uld be in going to church
or to places of amusement. On the other hand women are benefited
and improved by the ballot.... The fact is, Wyoming has the
noblest and best women in the world because they have more
privileges and know better how to use them.

To conclude I will say: Woman suffrage is a settled fact here,
and will endure as long as the Territory. It has accomplished
much good; it has harmed no one; therefore we are all in favor,
and none can be found to raise a voice against it.

In the convention called the first Monday of September, 1889, to
prepare a constitution for admission as a State, this was the first
clause presented for consideration:

The right of citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and hold
office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both
male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy all civil,
political and religious rights and privileges.

After just twenty years' experience of woman suffrage no man in this
convention was found in opposition to it, but to the surprise of the
members, one delegate, A. C. Campbell of Laramie, proposed to amend
this section by making it a separate article to be voted upon apart
from the rest of the constitution. He supported his amendment by a
long speech in which he said that he himself should vote in favor of
the article and, from his observations throughout the Territory, he
believed two-thirds or more of the people would do the same, but he
thought they ought to have a chance to express themselves; that "they
were going to have a pretty tough time anyhow getting into the Union,
and if they put in a proposition of this kind without giving those
persons who were opposed to woman suffrage a chance to express
themselves, they would vote against the whole constitution."

The other members of the convention looked upon this as a scheme of
the opponents, and Mr. Campbell had no support to his proposition. On
the contrary, the most eloquent addresses were made by George W.
Baxter, Henry A. Coffeen, C. W. Holden, Asbury B. Conaway, Melville C.
Brown, Charles H. Burritt and John W. Hoyt demanding that the suffrage
clause should stand in the constitution regardless of consequences.
Space will permit only the keynote of these courageous speeches.[473]

MR. BAXTER: ... I defend this because it is right, because it is
fair, because it is just.... I shall ever regard as a