Throughout history, women have fought to obtain the same rights as men. A major right some women, known as suffragettes, struggled to gain was the right to vote. The efforts and success of the suffragettes from the 19th and 20th century helped mold the women of today. They have done so by giving modern women greater opportunities, challenging the stereotypes of women, and by being inspirational female figures. The fight for women’s suffrage had its roots early in the seventeenth century. The earliest recorded instance of a woman seeking suffrage in America occurred in 1648, with a woman named Margaret Brent. Brent was a property owner in Maryland, who was entrusted with managing the estate of Governor Leonard Calvert after his death. The Calverts were the Proprietors of Maryland, and had close ties with the Brents. ("Margaret Brent (1601-1671)") In 1645, a few years before his death, Leonard Calvert had hired a group of soldiers to defend his new colony during Ingle’s Rebellion. ("Margaret Brent ") Soon after he died however, those soldiers demanded their pay. Since Brent had used all of the governor’s money to pay his many debts, she did not have any way of paying the soldiers. Yet, she came up with an idea to pay the soldiers and stop them from revolting. On January 21, 1648, Brent requested two votes in the Maryland General Assembly. She wanted one vote for herself as a property owner and another for being Lord Baltimore’s attorney. Brent wanted to convince the Assembly to pass a tax that would help pay the soldiers. However, the new Governor denied her request, refusing to give a woman such power in the Assembly. Despite having her request denied, Brent did not give up trying. In the end, she sold some of Lord Baltimore’s ca... ... middle of paper ... ...omen won full voting rights. ("Woman Suffrage Timeline (1840-1920)") While NAWSA finally reached their goal, they did not stop there. The organization became the League of Women Voters, which still exists today. The League actively encourages women to participate in voting to shape public policy, and has expanded to educate all people. The suffragettes who helped reach the goal of women’s suffrage are all very important figures in history. Without them, modern women probably would not have the right to vote. Gaining women’s suffrage increased the amount of opportunities women could have in politics, and paved the way for them to continue striving towards gender equality. Overall, suffragettes in history have had a lasting impact on modern women by giving them more opportunities in politics, challenging gender roles, and by being incredibly inspirational women.
In the years after 1870, there were many reasons for the development of the women’s suffrage movement. The main reasons were changes in the law. Some directly affect women, and some not, but they all add to the momentum of the Women’s campaign for the vote. Before 1870 there were few bills passed to achieve much for the movement. One bill that was passed, which did not directly affect women in too many ways, was one of the starting points of the campaign for the vote.
During America's early history, women were denied some of the rights to well-being by men. For example, married women couldn't own property and had no legal claim to any money that they might earn, and women hadn't the right to vote. They were expected to focus on housework and motherhood, and didn't have to join politics. On the contrary, they didn't have to be interested in them. Then, in order to ratify this amendment they were prompted to a long and hard fight; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the 19th century, some generations of women's suffrage supporters lobbied to achieve what a lot of Americans needed: a radical change of the Constitution. The movement for women's rights began to organize after 1848 at the national level. In July of that year, reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton(1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), along with Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and other activists organized the first convention for women's rights at Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 people, mostly women but also some men, attended it. Then, they raised public awar...
"The beginning of the fight for women suffrage is usually traced to the Declaration of Sentiments' produced at the first woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N. Y. in 1848." (Linder) A few years before this convention, Elizabeth Cady St...
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.
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
A women suffrage amendment was brought to the U.S. Congress in 1868 but failed to win support as well as a second amendment in 1878. In 1869 a woman named Elizabeth Cady Stanton got together with Susan B. Anthony, a women’s rights activist, and organized an association called the National Woman Suffrage Association. With this union they would gather with women and fight for women’s suffrage. Later, in 1890 they joined with their competitor the American Women Suffrage Association and became the National American Women Suffrage Association. “NAWSA adopted a moderate approach to female suffrage, eschewing some of the more radical feminism of other women’s rights groups in favor of a national plan designed to gain widespread support” (3). What the association did was they changed their initial tactic towards suffrage for women so that they can be able to obtain support from all over. Having little to no movement on the national front, suffragists took the next step to sate level. That was when Eastern states granted women suffrage, but hadn’t spread to Western states.
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.
Women throughout the suffrage act were faced with many challenges that eventually led into the leading roles of women in the world today. Suffrage leaders adopted new arguments to gain new support. Rather than insisting on the justice of women’s suffrage, or emphasizing equal rights, they spoke of the special moral and material instincts women could bring to the table. Because of these women taking leaps and boundaries, they are now a large part of America’s government, and how our country operates.
Although these women did not live to cast their votes in an election, their hard work did pay off by obtaining women the right to own property and fight for custody of their children in a court of law. In this day women cannot imagine being thrown out of their homes because their husband had died or being forced to leave their children in order to escape an abusive relationship.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
Just as the Irish wanted good work and the farmers wanted a good banking system, women wanted equality. Women and women's organizations worked for various rights for different groups of people. They not only worked to gain the right to vote, they also worked for political equality and for social reforms.
Women had an arduous time trying to demand the rights they deserved to have. Women suffragist made associations and paraded down the street to endeavor rights. Two associations were made up, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association. The National Women Suffrage Association is also known as NWSA was developed by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This association work for suffrage at the federal level. They tried press for more extensive institutional changes, such as married women being granted right to own land. The American Women Suffrage Association is also known as AWSA was developed by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe. This association aimed to secure the ballot through state legislation. The ladies at NWSA refused to endorse the amendment because it did not give women the ballot. However the ladies at AWSA argued that once the black man was enfranchised, women would achieve their goal.(Buechler) With making associations, suffragist would march together in a parade down streets. All women who believed in the women’s suffrage movement came together, not caring what class each other are in since the demands were the same for all who marched. The intent of the parades were to dazzle and impress observers and gain recruiters, as well grab the attention of legislators who ignore the suffragist petitions and dispel unfav...
The women’s suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote, run for office, and is part of the overall women’s rights movement. In the 19th century, women in several countries most recognizably the U.S. and england formed organizations to fight for suffrage. Beginning in the mid 19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and participated in civil strike to achieve what many Americans considered a revolutionary change in the Constitution.
Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century women began to vocalize their opinions and desires for the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage movement paved the way to the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women that right. The Women’s Suffrage movement started a movement for equal rights for women that has continued to propel equal opportunities for women throughout the country. The Women’s Liberation Movement has sparked better opportunities, demanded respect and pioneered the path for women entering in the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s.
Throughout the 19th century, feminism played a huge role in society and women’s everyday lifestyle. Women had been living in a very restrictive society, and soon became tired of being told how they could and couldn’t live their lives. Soon, they all realized that they didn’t have to take it anymore, and as a whole they had enough power to make a change. That is when feminism started to change women’s roles in society. Before, women had little to no rights, while men, on the other hand, had all the rights. The feminist movement helped earn women the right to vote, but even then it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the workforce. They were given the strength to fight by the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be