Lucretia Mott Research Paper

First and foremost, the fight for women’s rights is something that has occurred throughout time not only in the United States, but in every part of the world. When it comes to the United States, one cannot deny that it was an important historical event. “The struggle for women’s suffrage in the United States had occupied better part of a century” (Source 1). Truly a struggle, for it was not acknowledged by men in the past, primarily white man who had full rights in the nation. Susan B. Anthony was an important leading figure of the Suffrage Movement and contributed to the Suffrage Movement.

They were such a big deal, partially because before the Revolution they were particularly active towards the cause. Although they were a big contributor to the Revolution, they were not given the credit for it, and at first weren’t granted the same rights that men received, as well. Voting was a brief right given to the women who owned property, but was soon taken away. The 19th Amendment changed this in 1920 stating, “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” (Doc, N). The Women’s suffrage wasn’t as quick to be given as male’s suffrage was, but they did make headway within their marriages and families towards it. In marriage, women were viewed as equal partners, rather than the man having main authority. Women were prepared to experience the same rights that men did, and the partnership viewed in a marriage became part of the vision of the equality they wanted. They were tired of contributing towards the Revolution, but not receiving the liberties for themselves and it shows through this letter from Abigail Adams to her husband, “Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation” (Doc M). In the

The American Revolution was the initial push for women wanting rights. In a letter to Mary Otis Warren, Abigail Adams discloses that she asked her husband to include women and to not put all the power into the hands of men(Doc B). The American Revolution also greatly changed the lives of women. If the republic were to succeed, women must be educated so they could teach their children moral and virtue. Although their status in society stayed private and almost the same, women had a larger role in day to day life because of the Republican Motherhood. Women were honored to take on these news domestic roles(Doc C). Because of the increase in women’s education, women were able to contribute to other important movements such as the

Women were considered by the majority of the population to be rightfully subservient to men because of both tradition and religious practices. While women were undoubtedly called upon to take care of the home front while their men were called away to war, and in some cased supported the war directly, they were not given any political rights worth noting. They could not vote, could not hold political office, and could not legally join the military. Abigail Adams, advocated for the political rights of women in her letters to her husband John with little effect. While John Adams did address this issue in a letter to James Sullivan, he did not support this as a right. It seemed that there was little political will for women to be treated the equal with men, even slave men. (Brown & Carp,

Over the history of time women were not allowed to have prominent roles and rights in society. Through history and time women have fought for the right to vote, to work for equal pay, the women’s suffrage, gaining property rights, and much more. The first women’s right movement in the United States of America, which started in the 1830s, arose from the campaign too end slavery. Many things such as evangelical Christianity, the abolitionist critique to slavery, and debates about the place of women in the abolitionist movement played valuable roles in the development of the antebellum women’s right movement. These efforts and large steps that women took to destroy and tear down the walls that limited them from having a voice still resonates today.

During the Revolutionary War, women were helping the men to organize the house and business while the men went involved in the war. This gave the women a chance to prove they can do more than just doing housekeeping and inspired them to reject staying obedient in their marriage. After the American Independence, people started assigning women a new role - Republican Motherhoods, which said women had an indispensable role to shape society’s future citizens. Although women were still denied to gain any political rights, their status changed by having a freer choice in their own marriage and more active in reform

By the time women began to fight for their right to vote, the majority of the people were against, on the other hand some men were, in some way, in pro, defending the woman suffrage. Women were the most interested people to get their rights, therefore, a lot of them wrote stuff to convince the people and the courts that they were able to choose people, that women also think and could have an opinion of some matter different than the breeding of sons that became free citizen and daughters that became slaves of the home.

Without women the government and the police could not take any actions. Women enforced the boycotts which were fundamental to the success of the patriots; this is because without women, the movement would have failed. Women can be considered as founders because similarly to men, women were an important factor to us receiving our freedom. Although many people claim that women did not do anything important because some women did not have the right to even speak and most women who were married were considered none existent financially because their husbands represent their interest; however many women decided to destroyed this myth that they did not make any significant impact in our history. Catherine Clinton an acclaimed Author stated in her book that white women had the greatest potential of political and economic equality and indeed some enjoyed privileges not extended to women of color (Clinton 4).

Another, more direct, example of women’s political influence emerged nearing the later years of the revolution. As the conflict dragged on, and resources became scarce for the Patriot soldiers,

Back then men would do all the voting and representation for their state. The women would do all the cooking and cleaning for their husband, while they could work and get an education. The movement started to gain ground, but due to the Civil War it lost momentum. Some of the main women were Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott strongly believed that a woman's voice should be heard. How would you like it if you did not have a say in the matter, or that you were a women? Like these women they did not like that they could not do anything, so they decided to act upon it. In 1910 women finally had the right to vote. If this did not happen we would still be at the mercy of

When women were fighting for their rights, they approached the situation in multiple different ways. They were all connected with the same desire to get their rights and get a say in who ran the country that they lived in. They felt useless, just staying at home and being expected to only take care of children and the house.

Today, we discover the prevailing women of different classes and color who stood alongside men in the American Revolution, whether it be by boycotting British goods, voicing their opinions, or actively participating in the battlefields. Women were avid patriots of gaining liberty and freedom in America, and they served the country in every way that they can for their cause to become reality. Women took

Women’s Rights was and still is a major issue throughout the entire world, but more specifically, in the United States of America. Women have been treated unjustly for awhile. From being beaten by their husbands, to not being able to own property if they were married, women have been through it all. Many of these situations started to change because of a group of women that decided to stand up for what they believe in. A few activists that helped improve the rights of women are Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott.

The abolitionist women hoped after the Civil War when the fifteenth amendment was passed; The amendment would allow women to vote. The amendment did not allow discrimination of race to stop men from voting. The amendment did not include anything about the sex of a person. Therefore women were not able to vote. The amendment was a huge step forward in the right direction, but it still left out women. With the Great War taking place, important women's suffrage figure Carrie Chapman Catt who is the president of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association. “Carrie believed that women had to show patriotism in order to obtain the right to vote”. Her organizations patriotic acts included “food conservation and distributed emergency relief through organizations like the Red Cross.” Along with her pariotism she kept constant pressure on the government by lobbying the

(Goldfield, 338) Since the cult of domesticity was making women inferior to men, women decided to do as the slaves did and fight for their own freedom. The women’s rights movement began in the mid-1800s. Female and male abolitionist found it necessary that women should be able to have the same rights as men. Just because biologically they are different, it does not mean they do not deserve the same rights. Women were denied the right to vote, property and a right to an education or job. (Goldfield, 338) At first the women’s movement was slow. Many women were afraid to speak out in fear of being shunned by their community. This was a brand new scary task that Women for the first time were going to deal with. A women speaking out against the norms of society was seen as a terrible thing to do. When you have many women speaking out for the same thing a change must be done. When the first national convention for women’s rights was called in Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were able to successfully use the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own Declaration of Sentiments. (Goldfield, 339) In their Declaration they branded that “male patriarchy as the source of women’s oppression” (Goldfield, 339) Stanton and Mott called for full women’s rights and to become independent citizens. Although the fight for women’s rights was always an important issue, most abolitionists deemed it less important