Why did Radical Republicans Abandoned Women Seeking Rights after the Civil War - Essay Example

Radical Republicans Abandoned Women Seeking Rights after the Civil War After the Civil War, women for the most part were abandoned by the RepublicanParty. Women's rights have always been closely linked to not only civil rights but human rights in general. The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at why this abandoning took place. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the reasoning and events that took place that drove radical Republicans from acknowledging women's rights and why women in general stopped supporting the Republican Party. As Anna Yeatman (1993) explains it, "the dominant discourses of modern citizenship are predicated on systemic exclusions of those who are othered by these discourses" (quoted in Kingfisher, 1998, p. 128). When "woman" is added to the previously mentioned descriptors, another layer of exclusion is added. For example, the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted after the Civil War, granted suffrage rights to black men, but excluded women of all races.i The famous line from the Constitution that "All men are created equal" was written completely literally; this line did not include women or slaves as they were considered property. The founding fathers did not think twice when it came to denying the freedoms they had fought for to others, and it has been a long struggle since then to reclaim equal rights for all. Even with constitutional amendments making discrimination based on sex or skin color illegal, it still seems as though the white men in their suits have some sort of advantage over everyone not exactly like them. This undoubtedly is one of the reasons why Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have seemed like such a breath of fresh air in this year's political landscape. Of course, with this year's main democratic candidates being a black man and a white women running for president, it's easy to forget that it was President Lincoln's Republican Party that emancipated the slaves and supported women's rights. So why exactly were the slaves freed in 1865 and women weren't given the right to vote until 1920 The women's rights movement and the abolition movement were conjoined before the Civil War, but afterwards, the Republican Party that had been given so much support by women in the abolition movement promptly dropped their support for equal rights for women. To begin explaining how all of this took place, it is necessary to go back one hundred years before the emancipation of the slaves to obtain a more complete story. The society of 1750's was still highly centered on the farm. Since there was so much work required to be done around a farm, men and women had to invest there full time into the work required. As factories began to become more prominent, many of the traditional jobs delegated to women began to change. These factories took the place of many jobs, such spinning and weaving, and this left women with much more time on their hands. With this extra time, they searched for ways to be more productive. They formed different organizations, some social, and these organizations became the foundations of many women's rights groupsii. The accepted notion of the time was that men and women belonged to different "spheres" of work and socializing, and that it was inappropriate for either men or women to cross the boundaries of these spheres. Men were supposed to work and engage in politics, while women were supposed cook, clean, and take care of the children. It is important to remember that at this time men thought that women should remain submissive. They were thought to have weak constitutions and needed men to take care of them. Throughout the history of the women's rights movement, this attitude was so prevalent that some women even spoke out against being given the right to vote, thinking that it gave too much responsibility. After being told that they were inferior for so long, they apparently began to think that the way they were treated was fair. It took a lot of courage for a woman during this time period to stand up for herself and proclaim something that was so different from the standard attitudes of the time. With this changing social fabric of the society, women began to feel that they deserved more rights and liberties, and they became more organized and more outspoken in their attempts to gain these rights. Another movement began to gain momentum in the years preceding the 1860's, one that the women's rights movement would find similar to their own. This was the abolition movement. A very simplistic view of the American Civil War would say that it was fought over slavery; there was much more to it than that. The South had trade agreements with England, and this put a strain on the North's growing industrial businesses. Those same factories that were doing many of the same jobs that women used to do were being threatened by this trade agreement. While the war was fought in the name of freeing slaves, there absolutely was a very strong economic aspect to the war also. Always at the head of big business, the Republican Party was very pro-Abolition. This is not to say that there weren't any anti-slavery activists that didn't have an extra agenda. Women felt that they were in s similar situation with the slaves, with them not being afforded property rights, being subjected to the will of their husbands, and so forth, and the pro-Abolition movement found a lot of support in the women's rights movement: "An examination of the discourse of Anthony and Stanton during this period indicates that they kept the movement alive by rhetorically adapting to the wartime situation by linking the war, the anti-slavery movement and their own movement in ways that served their calls for women's equality"iii. It was during this time that the Republican party was supportive of women's rights and liberties, and the two movements moved forward together with much enthusiasm. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863; women were given the right to vote nationally in 1920. Where did this sixty-seven year gap come from Why were the slaves freed but women weren't given their deserved rights The majority of abolitionists were white males that were more concerned with getting the votes of the freed slaves, and once they had those votes, they found no real reason to continue to support women's rights in any way. This reason alone sums up why the Republican party abandoned the women's rights movements after the Civil War; once they had what they wanted, they found no reason to expend the effort to support the women's rights cause which had supported them. The 14th Amendment defined citizens as "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" and guaranteed equal protection of the laws - but in referring to the electorate, it introduced the word "male" into the Constitution for the first time. The 15th Amendment declared that "the right of citizens . . . to vote shall not be denied or abridged . . . on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" - but women of all races were still denied the ballot ". iv Susan B. Anthony, perhaps the most famous suffragist in the history of our country, was incensed by the addition of the word "male" in the 14th amendment; she went so far as to vote and be arrested, and fine $100 which she refused to pay. She died shortly before women were given the right to vote, which was a recurring theme several times to different suffragists. v Once the Civil War had started, the women's rights movement became much less active. The main tool used by the activists, conventions, was put on hold until after the war. It would take another war to stimulate the movement into action to finally get the right to vote. The First World War was a time in American history that had an increased labor class as many women worked in factories as men were sent off to fight in the war. With this increase in the work force, women began demanding better working conditions and higher wages, and this political movement snowballed back into the suffragist movement. This time the movement finally had enough momentum and won the right to vote for all women.vi Another aspect of the time frame is that the act of rape was not considered to be a crime, at least not one that was punished. Women were little more than property at this time and the violation of their bodies was not taken as a serious offense. Certainly, the Republican Party consisting of white men was not about to take a crime against a woman as a matter of national importance. This is just one of many issues concerning women that was ignored by the Republican Party at the time. One of the core values of the modern day Republican Party centers around the family. In their vision of the ideal "family", men go to work to earn a living while women stay at home and take care of the house and children. This also encompasses the issue of abortion. The Republican Party is almost defined by its stance on abortion. The Republican Party seems to be composed of individuals that are of Christian denomination or of a religion that embraces the values of the Bible such as Mormonism. Biblical values are often interpreted by Christians as speaking strongly against the act of abortion. The problem with this has been that for decades, women have simply wanted the right to choose when it comes to their bodies. It has been an ongoing political struggle to determine the ethicalness of abortion. On one hand, the Republican Party views it as murder of the unborn. On the other hand, the women's rights movement as well as much of the Democratic Party views it as a woman's right to choose whether or not to keep her unborn child. In addition, it can be said that many forms of theocracy are patriarchal. The fact that the Republican Party is deeply routed in theocracy serves to make it a natural enemy of the women's rights movement. The very basis of many Christian denominations is the Bible which begins with the fall of "man". This allegory is about a man, Adam, who is tricked into eating a forbidden apple by his wife Eve. Many religious groups that are Bible based view this as the beginning of the reason for patriarchy. Ultimately, the women's rights movement has merely sought after the same rights enjoyed by men. This is hard to come by in a society governed by white males that follow patriarchal theology. It is common sense to deduce that women ventured to escape the ideals set forth by patriarchy by abandoning the very party that supported it, the Republican Party. Unfortunately, public speakers and religious leaders such as James Dobson, are perpetuating the same idealism that the radical Republicans propagated after the civil war"The problem, as [James Dobson] outlines it in Straight Talk to Men, a Dobson "classic" originally published as Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives, is that men, in a righteous attempt to resolve the problems of sexism, have ceded too much power to women. As a result, he insists, women are engaging in a parody of male headship and most men lack the guts - and the sensitivity - to stand up to themvii". It is this type of mind set that was shared and expressed by the Republican Party after the Civil War. These are among the many reasons that people have felt that the Republican Party has not lived up to its promise of what it could be. Instead, it has been taken over by misogynists that use the Bible as a basis to attempt to suppress people. The Party seemed to have good intentions as Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, though the party obviously has lost its way since then. Read More