The right to vote for women in America was not anchored in the law by the 18th century and they were disenfranchised just like the black men. Suffrage for American women came about in gradual fashion following the agitation by a number of women suffragists. This happened both at the state and at the local level in the late 19th Century and in the early years of the 20th Century and finally being firmly anchored in 1920 with the enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This research paper shall examine the history of the development of women suffrage in a bid to explore the various actors in the field and the effects that the right to vote accorded to women has had on the women.
History
The movement for women suffrage was born in the 1800s courtesy of the changing social conditions for women at the time coupled with the issues of equality between men and women that had arisen at the time. The acquisition of advanced education at this period meant that they could easily take part in reform movements and their consequent engagement in politics. Women thereby started questioning why they were disenfranchised from voting with the first public appeal over the same in the year 1848 at Seneca Falls. At this first ever Convention convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the participants comprised of both men and women and they called for equal rights for all without gender bias. These participants adopted a Declaration of Sentiments modeled on the Declaration of Independence. It stated that both men and women were created equally. The leaders of the women suffrage movement believed that the right to vote for women would enable them to obtain other rights.
The opposition for the enfranchisement of women at the time was predicated on a number of factors. There was a widely held belief that women were relatively less intelligent as compared to men and thus less capable of making political decisions about their lives and their families. There was also apprehension that the enfranchisement of women would lead to breakdown of family life if they were to be allowed to participate in politics. The fight for the women rights to vote was reignited by the enactment of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution which encapsulated black men into the voting bracket while still excluding women. The agitators for women rights to vote formed two associations for their cause in 1869 namely the National Women Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. The former movement was led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and it emerged as the more abrasive of the two towards their quest. In the year 1872, Susan Anthony and a cohort of other women voted in a presidential plebiscite in Rochester, New York and were subsequently arrested and sanctioned for illegal voting. Susan made a poignant speech at the trial which sparked public interest and stated that resistance to tyranny was akin to obedience to God. The main clamor for the National Woman Suffrage Association led by the two was an Amendment to the Constitution to vouchsafe the voting rights for women therein. Other goals of the movement included equality in education and employment opportunities. After the 1890 merger with the relatively more moderate American Woman Suffrage Association, the two held state to state campaigns, held conventions and made available literature about their cause in a bid to win support in their quest. On the other hand, the American Woman Suffrage Association led by Lucy Stone was rather laid back in their operations and agitation and was aimed at pressuring individual states to confer the right to vote to the women. These two associations merged in the year 1890 and formed a single body known as the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Other leaders who lobbied for the enfranchisement of women included Alice Paul and a host of others who made an appeal to the working class women, the young and the radicals by engaging themselves in protests, marches and picketing. Alice Paul together with her group even chained themselves to the fence of the White House leading to their arrest. They were incarcerated in jail where they further continued agitation through a hunger strike. Alice Paul was among the pioneer founders of Congressional Union for Women Suffrage which later came to be known as the National Woman’s Party in 1917. In contrast to the other movements that focused on lobbying individual states to enshrine women right to vote, the party aimed at an enactment of a Constitutional Amendment to facilitate women suffrage. It became even more visible following the announcement by the then President, Woodrow that the First World War was a fight for democracy. The women rose up in arms and the party led by Alice Paul formed the first cause for picketing outside the White House against the Woodrow administration. President Wilson Woodrow ignored the protests that were being conducted by the party for up to six months. However, this could not continue following the protestors’ display of a banners which stated that women of America did not believe America was a democracy as was purported by the presidency. This was because over twenty million women were disenfranchised. They laid the blame on the president as the main stumbling block to their enfranchisement. This occurred even as a Russian delegation drove towards White House.
In addition, there was a banner in the year 1917 which named the president “Kaiser Wilson” equating the plight of American women to the situation which faced the people of Germany. As a result of these protests several persons were arrested and sent to prison. Alice Paul in particular, was convicted for a seven month jail term and a few days later she started a hunger strike while in prison. The authorities in prison started feeding her by force in a quest to ensure she did not starve, a move that would have sparked even great uproar. The pressure finally led President Woodrow into changing his stance in the year 1918 and he started an advocacy for women rights to vote. The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution that enabled women to vote was passed in the subsequent year by Congress in August 1920.
The suffrage for women has had both social and economic effects on the women. On the social sphere, the development rightfully secured the place of women in the society and was a major step towards achieving equality among all persons in America. To this end, higher calling became a reality for the women who were then able to enroll into prestigious professions dominated by men and advance themselves professionally. On the economic spectrum, due to increased education that resulted from the movements and the right to vote, women were able to occupy positions of power and assumed roles in professions effectively promoting them from weak economic positions they had become accustomed to.
Works Cited
Government Archives. The Constitution of the United States of America. Washington D.C.: Government Archives , n.d.
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Macedo, Stephen and Michael Brintnall. Democracy at Risk: Renewing the Political Science of Ctizenship. Chicago: American Political Science Association , 2004.
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