Although for many years the newly reunited women’s suffrage movement could not point to any significant victories, things began to change during the second decade of the twentieth century. Much of this was due to the growth of the Progressive Party throughout the country. The Progressives believed that the citizens of the United States did not have sufficient control over the politicians who were supposed to be passing legislation on their behalf. Instead, they thought that many legislatures were primarily interested in protecting important business interests, such as the liquor industry in the western states and the railroads in California. Once voters were able to put enough Progressive candidates into these state legislatures, new laws designed to increase greater democratic control were put into place. Many of the states in which the Progressives gained political power began to consider women’s suffrage as a way...