"Right in Theory, Wrong in Practice:' Women's Suffrage and the Reconstruction Amendments

This is the title of my new draft paper on SSRN. Here is the Abstract:

This Essay explores the most remarkable constitutional argument ever forgotten. In 1871, Representative William Loughridge dissented from a report by the House Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee rejected a petition by Victoria Woodhull claiming that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments gave women the right to vote. Representative Loughridge replied with a defense of women’s suffrage that was the first official declaration of constitutional sex equality. The Woodhull Petition and the Loughridge Dissent are a treasure trove that should be added to the constitutional canon.