Women's Suffrage In The United States

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

“It forbade all the states to deny the vote to anyone “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This was the final blow to the southern states, which quickly ratified the amendment. By March 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment became apart of the Constitution. Now taking into consideration the hell that southern blacks were enduring, this short period of time consisted of three Amendments being passed that shed a light on the black population that most blacks at the time had given up on. Congress gave the opportunity for blacks to step out of slavery, accept citizenship, and take the power to vote and change the way the south had been ran. “The Radicals had at last succeeded in imposing their will on the South, Throughout the region former slaved had real political influence; they voted, held office, and exercised the “privileges” and enjoyed the “immunities” guarantied them by the Fourteenth Amendment…The spectacle of blacks not five years removed from slavery in positions of power and responsibility attracted much attention at the time and has since been examined exhaustively by historians.”

During the late 1700s, women were not seen as being equal to men. They were imaged as one who stayed at home and took care of the kids. No one ever imagined a woman voting. Some women actually supported the fight in allowing blacks to vote. During the time the 15th amendment passed, many women who supported Women’s Suffrage were disappointed in which they were excluded in the idea of allowing “everyone” to vote. Before the Civil War, the movement for Women’s Suffrage started to pick up steam, but had become lost due to the interruption of the Civil War. One of the acts that stood out the most for Women’s Suffrage was the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848. This was organized by two American activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They were the first to organize a conference to address Women’s rights and issues, and with sixty- eight women and thirty two men, they signed “The Declaration of Sentiments”, a document that was similar to the Declaration of Independence, but directed towards women’s rights. Getting suffrage for women was not an easy campaign. During 1890- 1919, many states were in a mix on their decision on suffrage for women. Some agreed with equal suffrage, others partial, and the rest wanted no suffrage at all for females as displayed in Document 6. Women’s Suffrage finally became a reality when it was ratified as an amendment (19th) in

In the summer of eighteen forty-eight two women Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony who founded the National Women’s Suffrage Association in eighteen sixty-nine met with a small group of people determined to give women a larger sphere of action than the laws and customs of that day allowed (Taylor 13). At this time in our country women were denied the right to vote, made to give their husbands the land and property which they may have control of, plus nearly no say in legal or professional matters. To give you an idea of what the women were up against on July thirtieth, eighteen sixty-eight a group lead by T.H. Mundine wrote a declaration stating that all persons meeting age, residences, and citizenship requirements be deemed qualified electors “without distinction of sex” (Taylor 14). This motion was referred to the state of Texas and in January eighteen sixty-nine, it was rejected on a vote of fifty-two – thirteen. The motion that was shot down was not anything to major by today’s standards. It was a simple bill to allow women to have a more reasonable portion of the burdens of government (Taylor 14). As this example illustrates women had a huge wall to climb of they wanted to be even with men in societies eyes.

Lastly, the 15th Amendment is the reason African Americans were able to vote because that is exactly what the Amendment was created for. In the amendment, it states that “ the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied …” meaning that no one can be denied that right based on any differences. The creation of the 15th Amendment was exactly what African Americans worked hard to obtain.

Women were treated unfairly from men just solely based on the fact that they are women because women were thought of as weak at the time . However, women wanted to fight and break the stereotype to show that they can more than what society makes them out to be. Events like the involvement of America during World War 1 and women role during the war is what also pushed women movement in various ways but also showing their importance in the American society. The​ ​fight​ ​and struggle​ ​took​ ​years​ ​but​ ​1900’s​ ​​ ​is​ ​when​ ​the​ ​women​ ​suffrage​ ​movement​ ​really​ ​took​ ​off​ ​for American​ ​women and by the 1920 they white women had the right to vote. The role of women changed drastically in 1920s several

The women 's suffrage movement, the time when women fought for their rights, began in the year 1848 and continued on all the way through the 1860s. Although women in the new republic had important roles in the family, the house, and other obligations, they were excluded from most rights. These rights included political and legal rights. Due to their gender, they have been held back because they did not have as much opportunities as the men did. The new republic made alterations in the roles of women by disparaging them in society. During this era, men received a higher status than women. Because women were forced to follow laws without being allowed to state their opinions, they tried to resist laws, fight for their freedom and strive to gain equality with men. This leads to feminism, the belief in political, social, and economic equality between men and women. It is the feminist efforts that have successfully tried to give rights that men had, to women who have been denied those rights. Upon the deprivation of those rights, the Seneca Falls convention and the Declaration of Sentiments helped women gain the privileges and opportunities to accomplish the task of equality that they have been striving for.

In the mid-1800s, women promoted the idea that they should have equal rights as men. This powerful movement was known as Women’s Suffrage. During the fight for women’s rights several leaders of this movement emerged, specifically women like Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, just to name a few. These women and many more played a pivotal role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, which led to establishing the 19th Amendment to the Constitution permitting women the right to vote, as well as The United States Congress dedicating August 26th as Women’s Equality Day in 1971.

Beginning in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York was the first right for women's right. Only the start of the 50-year battle to get equality. Roughly 300 people attended mostly woman, Frederick Douglass was only of the few men there. The two organizers Elizab0eth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were mocked by press after the meeting for equality, that made them fight harder. In the beginning of the twentieth century, woman had no place in politics and were often discriminated. A movement named Women's suffrage had a big part in women getting the right to vote. In the United States, it was known as Woman's National League founded by Elizabeth Cady and Susan B. Anthony. Many men were apart of this movement, even making their own movement called Men's Leagues for Woman Suffrage roughly 20,000 members. Another one, National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) lead by Carrie Chapman Catt, helped start campaigns in the states this group had millions of members. Next came National Organization for Woman (NOW) lead by Alice Paul, had a more powerful approach with protecting and picketing. The overall point was to get Congress and President Woodrow Wilson to open their eyes. World War 1 did not interfere with the campaign it only helped by stating without woman working

The fight for women's suffrage in the United States occurred over the course of many

With help from organizations such as the National Women’s Party, women tried to change their political status, yet did not always succeed. For instance, the National Women’s Party proposed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 because women “felt the continuing sting of discrimination and sought to eradicate the last vestiges of legal discrimination” (Evans). Although women worked hard to eliminate disparities between both genders, proposals such as the ERA failed to pass. Women founded organizations to fight for equality, but many people at the time were not ready to grant full rights to females. Moreover, women faced many hardships that prevented them from gaining political standing: “female officeholders generally operated within the context of prevailing assumptions that women should keep to women's issues, or ‘municipal housekeeping,’ the same assumption that limited their ability to wield much power within their political parties” (Dumenil).

In August 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, granting white American women the right to vote. This ended the suffrage movement that women were allowed the same rights as men. "The long fight for suffrage” Is known as the beginning of American feminism. These women shared the ideal of improving the countries social political policies. "We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men and women are created equal" This statement was presented at Seneca hall in defense of women's right to citizenship and voting.

On March 15, 1965, the president spoke of the devious ways election officials denied people of color the right to vote. Whenever a colored person tried to vote, they were often told that they had the date or time wrong. Or that they had the wrong polling place, or they didn’t know how to read, or that they filled the application incorrectly. Many excuses were made to keep colored people from voting. The population of African Americans suffered a high rate of illiteracy because of centuries of oppression and poverty. They often were forced to take literacy tests, and then fail. In some cases, even blacks with college degrees were turned away! When the Voting Rights Act passed, in the state of Mississippi alone, voter turnout among colored increased from 6 percent to 59 in just one year

Through the expanding electorate, and fight for equality in race, gender and socioeconomic class, the right to vote continues to this day. Americans have fought too long and too hard to return to an era where only white men have the privilege and right to vote. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, five years after the Emancipation. The Fifteenth Amendment, in theory, gave African American men the right to vote, stating “the rights of citizens… to vote shall not be denied or abridged… on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude” (US Constitution. Amendment XV, section 1). However, there were multiple obstacles in place to any African American man who wanted to exercise his democratic right to vote. First, there was the Grandfather Clause. However, before 1867, practically no Black men could vote, therefore making the Grandfather Clause only applicable for White men. Another deterrent to voting for Black men were the Jim Crow Laws, implemented in the South. These were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation. These laws allowed White people to, beat, kill and threaten Black men. Whites could legally intimidate Black people to prevent them from thinking about voting. For example, a Black man had been lynched and left in public to warn other people not to vote, with a sign that said, “this n***** voted” (Voting Rights for Blacks and Poor Whites in the Jim Crow South). This deterred the Black vote, as these forms of violence were legal, and often went

Do you know if you are a feminist, or do you know what a feminist is? Feminism is the belief that men and women are equal, and should have equal rights. According to teens of this generation, feminism means different things. How you decipher this information, however, is privy to you.