1881: The WCTU Endorses Suffrage
The WCTU’s acceptance of the Home Protection campaign, and the wider scope for the organization that it stood for, were confirmed in 1879, when Willard was elected president of the WCTU—a position she would hold until her death in 1898. During Willard’s second term as president, at the WCTU National Convention of 1881, a resolution was finally, formally passed to add woman suffrage to the goals and methods of the organization.
"Home Protection is the strongest rallying cry; equal franchise, when the vote of woman joined to that of man can alone give stability to Temperance legislation."
The WCTU then established a national department of Franchise—also known as suffrage. The Franchise Department’s first report appeared in the 1882 Convention minutes—and from then on it was an established department at the National level and replicated in many state-level WCTUs.
As would be expected, many WCTU women continue to hesitate in their support for full suffrage—the right to vote in national as well as local elections. Willard was careful to keep the idea of the vote firmly tied to shutting down the saloons, and she often referred to the courage and example set by the first temperance Crusaders—“average women” who had bent the rules of society in their quest to save their homes and families. She also pointed out that the people most opposed to women voting were the liquor manufacturers and the saloon keepers, because they knew that if women could vote, they would be out of business.