Mary Wilson Thompson
Mary Wilson Thompson (October 30, 1866 – April 2, 1947) was a Delaware civic leader. As leader of the Delaware Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, she is credited with the Delaware General Assembly's failure to ratify the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in the United States. Life Mary Wilson Thompson was born at Stockford Estate near Wilmington, Delaware, on October 30, 1866. She was the daughter of Civil War General James Harrison Wilson. She attended the fashionable Misses Hebb's School in Wilmington and travelled extensively before she married wealthy textile businessman Henry Burling Thompson. The couple were leaders in Wilmington civic society. In a memoir written in the 1930s, Thompson explained her position against women's suffrage: I have always opposed votes for women. It is constitutional with me. It is not that I feel women cannot vote or are not the mental equal of our men folks, but I feel that it is duplicating our work. It is putting an extra burden on the women and it has weakened materially our power with the legislatures. Thompson drew upon her connections to influence politicians against voting for suffrage. She wrote to President Woodrow Wilson, a friend of