Women and the Right to Vote (the Suffragist Movement) - Essay Example

?(Add (Add (Add Information) (Add The Suffragist Movement Women’s fight for suffrage had its beginning in the US as early as in 1848. It started with the Seneca Falls women’s rights convention. In the convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, which was very similar to the Declaration of Independence. In the declaration, there were issues of the troubled women of America. They sought the right to own property, to keep their own wages, to ‘divorce, to gain custody of their children, to attend college, to vote and to serve in professions like theology, medicine and law’ (The Elizabeth Cady Station and Susan B. Antony Papers Project). However, the most noticeable demand was women’s suffrage. In fact, one can find a large number of reasons behind the struggle for suffrage. Even in the early part of the 19th century, there were a few female figures that fought for equal rights. A prominent figure was Frances Wright who came to the U.S from Scotland as early as in 1826. She conducted large number of lectures to make the society aware of the issue. Similarly, Ernestine Rose from Poland too was busy educating women about their rights. Also, there was Margaret Fuller who wrote the famous The Great Lawsuit: Man vs. Woman. However, the movement got its united form in the year 1848 when Gerrit Smith was nominated as the presidential candidate of Liberty Party. In fact, he was Elizabeth Cady’s first cousin. So, it was common for them to engage in discussion and debate over political matters. Thus, in the National Liberty Convention held at New York in the same year, Smith gave the movement a good beginning through his speech. He pointed out in his speech that women were not enfranchised in any nation of the world. He argued for the introduction of universal suffrage, and as a result of the speech, Lucretia Mott-a woman candidate- was nominated to the vice-president post for the first time in history. However, things were not so easy for women at that time because most of the male leaders and activists of anti-slavery movement disliked the presence of women in agitations. As a result, most males disliked the role of women activists who had been a vital part of the reform movements till then. However as McMillen reports, observing the evident discontent from the part of their male compatriots, people like Mott and Stanton decided to hold the Seneca Falls Convention; and the Convention was attended by important figures like Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M’Clintock, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (12). However, what marred the suffragist movement from the very beginning were the extreme internal differences in opinion and the lack of a strong leadership. After the 1848 convention, there was the even bigger National Women’s Rights Convention in the year 1950. In fact, this was organized by Lucy Stone in collaboration with various other early activists like Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis, Wendell Philips, William Lloyd Garrison, and Abby Kelley Foster. Though there were a large number of questions that remained unanswered ranging from whether to include males in the movement, who to lead the movement, what strategy to be adopted, and what solutions are to be sought, it was decided in total that the movement would work to ensure women a position equal to men. The so-called meetings encouraged a large number of activists to join the movement. Some important figures who joined the movement in this way are Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and ex-slave Sojourner Truth. In fact, the suffrage movement was not only the result of the desire to vote but was the result of the understanding of years and years of suppression of the weaker gender by both the State and the Church. This feeling is well-documented in the work by Matilda Joslyn Gage in the year 1881 named Preceding Causes. She points out that the so-called ‘subjection to the powers that be’ resulted in the suppression of free thought, annihilation of all those who criticize the system, and stifling of scientific growth. Thereafter, the activist (as qtd in Buhle and Buhle) points out that ‘females are the ones who are the main victims’ of all these steps as they are more sensitive to the surroundings (51). In the opinion of Marsico, the entire movement lacked momentum, especially due to the internal conflicts over goals, strategies, and membership. For example, there were a large number of people, including famous Carrie Chapman Catt, who disliked including African-American women in the fight for equality (25). She opined notoriously that poorly managed movements would result in the enfranchising of Negro women. That means she was against their enfranchisement as were many US-born activists. In sharp contrast, there were Black activists like Ida B Wells-Barnett and Sojourner who believed that if the American white women with all those natural advantages needed equality, the African-American women were more in need of the same. The suffrage movement faced a split in the year 1869 as the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was proposed. The amendment introduced voting rights to black men. Activists like Susan B. Antony and Elizabeth Cady opposed the amendment as it did not take suffrage of women into consideration. However, people like Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe opined that enfranchising black men would make things easier for women in their effort to get suffrage. The result of the conflict was the development of two fractions within the suffrage movement. The first group was called the National Woman Suffrage Association which believed that a federal constitutional amendment would be the best way to ensure enfranchisement of women in the fastest possible way. The other fraction, called the American Woman Suffrage Association, wanted that the constitution of every state should be amended. In the year 1890, both the associations decided to work collectively, and the new venture was called the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Though too slow, the state-by-state strategy was in progress. To illustrate, the Wyoming territory became the first area to give unconditional suffrage to women in the year 1869. However, in many other states, despite the presence of the Fifth Amendment which speaks in a gender-neutral way, females were turned away as they tried to use their right to vote. In the very next year, the state of Utah too enfranchised women. However, during the period from 1893 to 1918, only fifteen states approved the voting rights of women. However, things were seriously against women in America. For example, though women in Washington were allowed full voting rights in 1883, a Supreme Court ruling cancelled the rights four years later. Similarly, in the state of Utah where women were enfranchised in the year 1870, Congress denied women their rights to vote. The new National American Woman Suffrage Association managed to reduce the differences in opinion among its followers and activists, and surged ahead with increased vigor under the leadership of Susan B. Anthony. In fact, Susan B. Anthony played a pivotal role in developing a nation-wide support to introduce the 19th Amendment in the Congress. Soon, Anthony introduced Carrie Chapman Catt to the position of president. In the period, the suffrage activists engaged in a number of activities which were aimed at gaining publicity and showing female physical capabilities. To illustrate, in the year 1912, the suffragists conducted a 170 mile program named ‘Hike to Albany’. This twelve day program was very similar to the 1913 ‘Army of the Hudson’ in which the activists walked 225 miles from Newark to Washington. Evidently, the purpose of the so-called muscle-power activities was two faced; firstly, the women were trying to establish their right to gather and act in public, and secondly, they were trying to show that the physical and mental inferiority of women is a myth. However, it was World War I which gave that final push to the demands of women which were continuously defeated by the government and society. As President Wilson called for the support of people claiming that the war was a war for democracy, the suffragists like Lucy Burns protested in the public with posters claiming that America was not a democracy as women were denied their right to vote. Though many of the said activists were tortured and jailed, President Wilson changed his attitude later on, resulting in the Nineteenth Amendment in the year 1919, enfranchising women. Thus, in total, it can be said that the suffragist movement was not a single, united activity in the United States. It took birth as a result of the social reforms in America, and individual activists engaged in activities sporadically. Most of the time, the issues were intertwined with the issues of the Progressive Era. Furthermore, there were a lot of differences in opinion among the members of the suffragist associations, making a progress very difficult. As a result, the progress of the movement was rather mild and too slow. Anyway, after nearly seventy-two years of struggle, females managed to get enfranchised as they had dreamt. Works Cited Buhle,Mari Jo & Buhle, Paul. The Concise History of Woman Suffrage: Selections from History of Woman Suffrage. USA: University of Illinois Press, 2005. Print. The Elizabeth Cady Station & Susan B. Antony Papers Project. “Declaration of sentiments and resolutions.” Women’s Rights Convention. (2010). Web. 26 July 2012. McMillen, Sally G. Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement. USA: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Marsico, Katie. Women's Right to Vote: America's Suffrage Movement. USA: Marshall Cavendish, 2010. Print. Read More