Women's Right to Vote
August 26, 1920 was perhaps one of the greatest victories of the century for women. Now when the polls open women and men stand next to each other and cast a vote that holds the same importance. Every person should remember the time and effort it took to get here as they approach the poll booth. There was a struggle to over come and that struggle was won. The landmark acceptance of the Nineteenth Amendment changed the way of life in American forever.
"We were sixteen women sitting in sixteen chairs, longing to stand. (Dubois 250)" This quote given by Mary Baker before the Passing of the
Nineteenth Amendment is used to show how women were wanting and desired
to stand next to each other in a line of equal measures. Before 1920 life for a female was assumed to be a life living in the house watching over the children and making sure that everyone was happy. If a female stepped out of this common place it would be looked upon as being a radical. Needless to say it was a time where the lines between the male gender and the female gender was one of great defiance. As Mary White Rowlandson remarked in her dying words, "It is a life I am no longer willing to lead. I am old so it is better for me to die without the fight, but you are young so fight and be seen. Today replaces yesterday, for as yesterday you had nothing to live for, today you have
the world." (Dubois 125) It was a new life that was waiting behind the Nineteenth Amendment. Every woman knew that it must be achieved and the wall between
genders had to fall and it was to fall now. The only thing standing in the way of
this Amendment was the barrier of man.
Even though not every man stood in this line, there were en...
... middle of paper ...
...were times of silence and times of uproar, but in the end it was the final poll call, which told the story. There were those who fought and there are those who stand to vote, we in the present shall remember the past only to live our futures under the same laws of justice. To the Nineteenth Amendment there is honor, obedience, and pride, all of which will never die in this time or in those to follow.
Works Cited
Dubois, Ellen Carol. Woman Suffrage and Women's Right. New York
University Press. New York. 1998.
Foner, Eric. Reader's Companion of American History. Huughton Miffilin
Company. Boston, 1991.
Kraditor, Aileen S. The Ideas of the Women Suffrage Movement, 1980-
1920. Norton. Washington, 1980.
Mackay, Andrew. One Half of the People: The Fight for Women Suffrage.
University of Illinois. Chicago, 1982.
In the final analysis, from the year 1900 to 1920, Progressive Era reformers were successful in bringing about reform to the United States. Socially, America was gaining strength, with women such as Jane Addams, a women's rights activist, entering the progressive fight. According to a study, the percent of eligible voters who cast ballots in Presidential elections were at a somewhat steady rate from 1904 to 1916, ranging from 59-65%, but in the 1920 election, only 49% of eligible voters actually cast ballots. (Document J) Although some may argue that the percent decrease was due to most Americans not liking any of the elected Presidential candidates, and therefore not voting, this is untrue because this was the first election in which women could vote, which threw off the ratio of voters and non-voters.
Zywicki, T. (1997). Beyond the Shell and Husk of History: The History of the Seventeenth Amendment and Its Implications for Current reform Proposals. Cleveland State Law Review, 45, 197. Retrieved October 3, 2013, from http://mason.gmu.edu/~tzywick2/Cleveland%20State%20Senators.pdf
"19th Amendment: How far have women in politics come since 1920?." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Aug. 2010. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
Linder, Doug (2007). Women's Fight for the Vote: The Nineteenth Amendment. October 8, 2007, from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/nineteentham.htm.
Women before the 1920's relied on men a lot and did not get very good educations. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote and let them feel like they have become full citizens which resulted in becoming a flapper. In 1917, women boycotted for the right to vote in front of the White House and for this "harmless act" many were incarcerated (West 1). On August 26, 1920, after a hard-won battle, women finally had become full citizens in their own minds.
After World War I America became the world’s center for trade. The economic center of the world moved from London, England to New York City, New York, United States of America, and more specifically Wall Street (Buhle, Mari J, Czitzrom, Armitage 848). Due to women, the 1920’s marked economic and social change in America. Women took over men’s jobs during the war while their husbands were overseas, and once the men came home the women wanted to keep their positions. To show gratitude to these women Congress passed the 19th Amendment on August 18th, 1920 which prohibited any United States citizen from having the right to vote based on sex. This change in women’s social status led to more workers in the factories, which were usi...
On August 18, 1920 the nineteenth amendment was fully ratified. It was now legal for women to vote on Election Day in the United States. When Election Day came around in 1920 women across the nation filled the voting booths. They finally had a chance to vote for what they thought was best. Not only did they get the right to vote but they also got many other social and economic rights. They were more highly thought of. Some people may still have not agreed with this but they couldn’t do anything about it now. Now that they had the right to vote women did not rush into anything they took their time of the right they had.
During the last 4 months, I’ve studied a lot about Canadian history and come across many great historical events that have shaped Canadian identity. The two most defining moments between the years 1900 to 2000 were women’s suffrage which was an issue to determine if women should have the right to vote or not. The other defining moment for Canada was Expo 67, which was the most successful worlds fair in history.
In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was sign into the Constitution, granting women the rights to vote.
“On This Day: 19th Amendment Gives Women Right to Vote.” 18 August 2010: n.pag. Web. 17 Feb 2011.
...wo decades was that in the 1920’s women’s rights advocates were able to pass the 19th amendment, granting women suffrage, and increasing political interest among women. Both time periods were difficult ones for minorities and women, though some victories were had.
Throughout history, women have always fought to gain equal political rights, but conventional roles kept women from getting enough political representation. Many suffrage groups founded by women challenged the conventional roles of women during 1840 to 1968 with the dream of obtaining equal political representation. In 1919, the nineteenth amendment, drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was passed. The 19th amendment has been desired by many women for years. Although the 19th amendment passed and women thought that they were able to be equal in politics, many women did not get equal political representation due to their conventional roles at the time period. Women were not able to achieve high roles in politics, shown through the fact that there has never been a woman president in the history of the United States. The presidency of women did not occur due to the perceptions that generally, women should be protected and hidden, not out in the open and leadin...
In the 19th century women began to take action to change their rights and way of life. Women in most states were incapable to control their own wages, legally operate their own property, or sign legal documents such as wills. Although demoted towards their own private domain and quite powerless, some women took edge and became involved in parts of reform such as temperance and abolition. Therefore this ultimately opened the way for women to come together in an organized movement to battle for their own rights in such ways as equal education, labor, legal reform, and the occupations. As stated in the nineteenth amendment, a constitutional revision that established women’s citizen rights to vote.
It was Theodore Roosevelt, who stated that, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”, conveying the idea that with no voice comes no change. In the morning of August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which centralized mainly on the enfranchisement of women. Today, they have the legal right to vote, and the ability to speak openly for themselves, but most of all they are now free and equal citizens. However this victorious triumph in American history would not have been achieved without the strong voices of determined women, risking their lives to show the world how much they truly cared. Women suffragists in the 19th century had a strong passion to change their lifestyle, their jobs around the nineteenth century were limited to just children, family, and domestic duties. It consisted of a very low rate of education, and job opportunities. They could not share their opinion publicly and were expected to support their male family members and husbands during the time. Women knew that the way to enfranchisement was going to be tenacious, and full of obstacles along the way. Therefore a new organization was formed, The National American Women Association (NAWSA), representing millions of women and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the first party president. This organization was founded in 1890, which strategized on the women getting education in order to strengthen their knowledge to prepare for the suffrage fight. NAWSA mainly focused on the right to vote one state at a time. In 1917, a member named Alice Paul, split apart from NAWSA because of the organization’s tactics and major goals. Due to this split, many other suffragists from NAWSA bitterly divided into a new organization named, National Women’s ...
Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women lived at the turn of the century, and fought vehemently for a cause they believed in. They knew that they were being discriminated against because of their gender, and they refused to take it. These pioneers of feminism paved the road for further reform, and changed the very fabric of our society.