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human right against slavery
gender inequality because of religion
Women’s rights movements in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Abolition of Slavery is Conducive to Women’s Rights Movement
Peanut Butter and Jelly. Pancakes and syrup. Swimming and water. All of these things go together perfectly. One with out the other just isn’t right. The same thing goes for slavery and a women’s rights movement in the eighteenth century. It doesn’t seem right that a women’s right movement would not come out of the anti-slavery movement in the early part of this century. The United States was under a lot of stress as a country. They were still forming governments and unity amongst themselves. States were divided by slavery. As abolitionist groups started to form and slavery was being fought, women started to realize that they had no rights and began their battle.
In the eighteenth century, citizens consisted of white, land owning males. Below them were white, non-landing owning males. Following were white females and then slaves. During the anti-slavery movement, male slaves were looking for their right to vote mainly. The fifteenth amendment to the United States constitution stated prohibited states from denying rights to citizens "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (Sklar 73). Perhaps the reason white women were opposed to this amendment is due to the fact that they realized their rights had been decreased. They had very little rights above male slaves before this amendment, and after its passing, they had no rights even mentioned in the constitution. This could have been looked upon as a very good incentive to gain their own freedom.
Many leaders of the women’s anti-slavery movement were immediatists. One of the founders of this kind of thinking was William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison’s main basis for the immediate abolition of slavery was that slaves were children of God, therefore making them equal to all others in His eyes. Abolishing slavery was the only way to making this country truly pure with God given liberty (Sklar 13). This argument provides great basis for a women’s rights movement to break off. If slaves are created equal to everyone, then women must be equal to slaves. Based upon this, if slaves go their freedom and right to vote, women as well should get these rights.
It seemed to be clear that abolition of slavery must come before the women’s rights movement.
The first chapter of Jeffrey’s book is entitled “Recruiting Women into the Cause;” it goes into detail about how women first got involved in the abolitionist movement. This involvement mainly started in 1831 when women began submitting publications, such as poems, about anti-slavery in a newspaper, published by William Lloyd Garrison, entitled the Liberator. In 1832, Garrison started a women’s section/department in his newspaper in the hopes that it would encourage women to get involved. Garrison officially started his antislavery work in January 1831 and he urged parents to inform and teach their children about the evils of slavery. Many thought that abolitionism in women first started with the mothers who read antislavery nursery stories to their children.
Even though African Americans were now free and considered citizens thanks to the 13th and 14th amendments, they were still severely oppressed. While technically they had more rights and opportunities in the United Sates government than females, they did not truly receive them. As Frederick Douglass said over and over again in support of the 15th amendment, the abolishment of slavery did not eradicate racism. It was still a huge problem in America. Abolishment had been achieved in name and name only, because they were economically just as tyrannized as before. In the eyes of the feminists who supported the 15th amendment, they saw it as an opportunity for African American males to be able to make a bigger influence in American politics and hopefully lessen the iron fist they were under. With the ability to vote, the hope was that the rather large population of African American males would have the chance to make a real impact in
...wrote a Declaration of Sentiments, using points from the declaration of independence, which began: “All men and women are created equal.” Garrison’s position on women’s rights was the thing that finally split the antislavery ranks already divided by his growing radicalism. The schism of 1840 decreased the influence of abolitionism as a reform movement.
Today, women and men have equal rights, however not long ago men believed women were lower than them. During the late eighteenth century, men expected women to stay at home and raise children. Women were given very few opportunities to expand their education past high school because colleges and universities would not accept females. This was a loss for women everywhere because it took away positions of power for them. It was even frowned upon if a woman showed interest in medicine or law because that was a man 's place not a woman’s, just like it was a man 's duty to vote and not a woman 's. The road to women 's right was long and hard, but many women helped push the right to vote, the one that was at the front of that group was Susan B. Anthony.
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
After many years of battling for equality among the sexes, people today have no idea of the trails that women went through so that women of future generations could have the same privileges and treatment as men. Several generations have come since the women’s rights movement and the women of these generations have different opportunities in family life, religion, government, employment, and education that women fought for. The Women’s Rights Movement began with a small group of people that questioned why human lives, especially those of women, were unfairly confined. Many women, like Sojourner Truth and Fanny Fern, worked consciously to create a better world by bringing awareness to these inequalities. Sojourner Truth, prominent slave and advocate
The Women’s Rights Movement was made up by women who felt they were not given equal freedoms as others were in the U.S. This Movement started in the 1840s, this beginning the fight of women's suffrage in
The womens abolitionists movement was essentially the birth of the American women’s rights movement that lasted from 1858-1920 (Leonhardt 2.A). Womens abolitionism during the time of the civil war was a movement intended to prohibit and end slavery in the states; done by trying to educate the public on the immorality of slavery. These women that joined forces with male protesters helped condemn slavery, calling for an end to the “peculiar institution” (Leonhardt 2.A). It was through women's’ involvement, organization and preparation that some women were able to become some-what respected leaders in the women’s movement.
Women had been “denied basic rights, trapped in the home [their] entire life and discriminated against in the workplace”(http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/). Women wanted a political say and wanted people to look at them the way people would look at men. in 1968, many women even protested the Miss America Beauty Pageant because it made it look that women were only worth their physical beauty. A stereotyped image was not the only thing they fought, “Women also fought for the right to abortion or reproductive rights, as most people called it” (http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/). These were the reason why the Women started the Women’s Liberation. African Americans, however, had different causes. After almost a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, black men are still being treated unfairly. They were being oppresed by the so-called “Jim Crow” laws which “barred them from classrooms and bathrooms, from theaters and train cars, from juries and legislatures” (http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/). They wanted equal rights, equal facilities and equal treatment as the whites. This unfairness sparked the African American Civil Right’s Movement. This unfairness was seen in the Women’s Liberation as well. Both were treated unfairly by the “superior”. Both wanted equal rights, from the men or whites oppressing them. They both wanted equal treatment and equal rights. During the actual movement
The fight for women’s rights began long before the Civil War, but the most prominent issue began after the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments joined the Constitution. The rights to all “citizens” of the United States identified all true “citizens” as men and therefore incited a revolution in civil rights for women (“The Fight for Women’s Suffrage”). The National Women’s Suffrage Convention of 1868
The reform movements in the 19th century significantly represented many conflicts, which inevitably lead into the Civil War. Many people thought it was time to stand up for recognition and to transform America’s economy. This was certainly among ordinary Americans who felt the deep sense of commitment into highlighting their concerns out to the open public. The religious zeal founded in these people emanated from the Second Great Awakening. This wave greatly influenced minorities, such as slaves and women to break from their enslaving chains and emancipate themselves into suitable circumstances. However, as these issues began to arise, slavery received the most attention. By this means that reforms, such as women’s rights, were eclipsed and women once again waited another long years to receive their rights. As looking back at history, women were the last “species” to receive the same rights as men. Let alone the lifestyle created purposely for women, like the cult of domesticity, that showed home as a women’s sphere. Yet women referred home as a glide cage. Despite that men continued to look at women as helpless species, many respective women, during the antebellum period, showed the society just what a woman could do as to speaking their invaluable truths, hosting meetings, and participating in numerous protests that signified a woman’s capability. Meaning by this is women got involved into other movements not concerning them at all, for their evangical spirit drove them into working for the human goodness.
Women were getting tired of not having the same rights as men, so they wanted to make a move to change this. Women got so tired of staying at home while the men worked. Women wanted to get an education. So they fought for their freedom. Abigail Adams said to her husband, “in the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.” John’s reply was, “I cannot but laugh. Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems.” These were said in 1776. The women’s suffrage actually began in 1848, which was the first women’s rights convention which was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Prominent leaders began campaigning for the right to vote at State and federal levels. Susan B. Anthony was the leader for getting women their rights in the United States. Susan B. Anthony voted in Rochester, NY for the presidential election. This occurred in 1872. She was, “arrested, tried, convicted, and fined $100.” She refused to pay the fine. Supporters of The Equal Rights Amendment would march, rally, petition, and go on hunger strikes.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, notions of freedom for Black slaves and White women were distinctively different than they are now. Slavery was a form of exploitation of black slaves, whom through enslavement, lost their humanity and freedom, and were subjected to dehumanizing conditions. African women and men were often mistreated through similar ways, especially when induced to labor, they would eventually become a genderless individual in the sight of the master. Despite being considered “genderless” for labor, female slaves suddenly became women who endured sexual violence. Although a white woman was superior to the slaves, she had little power over the household, and was restricted to perform additional actions without the consent of their husbands. The enslaved women’s notion to conceive freedom was different, yet similar to the way enslaved men and white women conceived freedom. Black women during slavery fought to resist oppression in order to gain their freedom by running away, rebel against the slaveholders, or by slowing down work. Although that didn’t guarantee them absolute freedom from slavery, it helped them preserve the autonomy and a bare minimum of their human rights that otherwise, would’ve been taken away from them. Black
The Quakers in particular realized that this was very contradictory to the public morality of America. Slavery was constantly destroying the social and cultural defenses that Africans relied upon. As for women, they were denied the right to vote and to hold political offices. New Jersey lawmakers specifically had the mindset that women suffrage should be rejected for the “safety, quiet, and good order and dignity of the state.” However, these two groups began fight against their oppression. Through writing and petitioning, African Americans weaken the arguments in favor of slavery reminding whites that African Americans, too had the natural right to liberty. Furthermore, African Americans like Benjamin Banneker, Phillis Wheatley, and Richard Allen became more accomplished, leading whites to reconsider the role that African Americans could have in society. Slavery was eventually abolished by 1800 in the northern states due to these things. Although the racist mindset was still there, the abolishment of slavery in the north was a step in the right direction. Moreover, republicanism also encouraged women like Abigail Adams to take a stand. In response to the wave of republicanism that was sweeping America, made new demands on their husbands and government. African Americans made emphasis on natural rights. Women focused political ideology. They argued that if this new republic were to last, women must be able to “nurture the right values in their children and as wives to instruct their husbands in proper behavior.” Women began make advancement. In 1780, a large volunteer women’s organization was founded by Ester Deberdt. In 1790, the New Jersey legislature allowed property owning women to vote. Jefferson, however, said that America was still not prepared for a woman to hold office. Yet, the important aspect that was changing in America was the view that the essence of