Foundation

An extensive period in US history has witnessed specific segments of the nation's population (such as females, Blacks, etc.) deprived of voting rights. The female suffrage movement or struggle for winning voting rights for females continued throughout the major part of the 1800s and into the early 1900s[footnoteRef:1]. While a few states allowed female participation in elections, both as contesters and voters, before the 19th Amendment's enforcement, its ratification on 18th August, 1920 ensured voting rights were extended to every woman in America[footnoteRef:2]. Ever since its ratification, US society has universally acknowledged female voting rights. [1: William W. Hodes, "Women and the Constitution" Rutgers L. Rev. 25 (1970): 26.] [2: Carol Lynn Yellin, "COUNTDOWN IN TENNESSEE" American Heritage 30, no. 1 (1978): 12.]

The American Constitution's Nineteenth Amendment accords an equal right to both males and females to vote. It asserts that the federal and state governments shall not curtail or deny citizens' voting rights based on gender[footnoteRef:3]. While Amendment XIV, ratified in 1868, did suggest such equality, a majority of states overlooked it and kept up with limiting or forbidding female suffrage[footnoteRef:4]. [3: Supra, note 1.] [4: National American Woman Suffrage Association. "Victory: How Women Won it"]

Female rights movements in America, which commenced somewhere during the 1830s, becoming entwined with the slavery elimination movement, led to Amendment XIX being proposed and introduced into the Congress in the year 1878. The recommended constitutional amendment continued to be a controversial matter for more than four decades -- a period that witnessed increasing aggressiveness in the nature of the female rights movement. Advocates increasingly organized protests and campaigns to coerce the Congress into passing Amendment XIX and ensuring its enforcement by all states[footnoteRef:5]. The above political action, buttressed by American females' contribution to the industrial sector in the crucial WWI era, led to the Amendment's enforcement. [5: Supra, note 2.]

Thesis statement

Amendment XIX proved to be one among the greatest milestones in American women's history, finally according them equal voting rights. Prior to this Amendment's enforcement, America's female citizens utterly lacked self-representation besides that they enjoyed from their fathers and husbands. This milestone in female social and political rights is chiefly responsible for the current power enjoyed by females in the country today.

Research question

Undoubtedly, Amendment XIX proved to be a salient achievement for America's female suffrage movement. However, how far did its enactment contribute to the achievement of equal female rights, in general? Is it possible the suffrage movement's progress decelerated as they believed they had finally triumphed? Was the Amendment really a great boost or did it lead to the suffrage movement's stagnation? Why?

Part II

How far did Amendment XIX's enactment contribute to the achievement of equal female rights, in general: Annotated Bibliography

"Appeal for a Sixteenth Amendment" from the National Woman Suffrage Association; 11/10/1876; Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233.

The suffrage movement expressed disappointment when Amendment XV failed to cover female voting rights. Advocates like Susan B. Anthony came together to form the Washington-based NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association) for coercing the Congress into implementing an amendment guaranteeing female voting rights. In the year 1876, the Association appealed to innumerable local advocacy groups, requesting a great petition campaign to create Congressional support for such an amendment. In 1878, Anthony's friend, Californian Congressman Aaron... In a period of 4 years, both the lower and upper houses of the US Congress had instituted special female suffrage committees.
The above article is actually in the form of a letter by Anthony to American women, appealing to them to rise and struggle to achieve their rights. Anthony explains her expectations of Amendment XVI, which were that it shall forbid state disfranchising of inhabitants based on gender. In other words, females ought to demand the Congress to enact a law forbidding gender discrimination by states. This would afford voting rights to females, if the law was incorporated into the Constitution. Further, Anthony cites various failed female attempts at gaining suffrage. She claims their pleas were simply overlooked and stacked amid National archives. She argues that the government would be unable to overlook a large petition and the petitioners' cause. Lastly, she draws attention to African-American males' voting rights and raises the logical question of whether Black men and women are actually unequal before the law, as the latter are still barred from voting.

Graham, Sara Hunter. Woman suffrage and the new democracy. Berghahn Books, 1996.

This book's author states that the NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association), which spearheaded the drive which ultimately led to Amendment XIX's enforcement, introduced a novel political approach/activity for females, namely pressure group politics. However, this narrow analysis may largely be regarded as a simple, though valuable, history of the NAWSA, relating organizational activities and achievements between 1890 and 1920. A graduate in history from the Louisiana State University, the author joins the crowd of female authors who wrote on the subject of female suffrage (e.g., After Suffrage by Kristi Andersen, LJ 8/15/96, and One Woman, One Vote by Marjorie Wheeler, LJ 11/1/95). Just like other historians, the author attempts at explaining the female movement's apparent fragmentation during the 1920s. However, as she has narrowly defined the groups that were a part of it, her work may be considered incomplete.

The author writes about female suffrage in the context of American political history, maintaining that it signifies a major new democracy milestone. She examines the reasons for the successful passage of a constitutional amendment in a period where rights drives were faced with opposition. While prior researches into this subject focus on multiple constituencies in this nationwide movement -- the National Women's Party's extremists, the WCTU's (Woman's Christian Temperance Union) conservatives, or NAWSA's moderates -- this book deconstructs national leadership approaches to support the author's argument. Suffrage movements offer a primary example of the interest group form of politics, demonstrating how interest group institution transformed Americans participation in politics.

The author's greatest input on the issue of suffrage movement success and post-suffrage weakening lies in her linking interest group politics' advent to decreased voter participation. She believes citizens did not feel it necessary to have their say in elections' outcomes as interest groups were not able to impact outcomes, and not because a larger number of individuals could now vote. With increased special interest group and advocate power, political parties' responsibilities shifted. They failed to reflect diverse political players and their actions, and failed to include blacks and females in political systems. Voter socialization and political education became pressure groups' missions. These transformations resulted in a novel political participation framework including informal and formal structures. The author's conclusion is that our grasp of American politics will better reflect political players when political historians expand their examinations. Consequently, female suffrage…