Women's+Suffrage

 **What was Women’s Suffrage? **

Explicitly, Women’s Suffrage is the right of women to vote in political elections. Before 1920, this right was not recognized throughout the United States. During that time, the women of the country were considered second-class citizens, not entitled to the same rights as the men of the nation. Beginning in 1848 with a conference in Seneca Falls, New York, The movement for women’s suffrage grew with the establishment of organizations pioneered by women across the nation. Over time the cause gained momentum through the spread of awareness, civil demonstrations, and petitions, resulting in the ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 26th, 1920.

**History of Women’s Suffrage: **

The conference in Seneca Falls marked the first large-scale meeting for women’s rights. There were over 300 people in attendance, including the presence of forty men. The main purpose of the meeting was to draft a declaration of women’s rights in the U.S. This covered many rights women desired, but Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the person to propose the inclusion of women’s suffrage in the list of actions within the document, later named The Declaration of Sentiments. This convention fueled and inspired much of the later movement towards the equality of women and men, and served as an example of what women could accomplish, despite the ridicule and mockery it received.

Four years after the conference at Seneca Falls, Susan B. Anthony attended her first women’s rights conference where she founded her strong support for the cause. She began by circulating petitions publicly, and in 1871, Anthony co-founded the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This organization would grow to become one of the prominent women’s associations in support of the suffrage movement, organizing protests, demonstrations, and pioneering the shift in equality of the sexes. By that time the movement had gained momentum and Wyoming became the first state to grant unrestricted suffrage to women in 1869. Through her strong ideas and persistent pursuit of her goals, Anthony’s involvement in women’s suffrage grew risky. In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in the presidential election, tried in court, and fined 100 dollars.

In 1878 Senator A. A. Sargent, from California, proposed the first federal amendment to give women the right to vote. The amendment revised the sixteenth amendment to, “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.” The amendment was voted down, but Senator Sargent continued to promote it. The amendment was changed from a revision to an independent entity because after the initial proposal the seventeenth and eighteenth amendments were passed before the sixteenth amendment could be revised. The name changed too, to the Susan B. Anthony amendment.

Within the next ten years the suffrage movement was met with resistance from the government. In 1887, the Supreme Court voided a law that enfranchised women in the Washington territory several years after the legislation had been passed by the people living there. Similarly, Congress denied the women in Utah the right to vote, even though many in the territory supported the cause. The women’s suffrage movement did not gain federal support until 1916 when presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson announced the Democratic Party Platform which endorsed women’s suffrage. By that time, while many states were not granting unrestricted suffrage to women, many were in the process of passing state legislation that partially allowed women to exercise their right to vote; for example, restricting women’s votes to presidential elections.

In 1918 with President Woodrow Wilson’s support, the nineteenth amendment was passed in the House, but it did not have the same result in the Senate. Congressmen attempted to pass the amendment again later that year with no luck. Finally, at the end of May, 1919 the amendment passed in both the House and the Senate. Supporters of the movement were thrilled by the historic event, but their work was not complete. Two thirds of the states needed to ratify the amendment before it would be included in the constitution. The long road to women’s suffrage ended on August 26, 1920, when the last necessary state, Tennessee, ratified the amendment, granting women across the nation the right to vote.

**Impact of Suffrage on the Women’s Rights Movement: **

The suffrage movement played a large role in women’s rights. Most importantly, the women’s suffrage movement created and realized the passing of the nineteenth amendment. Not only did the legislation give women in America a vital right they had previously been denied, it paved the way for future women’s rights pioneers. With the right to vote, women had more of a voice in the government. They were given a hand in choosing the leaders of the country, and the suffrage movement gave women confidence and determination to continue their journey to equality. In 1916, the movement helped elect Jeanette Rankin to the House of Representatives, the first women to ever hold such a position. Since that time, women have been Supreme Court Justices, Senators, and even served as members of the president’s cabinet. Without the women’s suffrage movement, women would not have the same influence in the government that they do today. Without their presence in the government and their determination to advance women’s rights, the country would still be under a struggle for sexual equality under a male dominated society. The success of the suffrage movement gave the women of the country the momentum and drive for the ultimate goal and steered them in their efforts towards gender equality.