"None could Deny the Eloquence of This Lady": Women, Law, And Government in California, 1850-1890‪.‬

Although women played no direct role in California law and politics until 1870, both their interest in law reform and their later entry into the political arena can be traced in part to two sections of the constitution that went into effect at statehood in 1850, one excluding women from the franchise and the other purporting to grant wives liberal property rights. Around 1870, California women joined their eastern sisters in organizing for suffrage rights and began seeking as well a more equitable implementation of the constitutional guarantee to marital property rights. This chapter will explore the circumstances that led California women to become involved in law reform, and their persistent fight over the next twenty years for equal political, property, and occupational rights, waged of necessity within the masculine arenas of law and politics. WOMEN IN THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATE GOVERNMENT