Women Suffrage Essay Research Paper Women SuffrageWomens

Women Suffrage Essay, Research Paper

Women Suffrage

Women.s rights in America have always been a major issue throughout history.

Women.s rights have been closely linked with human rights throughout . This violation of

Women.s rights is apparent in the fight for suffrage in the late 1800.s-early 1900.s . It can

be said that the government denying the vote to women is a human right offense because

the right to vote is a natural right that comes with citizenship. To deny a certain group

based on race, age, or gender is deny them of their basic rights and therefore taking the

stance that they are second-class citizens if they are citizens at all. . The fight for suffrage

was a human rights struggle for more than just the right to vote. They were also striving

for a right to equal treatment as men politically. Women wanted to be recognized as being

a political force able to change the country if they so chose.

Suffrage can be documented as starting as far back as 1776, with Abigail Adams.

She wrote to her husband John, who was attending the Continental Congress, asking that

he and the other men .remember the ladies. In response, the Declaration is worded as .all

men are created equal:. Although this was seen by the men as a joke between husband

and wife, it was a blatant refusal of women as citizens of the country.

In he 1800.s women.s rights were furthered by the Married Woman.s Property

Act which was passed by Maryland in 1839. This law gave women the right to retain

personal property even within marriage. Now, the husband could not come into control of

the women.s property and sell it when married. This law was important because it

recognized the fact that women had the right to personal property even if there was a man

attached to them.

The origins of what we would determine as the suffrage movement began in 1848

with the Seneca Falls Convention, which was held in Seneca Falls New York in July of

1848. Many of those who attend sign a .Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. that

outlines the main issues and goals for the emerging women.s movement. Included in the

.women.s Declaration of Independence. was the goal of the right to vote, but that was

looked upon by most of the women as a radical unachievable goal.

The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869 caused a rift in the suffrage

movement. Elizabeth Caty Stanton and Susan B Anthony form the National Woman

Suffrage Association (NWSA). Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe

formed the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The NWSA did not support

the 15th Amendment, it pushed for an alternative 15th Amendment granting women.s

right to vote. They were considered the more radical of the two groups.. The AWSA was

in support of the 15th amendment, while still working for women.s enfranchisement, more

on a state level. The NWSA thought it was more important to attack the issue on a

national scale while the AWSA thought that if you worked within the states and perhaps

got state by state suffrage, the goal could be attained.

IN 1872 Susan B Anthony attempted to vote for the elections in New York. She

and several other women were successful in their attempts. Anthony was arrested and

found guilty of .knowingly, wrongfully, and unlawfully voting for a representative to the

Congress of the United Sates.. The courts were afraid to jail her , fearing riots. She was

issued a fine which she refused to pay.

In the West suffrage was doing well about this time, several of the western

territories enfranchised women in hopes that they would emigrate westward. These areas

included Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho. This was also a source of unrest for the

East. The fat that westerners could vote while the women who were campaigning so hard

could not was a blatant slap in the face from the government.

The suffrage ties to the temperance movement gained them both a great many

supporter and some enemies. As the suffragettes were seen as .unwomanly. this linking

of crusades brought them back tot he home and religion aspects that they were said to

have forgotten in their quest for political power. The Women.s Christian Temperance

Union endorsed suffrage and this helped them because this made the e suffrage movement

seem less radical. Through their joining with the Union, the suffragettes also made

powerful enemy in the liquor industry who considered that women suffrage was a threat to

be stopped at all costs.

In 1890 The Unity was restored and the NWSA and the AWSA joined together to

form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Elizabeth Cat Stanton was

elected President and Susan B Anthony was elected Vice President. Anthony would take

over the presidency from 1892-1900. This united the campaigning forces and redoubled

the efforts.

The Suffrage Movement has historically been linked with abolition. This was not

always

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