Road to Women's Suffrage in the 1700s

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During colonial times, only men with property could vote. But when the new era of the 1700's came, women wanted change. One of the things they wanted was the right to vote. The nineteenth amendment of the United State’s Constitution states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” This new amendment gave women the right to vote. The road to this victory, however, was not easy. Women had to fight to get political power and to do this they needed to come together and organize a movement. To understand how the movement was born, it helps to know why they couldn’t vote in the first place. One reason is that women were regarded as less intelligent. Very few girls went to town schools or academies.But, women were able to get more education …show more content…

In the 1700's, colonial powers thought everyone should have a say in the government. The movement took off in 1848 when the first public appeal happened. Two important reformers are Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They called the first convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848. At the convention, they decided they wanted women to have equal rights in education, property, and voting. "Men do not realize how serious are the changes that are taking place in the conduct of Congress. Women will have to inform them " (The Suffragist, Alice Paul, and Rheta Childe Dorr). Another important person in women’s suffrage was Susan B. Anthony. In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony helped establish the American Equal Rights Association. The AERA's job was to make it legal for women and African American males to vote. During the 1872 presidential election, Anthony and a group of women illegally voted in Rochester, New York. They were arrested, but through her schemes, she helped prove a point: it was consequential that women be allowed the right to

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