In 1869, Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, another prominent 19th century suffragist, formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) to collectively lobby for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The NWSA also focused their attention on universal suffrage for African-Americans. Their efforts toward abolition succeeded first, as the 15th Amendment passed in 1871.
Also in 1869 Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and other suffragists formed a separate suffragist organization due to political and ideological differences with the NWSA. The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) favored a states-rights approach to suffrage and rather than petition the federal government for an amendment to the American constitution granting women the right to vote the AWSA appealed to state legislatures. Their efforts were "tied...closely to the Republican Party," ("Teaching with Documents").
The women's suffrage movement progressed slowly. Several Western territories such as Wyoming and Utah guaranteed women the right to vote in 1869 and 1870, respectively. The NWSA petitioned Senate and the House diligently since 1878 but their efforts to earn respect in Congress failed repeatedly. In 1890, after years of discouraging political results at the federal and state levels, the NWSA and the AWSA joined forces to rally for universal suffrage. In 1893, Colorado and in 1896 Idaho granted women the right to vote. By 1916, "almost all of the major suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment," and in 1918 President Woodrow Wilson finally warmed up to the notion that women were citizens of the United States with equal rights as men ("Teaching with Documents"). World War One partly impeded the right to vote when the Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of New York petitioned Congress to put off universal suffrage for fear that the change would hamper the war effort ("Petition to U.S. Senate Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of New York World War I").
It would take a century of civil disobedience, public seminars, marches, parades, political lobbying, hunger strikes, and published essays and works of fiction to earn one of the most basic civil liberties in a democracy: the right to vote. Earning the right to vote meant a wholesale transformation of...
Prohibition One of the most conflicted points of United States history is associated with the temperance movement, which culminated into a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting the production, transportation, and sale of all alcoholic beverages. The 18th Amendment to the constitution marked the end of a long and ardent campaign to eliminate all the ills of American society. The root of prohibition is seated in the reality of the alcohol, problem in
WOMEN IN THE LATE 19th AND 20th CENTURIES LAURA INGALLS WILDER Laura Ingalls Wilder gives some accurate depictions of women's lives when settling the West in the 19th Century but falls short of other key respects. Brief description of essay: Laura Ingalls Wilder's work is popular at least in part due to its ability to portray a glimpse of women settling in the western United States during the 19th Century. However, she either
Europe Women's Suffrage Most countries in Western and Central Europe, including Great Britain granted women the vote right after World War I, and only in the Scandinavian nations of Norway and Finland did they receive it earlier than that. France stood out as exceptional, however, no matter that it was the homeland of democratic revolution and of the idea of equal rights for women. It also had a highly conservative side
Humor was used as a tactic by women and for instance in 1915 Alice Duer Miller wrote that the reason women did not want men to vote included the following: Because man's place is in the army. Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it. Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them. Because men will lose their charm
149-150). References Balu, R. (Fall 1995). History comes alive: How women won the right to vote. Human Rights, 22(4). Retrieved March 23, 2005, from Academic Search Premier database. Colorado: Popularism, panic and persistence. (No date). Retrieved March 23, 2005, at http://www.autry-museum.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/suffrage_co.html. Marilley, S.M. (1996). Woman suffrage and the origins of liberal feminism in the United States, 1820-1920. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Suffrage appeals to lawless and hysterical women. (30 May 1913). New York
The authors further point out that at the time, NWSA did not accept male membership as its focus was firmly trained on securing the voting rights of women nationwide. As their push for the enfranchisement of women at the federal level became more and more untenable, NWSA shifted its focus to individual states. In so doing, it planned to create a ripple effect that could ease the attainment of
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