- Virginia Minor
Virginia Louisa Minor (born
March 27 ,1824 ,Caroline County, Virginia ; diedAugust 14 ,1894 ,St. Louis, Missouri ) was an Americanwomen's suffrage activist. She is best remembered as the plaintiff inMinor v. Happersett , an 1875United States Supreme Court case in which Minor unsuccessfully argued that theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote.Minor married her distant cousin, lawyer Francis Minor, in 1843; they settled in St. Louis in 1844. During the
American Civil War , Minor was an active member of theSt. Louis Ladies Union Aid Society .In 1867, Minor co-founded and became the first president of the Woman's Suffrage Association of Missouri (later an affiliate of the
National Woman Suffrage Association ). At an 1869 convention in St. Louis, Minor stated that "the Constitution of the United States gives me every right and privilege to which every other citizen is entitled." Later that year, Francis and Virginia Minor drafted and circulated pamphlets arguing for women's suffrage based on the newly-passed Fourteenth Amendment.On October 15, 1872, Virginia Minor attempted to register to vote in St. Louis. When election registrar Reese Happersett turned her down, Virginia (represented by Francis) filed suit in the Missouri state courts. The trial court,
Missouri Supreme Court , and United States Supreme Court all ruled in favor of the state of Missouri. The Supreme Court unanimously held "that the Constitution of the United States does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one", and that the decision of who should be entitled to vote was left to the legislative branch.Virginia Minor testified in support of women's suffrage before the
United States Senate in 1889, and was honorary vice president of the Interstate Woman Suffrage Convention in 1892. She died in St. Louis in 1894.ee also
*
History of women's suffrage in the United States
*Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution External links
* [http://www.umsl.edu/services/library/womenstudies/1stcent.htm "Women Who Led the Way"] , Women's Studies Dept.,
University of Missouri–St. Louis
* [http://www.nps.gov/jeff/forteachers/upload/Minor3.pdf Virginia Minor trial reenactment] ,Jefferson National Expansion Memorial ; includes copies of primary sources and extensive bibliography
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9125879/Virginia-Louisa-Minor Encyclopedia Britannica entry (subscription required)]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
