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I Could Do That!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote    by Linda Arms White & Nancy Carpenter Amazon.com order for
I Could Do That!
by Linda Arms White
Order:  USA  Can
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2005 (2005)
Hardcover
* *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

This story of a strong-willed young woman opens, 'In 1820, six-year-old Esther McQuigg studied her mother making tea. "I could do that," she said.' Esther wants to learn and she succeeds, in making tea, sewing - and caring for her family after her mother dies when she turns eleven.

At nineteen, Esther opens her own hat shop in Oewgo, New York. She runs abolitionist meetings at her church. She marries and has a son. When her husband dies, she moves to Illinois, where she opens another hat shop, marries again and has two more sons. She questions why women do not vote - 'I could do that', she tells her husband.

At fifty-five, Esther and her sons join her husband in the newly formed, rowdy Wyoming Territory. Of course, she opens another hat shop. When she sees a proclamation for territorial elections, she decides 'It's time I did that'. She convinces the candidates to support a bill to give women the vote, and keeps up the pressure until it becomes law in 1869.

Linda Arms White tells an inspiring story of a determined girl who turns into an indomitable woman - one who makes history - while Nancy Carpenter's illustrations show the settings and costumes of the day, and add a touch of humor and whimsy. Enjoy learning about how 'Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote' in I Could Do That!

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