Minor v. Happersett - Womens Voting Rights Denied

On October 15, 1872, Virginia Minor applied to register to vote in Missouri. The registrar, Reese Happersett, turned down the application, because the Missouri state constitution read: Every male citizen of the United States shall be entitled to vote. Mrs. Minor sued in Missouri state court, claiming her rights were violated on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment. Text of Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments After Minor lost the suit in that court, she appealed to the state Supreme Court. When the Missouri Supreme Court agreed with the registrar, Minor brought the case to the United States Supreme Court. Fast Facts: Minor v. Happersett Case Argued: Feb. 9, 1875Decision Issued: March 29, 1875Petitioner: Virginia Minor, a female U.S. citizen and resident of the state of MissouriRespondent: Reese Happersett, St. Louis County, Missouri, registrar of votersKey Questions: Under the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause, and the 15th Amendments assurance that voting rights must not be denied or abridged ... on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, did women have the right to vote?Majority Decision: Justices Clifford, Swayne, Miller, Davis, Field, Strong, Bradley, Hunt, WaiteDissenting: NoneRuling: The Court ruled that the Constitution  did not grant anyone, specifically female citizens of the U.S., the right to vote. The Supreme Court Decides The US Supreme Court, in an 1874 unanimous opinion written by the chief justice, found: women are citizens of the United States, and were even before the Fourteenth Amendment passedthe right of suffrage -- the right to vote -- is not a necessary privilege and immunity to which all citizens are entitledthe Fourteenth Amendment did not add the right of suffrage to citizenship privilegesthe Fifteenth Amendment was required to be sure voting rights were not denied or abridged ... on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude -- in other words, the amendment was not necessary if citizenship conferred voting rightswomens suffrage was explicitly excluded in nearly every state either in the constitution or in its legal code; no state had been excluded from joining the Union for lack of womens voting rights, including states re-entering the Union after the Civil War, with newly written constitutionsthe US had made no objection when New Jersey explicitly withdrew womens suffrage rights in 1807arguments about the need for womens suffrage were irrelevant to their de cisions Thus, Minor v. Happersett reaffirmed the exclusion of women from voting rights. The Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, in granting suffrage rights to women, overrode this decision. Related Reading Linda K. Kerber. No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies. Women and the Obligations of Citizenship. 1998