Suffragist Migration West after Seneca Falls, 1848–1871: Catharine Paine Blaine

Suffragist Migration West after Seneca Falls, 1848–1871: Catharine Paine Blaine by Stephanie Stidham Rogers explores the surprising link between Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Conference of 1848, and the Women’s Suffrage Bill presented at the 1854 Washington State Territorial Legislature. It shows how Seattle’s first Suffragist, educator, clothing protestor, and activist Catharine Paine Blaine planted the seeds of the Western feminist movement, and this book redresses her prior omission as the founder of the University of Washington. Catharine drew upon the political tools and discursive skills she acquired during her abolitionist upbringing in the nascent days of Washington State. However, like many suffragists of her time, she rejected Native culture and regarded Native men as competitors for the vote. Rogers examines Seattle within the broader context of the Western “suffrage column” that would only gain similar widespread acceptance in the East in 1885, when Catharine Paine Blaine became the first signer of the Seneca Falls Declaration to legally cast her vote in the City of Seattle. Stidham Rogers unveils the unique contributions of Western suffragists in the comparatively liberating frontier context, leading to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Chapter One: Suffragist Childhoods: Learning Discourse in an Abolitionist Setting Chapter Two: How the Seneca Falls Women’s Conference & Bloomerism Created Space for a Western Movement Chapter Three: The New Companionate Marriage and Suffragist Migration West Chapter Four: New Opportunities for Suffragists on the Frontier Chapter Five: Suffragists and the Racial Politics of the West Chapter Six: Western Politics Spur Women’s Suffrage Work Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
Stephanie Stidham Rogers is an independent scholar.

Review :
Any reader who would like to understand the U.S. suffrage movement would be well advised to read this engaging and illuminating account of the role played by women who migrated West. Suffragist Migration West after Seneca Falls, 1848–1871 presents an interesting biography of one such woman--Catharine Paine Blaine--to illustrate the underappreciated, yet vital role of Western women in achieving suffrage. With the life story of Catherine Paine Blaine as its backbone, this well-crafted and important book shows how the quasi-religious doctrine of Manifest Destiny fueled white feminism in nineteenth–century America. As the youngest woman to sign the Women's Rights Declaration in Seneca Falls in 1848, Blaine became an influential educator and suffragist in the American West, and one of the first women to vote in Washington Territory. A must read for anyone interested in women's leadership in western expansion. Stidham Rogers's very readable history of the life and work of Catherine Paine Blaine lends important insight into the history of the Methodist Church in the pioneer settlements of Pacific Northwest in the nineteenth century and adds an important chapter to the historiography of the city of Seattle. Most significantly, this book tells the lost story of the salient role of Western suffragists --like Catherine Blaine-- in the larger struggle for women's equality in the United States. Stidham Rogers tells Paine's story with sensitivity and respect for the diverse populations of the Pacific Northwest. This is an important addition to American women's history.