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Votes for Women The Path to Women’s Suffrage By Leigh Unterspan. In 1776 Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, who was working on the Declaration of Independence. She asked that he “remember the ladies.” The Declaration said that “all men are created equal.”. Abigail Adams.
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Votes for Women The Path to Women’s Suffrage By Leigh Unterspan
In 1776 Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, who was working on the Declaration of Independence. • She asked that he “remember the ladies.” • The Declaration said that “all men are created equal.” Abigail Adams
Lucretia Mott • In 1837 she organized the first convention of the National Female Anti-Slavery Society. • Earlier Mott had been denied membership in anti-slavery societies because she was a woman.
Women go to college • In 1833, Oberlin College became the first coeducational college in the US. • In 1837, Mount Holyoke College was founded, the first four year college for women only. • Vassar (1837), Wellesley (1875) and Smith (1875) Colleges followed, which were all colleges created for women only.
July 19-20, 1848 • The first women’s rights convention in the US is held in Seneca Falls, New York. • Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were the primary organizers. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
First women’s rights convention • Signed a “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” that outlined the main goals for the women’s rights movement. • This is a copy of the names of the original signers of the declaration.
Sojourner Truth • A former slave who took up the cause for women’s rights. • In 1851 she delivered her famous “Ain’t I A Woman” speech at a women’s convention.
“American Democracy has interpreted the Declaration of Independence in the interest of slavery, restricting suffrage and citizenship to a white male minority. The black man is still denied the right of citizenship, even in the nominally free States….Half our population are disfranchised on the grounds of sex; and though compelled to obey the law and taxed to support the government, they have no voice in the legislation of the country.” --Sojourner Truth At a meeting of the Equal Rights Association 1867
Civil War1861-1865 • The war interrupted women’s suffrage activities as women worked for various war causes. • Their work, however, helped them to develop organizational and other skills that would help them in their suffrage work later.
American Equal Rights Association • Formed in 1866 by Stanton and Susan B. Anthony • This was an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to universal suffrage. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Fourteenth Amendment • Passed in 1868 • Protected all citizens from unjust state laws. • Defined the terms citizens and voters as male.
Women’s groups split • In 1869, the women’s rights movement split into two groups because of disagreements. • Stanton and Anthony formed the more radical National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). Stanton and Anthony
Women’s groups split • Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Julia Ward Howe formed the more conservative American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Julia Ward Howe
“If ‘all political power is inherent in the people,’ why have women, who are more than half the population of the United States, no political existence? Is it because they are not people?” --Lucy Stone In an address to the New Jersey legislature 1867
Wyoming • In 1890 becomes a state with a woman’s suffrage provision intact. • First state to grant suffrage to women
Women on the move • The AWSA begins publishing the Woman’s Journal in 1870, a publication dedicated to women’s rights. • Several women attempt to use the Fourteenth Amendment to vote between 1870 and 1875, but all are unsuccessful.
Women on the move • In 1872, Susan B. Anthony is arrested for attempting to vote in a presidential election. • In the same year, Sojourner Truth attempts to vote, but she is denied a ballot.
Anthony’s trial • "Yes, your honor," seethed Anthony, "I have many things to say; … My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights, are all alike ignored. Robbed of the fundamental privilege of citizenship, I am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; and not only myself individually, but all of my sex, are, by your honor's verdict, doomed to political subjection under this, so-called, form of government."
Woman’s Suffrage Amendment • Introduced to Congress in 1878. • When it is finally passed in 1919, the wording is unchanged.
Belva Ann Lockwood • In 1879, Belva Ann Lockwood finally secures for women the right to practice law before the Supreme Court. • In 1884, she runs for president on the National Equal Rights Party ticket. She wins 4,149 votes in six states. Belva Ann Lockwood
Women Unite • NWSA and AWSA reunite in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as head.
Hull House • Founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1890. • A settlement housing project in Chicago • Within one year, 100 settlement houses exist in the US, largely operated by women. • Many women become involved in social work and become an important voice in American politics.
Woman’s Bible • Written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1895 • Criticized the treatment of women in the Old Testament • An example of Stanton’s more radical views that caused NAWSA to separate itself from her A draft of the Bible
Roosevelt adoptswomen’s suffrage platform • In 1912 Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive party becomes the first national political party to adopt a women’s suffrage plank.
19th Amendment • Adopted in 1920, this amendment gives women the right to vote. • NAWSA ceases to exist because its mission has been accomplished, but members form the League of Women Voters.
Credits All photos in this presentation are courtesy of the American Memory collections of the Library of Congress. The song “A Woman’s Tongue Will Run Forevermore” was recorded in 1940. It is also part of the American Memory collections of the Library of Congress.
