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. 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. In 1869, two organizations for the promotion of women’s suffrage were founded with different opinions on how to reach the same goal. The National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) was headed by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This group opposed the 15th amendment, while suggesting the passage and ratification of another, new amendment, specifically granting women the right to vote. This was considered a more radical view on the matter, and promoted a wide variety of other feminist views as well. The other organization, called the American Women’s Suffrage Association (AWSA), supported the 15th amendment, while calling for yet another amendment for women’s enfranchisement. This organization was more focused on trying to make this and other feminist reforms seem less radical, and more in tune with the values of the American people. After the negative response to the proposal of a new federal amendment, both groups tried new approaches, such as challenging the constitutionality of their exclusion from the vote in the supreme court, only to be rejected again. In the case Minor VS Happersett (1874), the Supreme Court decided that the state of Missouri was acting within its constitutional limits in denying a woman the right to vote. “This decision ended the ‘new depart... ... middle of paper ... ... it was too bad that they never got to vote, but they made their mark, by opening the doors for the next generation to further their progress. The original feminists were pushing for equality, but the later activists had to settle for just the vote. This was a setback for women’s rights everywhere, since the only way they were able to obtain the right to vote was by admitting that they were different, and needed to be able to vote to protect themselves form the big strong men. There were many women who fought for female equality, and many who didn’t care, but eventually the feminists won the vote. Women today are still fighting for equality in the home, in the workplace, and in society as a whole, which seems like it may take centuries of more slow progress to achieve. Works Cited Foner, Eric & Garraty, John A. “Minor V. Happersett” http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=35418>[March 11, 2001] Mara Mayor. "Fears and Fantasies of the anti-Suffragists," Connecticut Review 7, no. 2 (April 1974), pp. 64-74. Goldstein-LaVande, Meredith “The arguments of the Anti-Suffragists” http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/suffrage/Anti.html> [March 11, 2001]
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Show MoreAlthough 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.
... an intention of many women were granted, and the present society was made. The 19th Amendment and the Suffrage movement gave women for the better life in the society.
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 affecting directly affecting women, and some not, but they all added to the momentum of Women’s campaign for the vote.
During the late 19th century, women were in a society where man was dominant. Women did not have natural born rights, such as the right to vote, to speak in public, access to equal education, and so forth, did not stop them to fight for their rights. Women's lives soon changed when Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony played a prominent role to help bring about change.
Through the history, women have always fought for their rights creating a new space for their participation as citizens. After the First World War during the 1920s and 1930s new histories of women suffragettes have been written. During that period of time some activist groups were created, for instance, the Edwardian women’s suffrage movement that created in women a ‘Suffragette Spirit’ with the same goals and purposes even with the same militant procedures such as radical feminism that involved hunger strike and forcible feeding. This argument have become controversial due to different points of view in recent years. Another samples are the formation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), a group led by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst under an autocratic system; Women’s Freedom League (WFL), a self-proclaimed militant organization and National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). These groups were formed in Britain giving way to creation of some texts that explain the actions of the feminist groups and were the basis to achieve the right of suffragettes. Furthermore, the author of this article talks about a second narrative published in 1914 by Constance Lytton that explain about her own experiences in a militant period and personal sacrifice in an attempt to vote. Finally, her experience of militancy had become the archetype of suffrage militancy. In addition, she became in a feminist and kept touch with important members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). According to Lytton (cited in Mayhall, 1995: 326) She said that whilst she felt sympathy towards men, children and even animals – those that she said were ‘down-trodden’ – she had completely ‘been blind to the particular sufferings ...
During the late 1800s and early 1900s the American movement for Women’s Suffrage grew stronger until it couldn’t be ignored for any longer. Throughout this fifty year time span American women fought for the right to vote and eventually obtained their goal. Probably the most invaluable of the suffragists were Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, who fought relentlessly for their cause. Their contributions to the movement helped gain the support they needed to for women to vote.
Women involved in the progressive movement were also motivators for women’s suffrage and in doing so set the stage for the ground work that was needed to achieve it. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was founded in 1890. This group was a great contributor to women’s ability to eventually vote. The group argued women’s suffrage would make a positive impact. They felt women were different from men and that’s why they deserved to vote. The use of women’s moral superiority was also used in attempts to convince other’s if they were given the right to vote they could cleanse the realm of politics. With this slogan they gained a good amount of followers and made it known women’s suffrage would not be a threat, but rather an
As a result of the need to fight for women’s rights and freedom, two women’s organizations called the National Woman’s Party (NWP), which is also known as the Woman’s Party, and National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) emerged. Lobbyist Anne Martin of Nevada was the first chairman of the National Woman’s Party. Equal Rights Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association was created in response to a split in the American over whether to support the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, (Eisenberg and Ruthsdotter, 1998). This Association, led by Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, was to put pressure on Congress to pass an amendment to the U.S. In the 1930s, the National Woman’s Party fought successfully for
The topic of women’s suffrage can cause a lot of controversy in people, depending on the way they view it. Some American’s disagree with women having any rights, and others believe they should have any right that a man does. There are many women who played a large role fighting in the women’s suffrage movement. One of these is the famous Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who you mostly hear about when you talk about women’s suffrage, and another being Lavina Dock, who is not as famous but she still played a large roll. The trade unions such as the National Women’s Trade Union League and the American Women Suffrage Association played the role of making women’s voices be heard and showing that there are many people fighting for women’s rights. Women’s
In early 19th century the position of women in the society was worse. They dreamed of being treated equally with men in the society. On August 26, 1920 millions of American women celebrated victory (“The Fight”, n.d.). It was the day when the United States constitution made an official declaration that allows American women to vote and contest for public offices. It was the day when woman’s suffrage movement tasted success. It took over 100 years to win the right to vote, and the journey wasn't smooth. This movement – Woman’s Suffrage movement – has impacted America in many ways.
During the beginning of the 20th century, the increase activity of the National Union Of Women attractive additional support of the suffrage movement. “However, it was possible to criticize the policy and tactics of the constitutional suffragist on several grounds. It was argued that the suffragists should have revolted in 1884, when the amendment to the reform bill of that year failed through the opposition of the liberal leadership, but the suffragists were too well mannered to do more protesting and concentrate all of their efforts on one private members bill.” The women suffrage’s organization could not force the political parties to adopt the cause of women’s suffrage and need a major party to pick up their campaign or there was no hope of a government bill. Women’s suffrages leaders saw that they need more of a drastic tactics to gain public awareness. Women started protesting by undergoing violence methods and tactics however, the National Union Of Women believed that any aggression or violence acts of protesting would only weaken the movement. These actions would persuade male’s voters that women are too emotional and thus could not be trusted with the responsible of voting. These gentle ways of protesting was unconvincing, as many political believed would give up or lose interests. The lack of actions cause many women to take strongest methods of protesting their rights and formed a more violent group called Suffragettes.
Woman suffrage was the tough, fierce and long fight to get women’s rights to where they are today.
Fifteenth Amendment: The split in the women's suffrage campaign occurred when politicians drafted and proposed the 15th Amendment which gave black men the right to vote but didn't include black and white women in the proposed legislation. Some women's suffragists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth opposed the 15th Amendment because they believed they deserved citizenship and the right to vote as much as black men. They advocated universal suffrage. Others, such as Lucy Stone and Frederick Douglass, wanted women to obtain the right to vote but believed
Many of these women protested, fought for their lives by starving themselves, putting their own lives in danger to help the lives of many people who would be affected by the choice that they make. Most of the people put their live ahead of their own to make sure that they would have a say in what went on in the country. Everyone deserved to have a vote because everyone, men and women, should be considered equal. Nobody should be discriminated by weather they are a certain gender. In today's society many people are put into categories due to what they look like, what they like to do, sexual relationships, and even family life. Some people like to hang back and let others make decision for their life, but if this happens then you would not live life to the fullest. The women during the time of the movement were not afraid of what others thought of them or were not scared of even going to jail. They had to stand up for what they wanted and they weren't going down without a
These women had to fight just to have their basic human rights. Their hard work has made it so that women can now own land, work, get an education, and, most importantly, not be seen as a man’s property. Without them women would still be confined to their houses and only allowed to be housewives or school teachers. Their efforts have made it so women can be her own person and have the ability to take care of herself....