The Womens Suffrage Movement

By: Ben, Jen, and Quinten

What is Womens Suffrage?

Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote and to stand for political office.
Women began to receive voting rights in a few Western countries in the late 19th
century.

Who was actually eligible to vote?

Male
White
Owned Property
Over the age of 21

Women, persons of different races

other than white, persons who didnt
own any property, and persons who
were under the age of 21 werent
allowed to vote until various voting
amendments were passed.

Origins & History

Throughout most of world history, women have almost always had a struggle for
power and equivilence.
Seneca Falls Convention in 1848
First womens rights convention in the United States.
Called attention to unfair treatment of women.
300 people attended including 40 men.
Declaration of Sentiments
Drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth
Cady Stanton

Susan B Anthony

Important
Figures
Susan B. Anthony
&
Elizabeth Cady Stanton

In 1852, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady

Stanton founded the New York Womens State
Temperance Society after Anthony was denied
the right to speak at a temperance conference
due to the fact that she was a woman.
In 1863, the two of them founded the Womens
Loyal National League, which supported the
abolition of slavery.
In 1866, they promoted the American Equal
Rights Association, which stood for equal rights
for both women and African Americans.
In 1869, they founded the National Woman
Suffrage Association as part of a split in
womens movement.

Arguments and Tactics

Theodore Roosevelt expressed his support for woman suffrage in an editorial
entitled "Women's Rights; and the Duties of Both Men and Women," in The
Outlook, February
Roosevelt believed that women deserved suffrage to help them with their personal
lives. For those women with brutal, abusive husbands, there was now a way they
would more easily be able to support themselves, if they so desired.

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)

Created in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over
whether the womens movement should support the 15th amendment
It opposed the 15th amendment unless it included the vote for women also
They worked to secure womens enfranchisement through a federal
constitutional amendment
At the time, their rival was the American Woman Suffrage Association

American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)

They strongly supported the 15th amendment
They were afraid that the passing of the 15th amendment would be jeopardized
if it included the vote for women also
Main founders: Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe

The Merging of the Two Organizations

In 1890, the NWSA and AWSA merged to form the National American Woman
Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

National American Woman Suffrage Association

It was formed on February 18, 1890 by the merging of the National Woman
Suffrage Association (NWSA) and American Women Suffrage Association
(AWSA)
Its membership started at 7000, and increased to 2 million, which makes it the
largest voluntary organization in the nation

Group of state presidents and

officers of the NAWSA

Controversies & Opposition

Brewers and Distillers were opposed to womens
suffrage, because they feared that women voters
would vote for the prohibition of alcoholic
beverages.
Other big businesses would oppose suffrage
because they feared women would try eliminate
child labor.
Women who opposed suffrage were titled
remonstrants. They argued that womens
suffage "would reduce the special protections and
routes of influence available to women, destroy
the family, and increase the number of socialistleaning voters."

Amendments that Promoted Suffrage

15th amendment
Vote for all male citizens regardless of
race, color, or history of servitude
Granted African American men right to
vote

19th amendment
Granted women the right to vote

24th amendment
Prohibited poll taxes in elections

Passage of the 19th Amendment

Congress passed the suffrage amendment
on June 4, 1919
Then the struggle was passed onto the
state legislatures
would need to ratify it for it to become
law

By the end of 1919, women could vote for

president in states that had a majority of
electoral votes
Though women had the right to vote many
did not vote until 1980, 60 years later

The 19th Amendment, the womens

suffrage amendment, became the law of
the land on August 26, 1920, when it
was certified by the United States
Secretary of State