letter: Women’s right to vote in NH came in 1920

To the editor:

The “100 Years Ago Today N.H. Women Got The Vote” article in the September 10, 2019, edition of the Ledger-Transcript is not entirely accurate.

The State of New Hampshire took voting rights away from women in 1784, and when the U.S. Constitution went into effect in 1789, voting qualifications were placed in the hands of the states. New Hampshire and all other states, except New Jersey, subsequently prevented women from voting. Some states and territories eventually granted women the right to vote, but New Hampshire did not.

When New Hampshire ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in September of 1919, to give women the right to vote, it was the 16th state to do so. This did not immediately give women in New Hampshire the right to vote. The amendment required the ratification of 36 states to become the law of the land. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, on August 18, 1920. It was only after Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment that women in New Hampshire were allowed to vote.

Thomas Dart

Portsmouth