Women's Suffrage Impact On Society

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Kayla Benware Professor Donnelly History 202 Research Paper Fall 2011 Women’s Suffrage Movement Impact on the United States Woman suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually through the 19th and early 20th Century. The women’s suffrage movement concluded in 1920 with a famous passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution which stated: “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.

In the aftermath of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, which demanded the rights for women’s suffrage, most Americans rejected the movement because people did not want the United States system to change when it was already clearly working, women already had a solidified role and duty in local affairs, and because men and women were just simply viewed as having different abilities and capabilities in society.

Although many Americans were against women’s suffrage, the movement brought progress towards equality, related social and political reform, and led to many key events that positively allowed women to bring about social change.

The first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Two days later, a Declaration of Sentiments was signed by 68 women and 32 men. This outlined all the injustices and allowed the women’s rights movement to begin.

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Twelve resolutions were adopted, calling for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. In 1850, the first national Women’s Rights Convention took place in Worcester, Massachusetts. More than 1,000 participants came and annual national conventions were held afterwards all the way through 1860. Some of the most influential women in history were Susan B.

Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In 1869, they formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, with the goal to attain voting rights for women through an amendment to the Constitution. In Letters of a Nation, Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes a letter to Susan B. Anthony about editing their feminist newspaper, “The Revolution. ” In this letter, Stanton writes how changing the name of “The Revolution” would be a mistake. Stanton quotes, “The establishing of woman on her rightful throne is the greatest revolution the world has ever known or ever will know. To bring it about is no child’s play.

You and I have not forgotten the conflict of the last twenty-years- the ridicule, persecution, denunciation, detraction, the unmixed bitterness of our cup for the past two years, when even friends crucified us”. These gallant statements that Stanton writes proves how much the women’s suffrage movement needed to happen. Stanton is literally bitter about how they have been treated and will do anything to change the American ways for a more fair and equal future for women. Stanton comes off as an admiral, strong women in history, who believes that she can make a difference in everyone’s lives.

Women’s Rights 1920 Essay

Indeed, Stanton is one of the many reasons why the women’s suffrage movement occurred, and all women everywhere have her to thank. Fifty-one years later, Anthony and Stanton are still friends working on “The Revolution” and trying to see their ultimate dream through- the right for women to vote. Unfortunately, they never lived to see this day, but another letter was found in Letters of a Nation, in which Anthony wrote a letter to Stanton about their journey through the women suffrage. Anthony describes that throughout all their hard work, they never once stopped being optimistic towards their battle for women’s suffrage.

Even in fifty years, they accomplished a lot more than they could have hoped for, such as: women were able to get a college education, have business experience, and were fully able to speak in public now. Anthony continued to be optimistic throughout her letter and was certain that their influence and reign would be carried on to victory by future women. Anthony was indeed correct on this, as the women’s suffrage battle was ended about twenty years later and all women were granted the right to vote, among other sanctions and rights.

Other influential women in women suffrage history, such as Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, formed the American Woman Suffrage Association in late 1869. This group’s goal was to continue Anthony’s and Stanton’s goal and gain voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions. The territory of Wyoming was later the first to pass the women’s suffrage law; and women began to serve on juries there as early as the following year. By 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSAA).

This became the movement’s mainstream organization and NAWSA started state-by-state campaigns in order to obtain voting rights for women. Colorado was the first state to adopt an amendment granting the right to vote in 1893. Closely after, Utah, Idaho, Washington State, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New York, Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma all adopted the amendment by 1918. Many other events followed suit, including The National Association of Colored Women in 1896, which brought together more than 100 black women’s clubs.

Some famous activist leaders in the black women’s club movement were Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Mary Church Terrell, and Anna Julia Cooper. “Although woman suffrage meant different things to different African American women, most believed that the ballot was essential to the growth of democracy and to the advancement of human rights in the United States. ” This belief was furthered by the late nineteenth century, where women suffrage rationale had grown to include the argument that African American women needed the vote in order to help uplift the Black race and to obtain their own rights. This just goes to explicate how important and influential the women’s suffrage was to history. The movement was necessary, as the white women leaders of the movement constructed the history and determined the path and the value of Black women to the movement. In 1903, the National Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) was established to advocate for improved wages and working conditions for women. Ten years later, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed a Congressional Union to work toward the passage of a federal amendment to give women the vote.

The group was later renamed and better known as the National Women’s Party. Members of the National Women’s Party picketed the White House and protested in other forms in home of getting the vote. A few years later, Margaret Sanger opened the first U. S. birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, N. Y. However, ten days later, Sanger is arrested and the clinic is shut down. This is a big moment in women’s suffrage, as she eventually won support through the courts and opened another clinic in New York City in 1923.

The early 20th century is a huge benchmark in women history, as the federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by Susan B. Anthony forty-one years earlier, is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1919. It was then sent to the states for ratification. A year later, the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor was formed to collect information about women in the workforce and to advocate good working conditions for women. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was signed into law by Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby.

Women were finally granted the right to vote, which would lead to inspire future generations of women to fight for equal rights. Not only did the women suffrage movement help future generations for equal rights, but the permanent war economy of the United States depended on the women’s suffrage and the corporation of the women at large. Women were the ones who went into the factories during the wars, which goes to show how women were just as capable and justified to have the same rights as men. This furthers the point that women deserved the right to vote.

As a result of women’s presence in factories, the United States could build an even larger military structure with the men going to war and women staying at home and working. Women’s suffrage has had an enormous impact on society today. Since the early 20th century, women have only grown stronger and more involved in the United States government, politics, economics, and social world today. From running for president, to juggling successful careers, women prove that they can do more than cook in the kitchen and take care of their families.

If it weren’t for women’s suffrage and all the battles that the US went through to get to the nineteenth amendment, we wouldn’t be as transformed and accomplished as we are today. From the progressive era to now, there have been many battles, wars, and events that have shaped the women and everyone else in our society today. Works Cited Campbell, Karen; Granberg, Ellen; McCammon, Holly; Mowery, Christine, “HowMovements Win: Gendered Opportunity Structures and U. S. Women’s Suffrage Movements, 1866-1919,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 6, No. 1, (Feb. , 2001): 49-70. Carroll, Andrew. Letters of a Nation. New York, NY: Kodansha America, Inc. , 1997. Daley, Caroline & Nolan, Melanie. Suffrage & Beyond. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1994. Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn. African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Campbell, Karen; Granberg, Ellen; McCammon, Holly; Mowery, Christine, “HowMovements Win: Gendered Opportunity Structures and U. S.

Women’s Suffrage Movements, 1866-1919,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 66, No. 1, (Feb. , 2001): 54. [ 2 ]. Campbell, 52 [ 3 ]. Campbell, 53 [ 4 ]. Campbell, 49. [ 5 ]. Campbell, 51 [ 6 ]. Campbell, 54 [ 7 ]. Campbell, 68 [ 8 ]. Campbell, 67 [ 9 ]. Carroll, Andrew. Letters of a Nation. New York, NY: Kodansha America, Inc. , 1997, 183 [ 10 ]. Carroll, 183 [ 11 ]. Carroll, 184 [ 12 ]. Carroll, 184 [ 13 ]. Carroll, 185 [ 14 ]. Carroll, 185 [ 15 ]. Carroll, 186 [ 16 ]. Campbell, 63 [ 17 ]. Campbell, 73 [ 18 ]. Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn.

African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920. Indiana: Indiana University Press, (1998): 239. [ 19 ]. Daley, Caroline & Nolan, Melanie. Suffrage & Beyond. New York, NY: New York University Press, (1994): 56 [ 20 ]. Campbell,76 [ 21 ]. Campbell, 52 [ 22 ]. Terborg- Penn, 13 [ 23 ]. Terborg- Penn, 44 [ 24 ]. Terborg, Penn, 160 [ 25 ]. Terborg-Penn, 161 [ 26 ]. Daley, 51 [ 27 ]. Daley, 54 [ 28 ]. Campbell, 61 [ 29 ]. Campbell, 63 [ 30 ]. Campbell, 66 [ 31 ]. Campbell, 67 [ 32 ]. Campbell, 68 [ 33 ]. Campbell, 68 [ 34 ]. Campbell, 69 [ 35 ]. Campbell, 69