Exhibits
Meet Maine Here.
The Maine Story
Organizing and Petitioning
“I never pay my taxes but what I feel like protesting against taxation without representation.”Hannah J. Bailey, 1895
Portland Daily Press, January 22. 1873
Signed by 186 men and women from 18 communities, the announcement for a statewide woman’s rights convention was printed in numerous newspapers.
Hundreds of people, the majority women, heard speeches by national suffrage advocates Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone, and a number of Mainers. They also formed a committee to draw up resolutions, and created the Maine Woman Suffrage Association.
“The Coming Woman” float, Bethel, 1874 (Maine Historic Preservation Commission Collection)
Girls, dressed in white and representing Maine’s 16 counties, rode on a horse-drawn float, titled “The Coming Woman,” in Bethel’s 1874 Centennial Parade. Perhaps reflecting a familiarity with growing state and national pro-suffrage efforts after the Civil War, one sign reads “Woman’s Suffrage.” The other signs are not legible.
