Overview: Women's Suffrage & 19th Amendment

Rights are declarations that allow people to live their lives with equality, freedom, and justice. Rights allow people to live freely without discrimination and dictatorship over the choices they want to make; however, in 1800 and before, women did not have rights. Women were not free to do as they chose but instead were expected to stay home and take care of children. The right to vote is one of the most unique things about our country. It allows an individual to voice their opinion.

Not many people realize the extent that women had to go through to gain their right to vote. The fight for their right to vote was a long and crucial event in our history. The 19th amendment was one of the most important turning points in history for the millions of women who fought for their rights to vote. Before, they had no self-representation other than from their husbands and fathers. It was a turning point in women’s history for their political and social rights that have led to the women who are in power today.

The women’s suffrage movement was created and founded in the mid-19th century. It was created by women who became politically active through their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. The women’s suffrage movement was a constant battle to gain the right to vote for women in the United States of America. The women’s suffrage movement began to campaign in the decades before the Civil War.

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Women played a prominent role in the majority of movements happening across the United States. However, It was a common misconception that the idea of a “true” woassociation’sman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned only with the home and family. Many women began to chafe against this less than the realistic idea of a woman.

This contributed to the desire to change the thinking about what it meant to be a woman in the United States of America. Unfortunately, the women’s rights movement died down before the beginning of the Civil War. After the war ended, the 14th and 15th Amendments raised familiar questions of citizenship and suffrage. The 14th amendment extends protection to citizens, although it defines “citizens” as “male”; the 15th amendment guaranteed colored men the right to vote. Many women refused to support the 15th amendment because it still didn’t allow women the right to vote. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association was established. The association began to fight for the universal suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution. By 1890, the association’s approach had changed. Rather than argue that women and men were created equal,” they would argue that women deserved to vote because they were different from men.

For the first time in almost 20 years, some states in the west began to extend the vote to women. Utah and Idaho had given women the right to vote at the end of the 19th century. World War I slowed down the suffragists’ campaign, but in the end, helped them advance their argument. World War I helped people to see that women’s work on behalf of the war, proved that they were just as deserving and patriotic as men. Finally, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Following the ratification, more than eight million women across the United States of America voted in elections for the first time.

The “true” women’s image had been shattered. By the 20th century, the role of women in American society had changed drastically. Women were working more and getting a better education, and several states had authorized female suffrage. It is essential to educate and remind ourselves of our history. We rarely hear about the effort and dedication that it took to get women the right to vote Women’s Suffrage shaped our history for the better.

Bibliography

1. Anthony, Susan. “History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage.” History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage, 2017, www.crusadeforthevote.org/.
2. Editors, History.com. “Women’s Suffrage.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/women’s-history/the-fight-for-women’s-suffrage.
3. McQueen, Sarah. “Congress Passes the 19th Amendment.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress passes-the-19th amendment.
4. Services, National. “Women’s Suffrage.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2017, www.nps.gov/bepa/learn/womens-suffrage.htm.
5. “19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote (1920).” Our Documents – Interstate Commerce Act (1887), 2016, www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=63.