Did women have the right to vote in New Jersey at the turn of the 19th century?

Women residents of New Jersey enjoyed the right to vote between 1776 and 1807. New Jersey’s first constitution, passed in 1776, granted voting rights to all residents regardless of gender, assuming they met certain eligibility requirements. The constitution was amended in 1790 to specifically grant the right to women. In practice, only unmarried women could vote, as owning property was a voting requirement, and married women could not own property.

In 1807, New Jersey revoked women’s right to vote in an effort to disadvantage the Federalist party—for which women typically voted—and to advantage the Democratic-Republican Party. James Madison, a Democratic-Republican candidate, took the state of New Jersey and won the 1808 election.

At least 20 other states granted women the right to vote before the passage of the 19th Amendment, which enfranchised all female U.S. citizens in 1920.