Women's Suffrage

Women’s Suffrage Movement If you had lived in the 1800s, would you have fought for Women’s Rights or would you have decided to be a bystander? Throughout history women have always been ruled by men. At the start of the 1800s, women would have had only one right and that was being a housewife. Although women had no rights, women later raised their voices in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

1. Conditions before the 19th amendment In order to understand the following information, it is important to examine the conditions before the 19th amendment was passed. This also helps us to understand the resistance that the women’s suffrage movement faced. Prior to the amendment, women were not legally allowed to vote.

In 1883, the international council of women had been formed by Susan Anthony and her friend Stanton with other delegates of women movements in

Anthony later became publisher of The Revolution, a periodical published in 1868 (Susan, Britannica). Anthony and Stanton were determined to have women’s rights, so they created a suffrage petition, and started getting signatures on the State and even National level (Biography). Many lectures were given by Anthony in her lifetime. The most that has ever happened was one-hundred in one year (On This Day). Anthony and Stanton must have been very determined to gain women’s suffrage rights!

Women would no longer be looked upon as the lesser half, they wanted to be seen just as capable as men. So they fought for their right starting in 1848. This movement took years, to be exact 72 years. These women had some persistence to stay with their battle no matter how tough it was. The first part in winning women's suffrage was the parades and protests.

In 1874, Susan B. Anthony wrote a petition to Untied States Congress requesting: “that the fine imposed upon your petitioner be remitted, as an expression of the sense of this high tribunal that her conviction was unjust." (Anthony) Anthony believed the fine $100 USD was unjust because she and her friends were just trying to fight for an amendment that would guarantee women’s voting rights. NWSA kept on with their steps to achieve their goal. In 1878, the Women Suffrage Amendment, later became the Ninth Amendment, had first introduced in the Congress of United States. “Susan B. Anthony: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Women used many different methods to earn the right to vote in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. One method women used to earn support is that they organized a parade in Washington, D.C., the same day the president was coming into town so that there was large crowds. Many of the people in the crowd were men who, along with drinking also disagreed with the right for women to vote. They began to yell then even throw objects at the women walking in the parade. Eventually, the police walked away giving the men the opportunity to attack.

In the years of this new century, the country has not had such a great chance to fix problems that we all face, except for now, as a result of the financial gift you have given. Through your generosity, I know that you will be able to give a helping hand to the people that will be affected by these reforms so that they may have a better quality of life. This winter of 1913 in the United States had made me think of all the people that need help and to have equal rights. Having equal rights and fixing the broken cracks of society is a very important responsibility to help those less fortunate than us, isn’t it Aunt Bessie? With the million dollars you have given to me, I will help others who do not have as good of an opportunity by distributing

Although Mill was very keen on women being giving the rights to vote he was not taken by the idea of women become independent from their husbands. It is well known that the suffragettes contributed a great deal in which women were given the rights to vote worldwide. The suffragette movement didn’t begin to take place up until 1890. There were seventeen individual groups who came together all supporting the women’s suffrage. This included the London Society for Women’s Suffrage, Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage and the Central Committee for Women’s Suffrage.

The women’s suffrage movement was a very difficult time for these women at the time. On June 20, 1908 is when the suffrage day happened and everyone was there including the women who wanted their right to vote. The women went through some difficulties to get their right to vote. Speeches were being given that day. Four years later a march happened.

The legal right of women to vote in the United States of America was established over the course of many decades. It was first allowed in various states and cities and then eventually nationally in 1920. If you read through American history we see that people of different backgrounds all suffered

“These two amendments allowed men to vote, but still permitted states to deny the vote to women” (Kirk, G. & Okazawa-Rey, M. 2013). Once they submitted their votes, they immediately had a warrant out for them because women were not able to vote during this time. After they were caught, they were taken to trial, which lasted for a long year (McDavitt 1944). However, the question for women suffrage bubbled up to the service, which proved to legislation that they needed equal rights for women (McDavitt 1944). According to the textbook, Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the Woman Suffrage Association and started working towards getting the women the right to vote (Kirk, G. & Okazawa-Rey, M. 2013).

During Progressive Era, there were many reforms that occurred, such as Child Labor Reform or Pure Food and Drug Act. Women Suffrage Movement was the last remarkable reform. This movement was fighting about the right of women to vote, which was basically about women’s right movement. Many great leaders – Elizabeth Cad Stanton and Susan B. Anthony - formed the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Although those influential leaders faced hardship during this movement, they never gave up and kept trying their best.

Anthony knew that women should have been given this right long ago, which prompted her and the others to begin a woman suffrage movement. Anthony and her good friend Stanton founded the American Equal Rights Association in 1866. However, the movement split and rejoined in 1887, creating the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Anthony went to Congress and pleaded with them to change their mind on whether women were worthy enough to vote. Not only did she advocate for the right to vote, but the property rights of women as well.

“I have encountered riotous mobs and have been hung in effigy, but my motto is: Men's rights are nothing more. Women's rights are nothing less.” Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony is considered by some as the founding mother of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Her goal: men and women treated equally under the eyes of the law and society. The 19th Amendment in 1920 would be the culmination event for this movement, but the winds of change began blowing in 1848.