Women's suffrage in Delaware began in the late 1860s, with efforts from suffragist, Mary Ann Sorden Stuart, and an 1869 women's rights convention held in Wilmington, Delaware. Stuart, along with prominent national suffragists lobbied the Delaware General Assembly to amend the state constitution in favor of women's suffrage. Several suffrage groups were formed early on, but the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) formed in 1896, would become one of the major state suffrage clubs. Suffragists held conventions, continued to lobby the government and grow their movement. In 1913, a chapter of the Congressional Union (CU), which would later be known at the National Women's Party (NWP), was set up by Mabel Vernon in Delaware. NWP advocated more militant tactics to agitate for women's suffrage. These included picketing and setting watchfires. The Silent Sentinels protested in Washington, D.C., and were arrested for "blocking traffic." Sixteen women from Delaware, including Annie Arniel and Florence Bayard Hilles, were among those who were arrested. During World War I, both African-American and white suffragists in Delaware aided the war effort. During the ratification process for the Nineteenth Amendment, Delaware was in the position to become the final state needed to complete ratification. A huge effort went into persuading the General Assembly to support the amendment. Suffragists and anti-suffragists alike campaigned in Dover, Delaware for their cause. However, Delaware did not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until March 6, 1923, well after it was already part of the United States Constitution.
Early efforts
The first women's rights convention in Wilmington, Delaware was held on November 12, 1869, with speakers Thomas Garrett and Lucy Stone. At the convention, the Delaware Suffrage Association was formed and affiliated with the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Mary Ann Sorden Stuart, who had been working towards women's rights issues since 1868, went on to testify in front of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on women's suffrage in 1878. Stuart was a constant lobbyist for women's rights at the Delaware General Assembly. On January 25, 1881, Stuart, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton addressed the General Assembly on women's suffrage.
The Delaware chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) set up a "franchise department" in 1888 to address women's suffrage. WCTU members felt that gaining suffrage for women would help them have more political power. Another women's suffrage group was the Wilmington Equal Suffrage Club, formed by Rachel Foster Avery on November 18, 1895. The next year, organizers Henrietta G. Moore and Mary Garrett Hay came to Delaware to help continue suffrage work in the state. Moore and Hay were involved in working on the state suffrage convention. The Delaware Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) was created at the convention and the group affiliated itself with the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). DESA began its work by focusing on education about women's suffrage. They also lobbied both federal and state legislators.
To prepare for the upcoming Delaware constitutional convention in 1897, Carrie Chapman Catt met with suffrage leaders in Delaware. Mary C. C. Bradford and Laura A. Gregg came to Delaware to provide further services organizing suffragists in the state. Suffragists sent petitions around the state and Martha S. Cranston and Catt took the signatures to Dover for the convention. The constitutional convention delegates permitted the suffragists to speak on January 13, 1897. The speakers included Catt, Margaret W. Houston, Emalea Pusey Warner, and Emma Worrell. It was proposed that "male" not be applied to the description of a legal voter, but it did not pass.
In 1900, some women who paid property taxes in the state were considered "eligible" to vote for school commissioners. That same year, anti-suffragist Emily Bissell spoke to the United States Congress against women's suffrage. In 1909, DESA helped the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) with their federal suffrage amendment petition drive.