Wyoming Quotes
In its early history Wyoming was a very liberal—perhaps radical—state. Wyoming women were the first in the nation to vote, serve on juries and hold public office. In 1920, an all-female town council was elected in Jackson Hole, the first political unit in America to have a female government. This made national news and with it the “Equality State” entered the consciousness of most Americans.
In 1869 the all male legislature of Wyoming at the urging of legislator Col. William Bright passed legislation allowing women not only to vote but to hold public office. A local Justice of the Peace was so outraged that he resigned in protest. Then Esther Morris ran for the vacated position and won becoming the first woman to hold public office. See {585019} & {585020}
16 white miners were charged with riot, arson, murder and robbery. However the local white jury acquitted them all. Southern white murders of Blacks were not the only terrible crimes that were openly committed with impunity.
In 1869 the all male legislature of Wyoming at the urging of legislator Col. William Bright passed legislation allowing women not only to vote but to hold public office. A local Justice of the Peace was so outraged that he resigned in protest. Then Esther Morris ran for the vacated position and won becoming the first woman to hold public office. See {585019} & {585018}
Ironically it takes skill to hang a person, or to operate an electric chair or gas chamber, and lethal injection takes several skilled trained people. While a firing squad can be organized with people who have no other skill than to shoot straight at a short distance of which there are tens of millions of Americans. However, for many people it was offensive in discussing the serious and fundamentally moral issue of capital punishment to be concerned with saving a few dollars relative to being humane and reflecting American values.
