Women’s Suffrage A Brief History
Suff-what? Suffrage - The right to vote Franchise - The right to vote. The rights of citizenship Vote - A formal indication of a choice between two or more candidates or courses of action, expressed typically through a ballot or a show of hands or by voice.
At the Beginning... Women were the “weaker vessel” - morally, mentally and physically inferior to men. Women were subject to the authority of men - first their fathers’ then their husbands’. With marriage a women was under the legal identity of her husband. Women could not own or control property Women could not be the guardian of their children Women could not sue or be sued in court Any wages a women earned were legally her husbands
Women Speak Out Women begin speak out and fight against slavery (Abolitionists). By 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women’s right convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
Seneca Falls Over 300 men and women attended the convention. Women’s rights advocates at Seneca Falls argued that political power came from the consent of the governed and thus women should be given the right to vote. The Declaration of Sentiments (1848) was drafted at Seneca Falls and was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Progressive Era By the end of the 19th century more women were looking beyond their home and into the public sphere. By 1900 there were over 500 women’s clubs with over 160,000 members. Many of these organizations focused on supporting libraries, hospitals, schools, settlement houses, compulsory education and child labor laws.
National American Woman Suffrage Association National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) led by Carrie Chapman Catt. Catt devised a “winning plan” which called for action on two fronts. Some groups lobbied Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment. While other groups utilized the new referendum process to try and pass state suffrage laws.
National Woman’s Party National Woman’s Party (NWP) was created by Alice Paul NWP believed that NAWSA was moving too slowly NWP took a more militant approach to campaigning for women’s suffrage. The NWP picketed outside of the White House. Women were arrested and sent to jail as a result of the protests. While in jail some women (like Alice Paul) went on hunger strikes until they were able to vote or be released from jail.
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) was formed in New York City in 1911 NAOWS felt that women’s suffrage would decrease women’s work within their communities and societal reforms. NAOWS operated in Washington D.C. until it was disbanded after the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage
Nineteenth Amendment The efforts of both NAWSA and the NWP convinced a legislators to support a women’s suffrage amendment. June 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment which stated: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Sources http://www.america.gov/st/pubs-english/2005/May/20050531160341liameruoy0.2459375.html http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr040.html http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.asp http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Declaration_of_Sentiments.html http://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/03/elizabeth-cady-stanton-profile-part-4/ http://www.biography.com/people/lucretia-mott-9416590 http://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/images/suffrage/equal_350.jpg http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/peace.html http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/homeEc/suffrage/suffrage_pics/NAWSA_certificateAlt.jpg http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibition-hall/archives/images/1766?detail-image-node=1767 http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/organizations/national-womans-party/ http://jwa.org/primarysources/orgrec_08.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/404481/National-Association-Opposed-to-Woman- Suffrage-NAOWS