Women's Suffrage & 19th Amendment

Hi,

this is Mackenzie trail men and today we are going to be talking

about the 19th amendment and women's suffrage in the present day world.

While we women have more rights,

we sometimes are still seen as frail or an object that can be possessed.

However,

this ideology was even more present in the mid 1880s to the early 1900s and it was

in the progressive era when women demanded to be

seen as full citizens of the United States.

The 19th Amendment is the amendment of the US Constitution that

gives a person the right to vote no matter their sex.

But how did we get there?

During America's early history,

women were denied some of the basic rights enjoyed by male citizens.

For example,

married women couldn't own property and had no legal claim to any

money they may earn and no female had the right to vote.

Women were expected to focus on housework and motherhood, not politics.

The campaign for women's suffrage was a small but

growing movement in the decades before the Civil War.

Starting in the 1820s, various reform groups proliferated across the us,

including temperance leaks, the abolitionist movement and religious groups.

Women played a prominent role in many of them.

Meanwhile,

many american women were resisting the notion that the ideal woman was just a pious,

submissive wife and mother, concerned exclusively with home and family

combined.

These are the factors that contributed to a new way of thinking about what

it meant to be a woman and a citizen in the United States.

It wasn't until 18 48 that the movement for women's rights began

to organize at the national level in july of that year.

Reformers,

Elizabeth cady Stanton and lucretia Mott organized the first

women's rights convention at Seneca Falls new york.

More than 300 people, mostly women, but also men attended,

including former African American slave and activist Frederick Douglass.

In addition to their belief that women should

be afforded better opportunities for education and employment,

most of the delegates at the Seneca Falls convention agreed that

american women were autonomous individuals who

deserved their own political identities.

As you can see here, these are four figures that were pivotal in this movement,

including Elizabeth, cady Stanton, lucretia Mott,

Susan b Anthony and Carrie chapman Catt.

The Declaration of the Seneca Falls convention using the model of the U. S.

Declaration of Independence,

demanded that the rights of women as right

bearing individuals be acknowledged and respected by society.

The Declaration States,

we hold these truths to be self evident that all men and women are created equal,

that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights

That among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness

that to secure these rights governments are instituted,

deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That is from the declaration of sentiments in 1848 and it was signed by 68,

women and 32.

Men

moving on to a little bit of the timeline

As I had just previously mentioned in eight and 48.

The declaration of sentiments was Britain

and the onset of the civil war caused the suffrage movement to lose some momentum,

as many women turn their attention to assisting

effects related to the conflict between the states.

However,

in 18 69 san Anthony formed the National Women's Suffrage Association or NWS A with a

desire to push for a federal constitutional amendment

that would grant women the right to vote.

By 1878, the N. W. S.

A and the collective suffrage movement had gathered enough

influence to lobby the us Congress for Constitutional Amendment.

Congress responded by forming committees in the House of Representatives

and the Senate to study and debate the issue.

However, when the proposal finally breached senate floor in 1886, it was defeated

in 18 90

the National Woman suffrage Association and

the american Woman suffrage Association merged

to form the National American suffrage Association or N A W S.

A.

Together,

they decided to develop a new strategy lobbying for

women's voting rights on a state by state basis.

Within six years,

colorado Utah and Idaho adopted amendments to their

state constitutions granting women the right to vote.

As pictured here,

I included a print from the National

american Woman suffrage Association with the headline

that reads women who lead national fight for women's suffrage and if in it,

you can see the pivotal figures of this movement

and how they contributed.

While the woman's suffrage movement advocated for the rights of women,

it was often discriminatory towards african american women

As the fight for voting rights continued.

Black women in the suffrage movement

continue to experience discrimination from white suffragists

who wanted to distance their fight for voting rights from the question of race

as a result of being pushed out of the national suffrage organizations,

Black suffrage is founded their own groups,

including the National Association of Colored Women Clubs founded in 18 96 by

a group of women including mary church Terrell and IDa B Wells Barnett.

They fought hard for the passage of the 19th Amendment,

seeing the women's right to vote as a crucial

tool to winning legal protections for black and women

and then

against continued repression and violence.

The turn of the 20th century brought

renewed momentum to the women's suffrage cause.

Although the deaths of standing in 1902 and Anthony in

19 oh six appeared to be setbacks.

The N A W S A under the leadership of Carrie

Catt achieves rolling successes for women's enfranchisement at state levels.

Between 1910 and 1918,

the Alaska territory Arizona Arkansas California Illinois,

indiana Kansas michigan Montana Nebraska

Nevada new york north Dakota Oklahoma Oregon,

south Dakota and Washington exited voting rights to women,

it was during this time through the Equality

League of Self supporting women Stanton's daughter Harriet

Stanton blatch introduced parades pickets and marches as

a means of calling attention to the cause.

These tactics succeeded in raising awareness and let unrest in Washington, D. C.

On the night before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913,

protesters came together for a massive suffrage parade in

the nation's capital and hundreds of women were injured.

The organization staged numerous demonstrations and regular ble

picketed the White House among other militia tactics.

As a result of these actions, some groups met group members were arrested,

answer jail time

and here here this picture demonstrates one of the parades that

they held in order to fight for the right to vote.

In 1918,

President Wilson switched his stance on women's voting rights

from a objection to support through the influence of cat

Wilson also tied the proposed suffrage

amendment to America's involvement in World

War One and increased role women have played in the war efforts

When the amendment came up for vote,

Wilson addressed the Senate in favor of suffrage,

as reported in the New York Times on October 1, 1918 Wilson said, and I quote,

I regard the extension of suffrage to a woman as vitally essential to the

successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged.

However, despite Wilson's newfound support,

the amendment proposal failed in the Senate by two votes

another year passed before Congress took up the measure again here in this picture,

you can see women using President Wilson's words for their advantage.

It says here, this is the time to support women's suffrage.

On May 21st 1919. U. S.

Representative James R Man,

a Republican from Illinois and chairman

of the suffrage committee proposed the house

resolution to approve the Susan Anthony amendment

granting women the right to vote.

Yeah.

The measure passed the House 304 to 89. 2 weeks later, on june 4th 1919, the U. S.

Senate passed the 19th amendment by two votes

over two thirds required majority 56 25.

Within six days of the ratification cycle, Illinois,

michigan and Wisconsin each ratified the amendment

By March of the following year. A total of 35 states had approved the amendment.

However,

southern states were adamantly opposed to the amendment and seven of

them had already rejected it before Tennessee's vote on August 18,

1920.

it was up to Tennessee to put forth women's suffrage.

Although Representative Harry Burn opposed the amendment.

His mother convinced him to approve it as she reportedly wrote to her son and I quote,

don't forget to be a good boy and help Miss Cat put the rat in ratification.

That quote is from MS Burns

With burns vote.

The 19th Amendment was fully ratified

on august 26th 1920.

The 19th Amendment was certified by the U. S. Secretaries

of state

Bainbridge Colby and women finally achieve the long sought right

to vote throughout the United States on november 2nd of

that same year more than eight million women across the

United States voted in elections for the first time.

The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote

and reads

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 the account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation that is from the US Constitution Amendment 19.

While the 19th Amendment was the first step

in creating equal rights for women were still fighting

to date for equal treatment.

I commend all of the women for their hard work and dedication to women's suffrage.

Thank you.

Women's Suffrage & 19th Amendment

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