8.6.6
Examine the women's
suffrage movement (e.g., biographies, writings, and speeches of Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony).
American women earned the right to vote in 1920, upon the ratification of the
nineteenth Constitutional amendment. However, to gain this voting right, women
faced long struggles and were often put down or rejected by those who disagreed
with them. Following the American Revolution, women were allowed to vote
in New Jersey, yet this practice was short-lived and lasted only seventeen
years. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton both worked to end slavery, yet
while doing this, both Mott and Stanton realized they had limited political and
social rights themselves. Upon return of the World Anti-Slavery Convention, to
which they were forced to view hidden behind a curtain due to their gender,
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton supported the women’s rights cause and
held a women’s rights convention, eight years after formulating the idea to do
so. Many women joined Mott’s and Stanton’s movement for women’s political and
social equality. Also a supporter of women’s rights and women’s suffrage was
Susan B. Anthony, who was at all times ready to speak for the cause of women’s
rights. Anthony always finished her speeches, regardless of boos from the
audience or instances where eggs were thrown at her. President Woodrow Wilson
was convinced by six female protesters who in his presence in the House of
Representatives, leaned over a balcony with a large yellow banner reading, “Mr.
President, what will you do for woman suffrage?” On his third try, the
doorkeeper for the House managed to yank the sign from the women.
Publishing books proved to be an effective way for women to get their ideas and
opinions on the women’s movement out to the public. Women in the
19th Century, written by Margaret Fuller, was a heavy influence
on the women’s rights, and progressively the women’s suffrage movement. Women
had written many of the best selling novels of the 1800’s, many with basis on
the equality of women to men. Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B.
Anthony, and Margaret Fuller, along with the help of many other women,
established the beginning of an organized women’s right’s movement. In 1869,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage
Association. Women worked for change in their political as well as social
standings, yet advancement was slow.
More Information:
1.
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/
PBS’s online documentary on the woman’s suffrage movement is an excellent interactive
resource. Included is a video, where the viewer of the webpage can decide which
part of the woman’s suffrage movement, or the lives of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Susan B. Anthony, they would like to hear about.
2.
http://americanhistory.about.com/cs/womenssuffrage
Approximately eight pages, all offering essential information on the woman’s suffrage
movement, are offered by this web page. Important events that made the passage
of the 19th Amendment possible are written on.
Recommended Books:
1.
American Journey the Quest for Liberty to 1877
by James Davidson and Kathleen Underwood
2.
World Book. Ed. June Sochen. Vol. 18. : World Book Inc., 1995. p. 839. "Elizabeth Cady Stanton."