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Suffrage In Sixty Seconds: Arkansas's Constitutional Convention Of 1868

Many may be surprised to learn that the first recorded demand for women’s suffrage in Arkansas was made in 1868.

Following the Civil War, federal policies required southern states to draft new constitutions, and in January 1868 men from across Arkansas assembled in Little Rock where Miles Ledford Langley, a delegate from Clark County, moved that the following should be added to Article One of the new constitution. “All citizens, twenty-one years of age, who can read and write the English language, shall be eligible to the elective franchise and entitled to equal political rights and privileges.”

He went on to argue that “the right of woman to the elective franchise is based on scientific truth.”

You can read the entire debate and learn more at ARvotesforwomen.com.

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