Womens Suffrage in the US Essay

Submitted By Daviananh11
Words: 1179
Pages: 5
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“
The history of mankind is the history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman
,
having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.
”
From the "Seneca Falls Declaration," this was said at the first women's rights convention
,
held in
1848 in Seneca Falls
,
NY
. Here
,
for the first time
,
American women demanded suffrage and other rights they have been denied
.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were two women who organized the convention and would become two of the most famous suffragists and social reformers .
This convention would be the beginning to a long fight for women's rights
.
(Gurko,
17)
Early women reformers did not focus on expanding the right to vote to all women citizens .
So
, at the first women's rights convention
, the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848
,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
,
Susan B
.
Anthony
, and Lucretia Coffin Mott came together to take a stand .
These women issued what became known as the Declaration of Sentiments and
Resolutions
, a document outlining the demand for equal rights
.
(Stanton) All of the articles of the Declaration passed except for the right to vote
.
It was widely believed at that time
, that women were both physically and mentally inferior to men, and therefore should not have the right to vote
.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause
,
many other people did not agree with these women’s radical views
.
These conservative thinkers
, most of them men
,
had caused a

problem in the fight for women's rights
.
Most of these men were set in their thoughts about women ’ s roles in the home and outside it
.
But surprisingly there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote
.
The suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by changing their tactics
, but still working toward the same goal
.
Some the earliest organized campaigns for women's rights focused on individual political liberty for women . (Watts) Almost all positions of power outside the family were available only to property­owning men
, and many women did not think this was fair
.
The suffragist woman made banners and pins
, also holding rallies to support women's right to vote
.
(Campbell) An Equal Rights Association was founded after the war that was linked to both black and female suffrage
.
Many suffragists women were disappointed by the proposed Fifteenth
Amendment
, that would grant African­American men the right to vote
.
Susan B
.
Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton felt that the amendment merely expanded male suffrage without helping women in any way
.
They urged their male allies to withdraw their support unless the amendment was modified to include women as well
.
Stanton also prepared a petition requesting an amendment to the U
.
S
.
Constitution, prohibiting states “ from disenfranchising any of their citizens on the ground of sex
.”
Male abolitionists seemed surprised by this
, some even indignant , that women objected to the Fifteenth Amendment
.
Most of them refused to sign the

petition
.
The passage of the amendment in 1870 helped to strengthen the barriers of woman suffrage . Soon after
,
suffragists began to form two organizations to help the cause
.
In 1869 The
National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan
B
.
Anthony and was opposed to the Fifteenth Amendment
.
The American Woman Suffrage
Association (AWSA)
, supportive of the Fifteenth Amendment
,
was headed by Lucy Stone
,
Julia
Ward Howe
,
Henry Ward Beecher
,
and others
.
Many viewed the female­run NWSA as more radical than the AWSA
.
(Campbell) Susan B
.
Anthony affirmed that view when she tried to vote in 1872 and was arrested
,
found guilty
,
and fined
.
Many
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