Woman Suffrage: Fight for your Right!

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Content Summary

    The same privileges and rights that exist in America today did not exist 100 years ago. Voting is one of the most important rights of a citizen of the United States because it voices a person’s choice of political policies, candidates, and legislature. Voting decides who we wish to lead our cities, states, and country. However, voting was not always a right for every person living in America. The right for every person to vote at the local, state, and national level came about through struggle and determination. Many crucial events occurred throughout American history to allow all United States citizens the right to vote at the national level. One of those crucial events included the effort for the American woman’s right to vote. To understand how the rights of women came to be in America, we need to bring attention to the participants, events, and ideas behind Woman Suffrage.

    The issue of women’s rights in America date back to the creation of our country, when Abigail Adams suggested to her husband, John Adams, that the liberty of women be included in the Declaration of Independence (Library of Congress Woman Suffrage Timeline). Women’s voices were calling out for equality in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York, led by the radical, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Tennessee State Library and Archives). During the Civil War Reconstruction, wars, tariffs, and multiple social upheavals interrupted the process of allowing women to participate fully as citizens of the United States of America. When the 15th amendment was being ratified in 1868, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) tried to push for universal suffrage, but the amendment only enfranchised black men (Library of Congress Archives). With Europe erupting in turmoil in 1914, the world’s focus was on WWI. However, the women stateside were fighting their own battle: the right to vote in America. 

    The turn of the century marked the development of organizations fighting for women’s right to vote. Some organizations, including the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman’s Party (NWP), used pickets, parades, and petition to win the national right to vote. Suffragettes met with a lot of resistance from multiple factions. Resistance came about by both women and men, specifically of a Conservative background due to the desire to maintain states’ rights (National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage). Woman Suffrage was not only an issue of women without the right to vote, but also impacted states’ rights and amending the United States Constitution. Not all states were opposed to suffrage; some states allowed for partial suffrage and some were born into woman suffrage. As western states came into being they allowed women the right to vote, but most of the eastern states resisted the call for woman suffrage (The Women of the West Museum). Therefore, parades and protests began to grow in Northeast America, with suffragists focused on New York City and Washington D.C.

    Parading and picketing turned into a dark time in the U.S.’s history. The police would arrest suffragists for obstruction of justice and blocking of roadways (Profiles: Selected Leaders of the National Woman's Party). Female activists were thrown in jail, workhouses, and asylums, generating one of the most notorious events in history known as the “Night of Terror”. Several women suffragists picketing in front of the White House were thrown into Occoquan Workhouse, where the women were assaulted and humiliated by male prison guards (Alice Paul Biography). Alice Paul, a leader of the National Woman’s Party, held a hunger strike that gained national notice of the treatment suffragists were receiving for standing up for their rights. Other injustices came in forms of oppression of African American Women in their fight to vote, as well (Black Suffrage). Variations in different women’s economic background also influenced whether a woman would participate in protests. Mostly wealthy middle and upper class women would picket. Although groups still opposed woman suffrage, the growing need for a more equal union pushed for women’s right to vote.

    Political pressures fell on President Wilson to finally pass the Amendment due to women participating in the World War I efforts and playing larger economic roles in America (Women during War Time). After an arduous journey, President Wilson put forth the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Tennessee was the last state to grant women’s votes, allowing every female citizen to voice their concern for public policy and national legislature (Tennessee State Library and Archives). This was a large win for American women; however, women’s rights still have a long way to go. Remnants of inequality between women and men still remain in the United States and the world over. A way to narrow these differences is to vote for policies that allow for equality between the sexes. Voting is a crucial part of any U.S. citizen’s duty to the country and to his or her-self and needs to be understood as to the impact it has on America.

References

The City University of New York. In Black Suffrage. Retrieved April 1, 2011 from            http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/womens_leadership/black_suffrage.html

Carol, R., Myers, K., & Lindman, J. (2010). In Alice Paul Biography. Retrieved March 10, 2011  from http://www.alicepaul.org/alicep3.html

Library of Congress Archives. Retrieved February 15, 2011 from http://www.loc.gov/exhibit/treasures/trr060.html

Library of Congress Archives: National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from http://research.archives.gov/arcdataviewer/face/showDetail?file=Item_306661.xml&lo=61 

Library of Congress Profiles. In Selected Leaders of the National Woman's Party. Retrieved April 1, 2011 from http://international.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/profiles.html 

Library of Congress Woman Suffrage Timeline. Retrieved February 15, 2011 from            http://americancivilwar.com/women/Womens_Suffrage/womens_suffrage_timeline.htm

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Minnesota Public Radio. In Women During Wartime. Retrieved March 31, 2011 from            http://sites.google.com/site/womenduringwartime/an-brief-introduction

Tennessee State Library and Archives. Retrieved March 3, 2011 from http://tn.gov/tsla/exhibit/suffrage/beginning.htm     

Tennessee State Library and Archives: Payoff. Retrieved March 13, 2011 from  http://tn.go/tsla/exhibits/suffrage/payoff.htm

The Women of the West Museum. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from http://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/index.html



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