The Woman Suffrage Movement

Improved Essays
Many history books tell about glorious battles, courageous military leaders, and larger-than-life discoveries; however, they downplay substantial social events that have had immeasurable ramifications on all aspects of America’s history, including the woman suffrage movement. The woman suffrage movement was a women’s rights crusade in the 1800s and early 1900s that gave females the right to vote as well as the right to attend college and to hold a professional job. This is one of the social movements that makes America exceptional, and as Alexis de Tocqueville says “If America ever ceases to be good, then America will cease to be great.” (6) The woman suffrage movement has extraordinary value and, although there were some road bumps along …show more content…
The woman suffrage movement began influencing America during the early 1800s when Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott gathered women, and men, at the Seneca Falls Convention ("The Fight for Women’s Suffrage"). This convention kick-started the women’s rights movements in the United States, which closely followed the movement which started earlier in Europe. Soon after this convention, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was founded. This society confronted the political and social issues that surrounded women in America. By the 1890s, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was fully functioning in society ("The Women 's Rights Movement, 1848–1920 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives"). "Our ‘Pathway’ is straight to the ballot box,” declares Stanton, “with no variableness nor shadow of turning." With this in mind, women began campaigning specifically for obtaining the right to vote. They slowly began to gain this right from individual states, then in 1920 supreme court ruled that females in any state could vote ("The Fight for Women’s Suffrage"). This was a major leap that helped the NAWSA obtain more members and volunteers especially …show more content…
Starting in the 1880s, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) lacked major funding ("The Women 's Rights Movement, 1848–1920 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives"). They had support from a considerable amount of states, however they did not gain enough financial support to make any real difference. This was mostly due to the fact that the states that supported them were new out west and lacked funding within the state. In the other part of the country, the NWSA was financially blooming. With their major headquarters stationed in New England, they were able to be noticed. However they failed to persuade people to become a part of the movement causing very little participation from the citizens. As the History House asserted “This split occurred in 1869 and weakened the suffrage movement for the next two decades,” ("The Fight for Women’s Suffrage"). With both associations failing in opposite ways, they made the best decision possible and decided to join together in 1890 ("The Women 's Rights Movement, 1848–1920 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives"). As the newly formed NAWSA grew, the impact they made in the 1900s far surpassed anything they had done in the past century. The culmination of the NAWSA

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Flappers In 1920s

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The women’s suffrage, the struggle for women to vote and run for office, did allow these women’s abilities to advance. Before the women 's suffrage movement passed, there was an Organization that was made called the National Woman 's Party (NWP). This organization was formed in 1916 to fight for the women 's suffrage and it was formed by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and they only fought for the suffrage, nothing else. This suffrage can be considered as a red flag in this century. Margret Fuller, a advocate of the suffrage has a quote from her book, "Woman in the Nineteeth Century" quoting…

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Women's Suffrage Dbq

    • 2221 Words
    • 9 Pages

    August 18, 1920: the day that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. After more than 70 years of struggle during the women’s suffrage movement, the day finally came; their goal was finally achieved. Many factors contributed to the ratification of this amendment that gave women the right to vote. Some of those factors include the Seneca Falls Convention, which started the entire movement, and the strenuous efforts of suffrage groups, such as the National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association (History.com staff, "The Fight for Women’s Suffrage"). Around the time of the peak of the women’s suffrage movement, World War I began.…

    • 2221 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women's Suffrage Dbq

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In the nineteenth century, women were considered to be second class citizens. Women did not get an education or maintain a career. After marriage, women did not have the right to own their own property, keep their own wages, and they could not even vote. woman suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. The woman suffrage movement was one of the most important political movements of the 20th century.…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The history of a woman’s role in American society has always been a dynamic and constantly changing one. The Cult of Domesticity and Republican Motherhood were prominent ideas in the 18th and early 19th centuries that encouraged women to stay home and perform menial tasks. This notion of separate spheres between men and women began to be contested as the 19th century progressed. Beginning with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848 and continuing throughout the Gilded Age, society’s views on women were challenged. Culminating with the Progressive Era, women gained various political rights, most notably gaining the right to vote.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This brought more and more women out of traditional roles and into economic, educational, and even political ones. Many women began to take on factory and production jobs that were left behind by men who became soldiers to fight overseas. The NAWSA used the war to gain support for the suffrage movement. The group claimed the denial of voting rights to women was a hindrance to the growth of democracy within the country, and holding American women back from giving their all towards the war effort.…

    • 1323 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women's Suffrage Movement

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During the Gilded Age , the United States saw the growth of the economy, the development of new technologies and products that would definitely help improve the way of living of the middle class citizens, but in this period of time also came with many downfalls such as the corruption made by ineffective politicians, child labor, low wages for massive amount of working hours, and the poor treatment toward minorities and women. However, it was not until the Progressive Era , when the United States saw a bit of a change with the rising of many reforms and movements. One of the greatest achievements that took place during the Progressive Era was the right to vote for women achieved by the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Some of the most famous leaders…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many women felt discriminated like African Americans. In 1868, Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton published the Revolution, a document which spoke of woman's rights. On May 15, 1869, Anthony and Stanton discovered the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) to secure an amendment to the Constitution in favor of women's suffrage. In 1890, the two groups formed into one to make the national organization known as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and suffragists began working together toward the same…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In 1890, two rival organizations, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The NAWSA's movement marginalize many African-American women and through this effort was developed the idea of the "educated suffragist. " This was the notion that being educated was an important prerequisite for being allowed the right to vote. Since many African-American women were uneducated, this notion meant exclusion from the right to vote. This movement was prevalent in the South but eventually gained momentum in the North as well.[1] African-American women were not deterred by the rising opposition and became even more aggressive in their campaign…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They read books, and listened to lectures. However, during the Progressive Era, the economic, political, and social issues were increasing and the women in these groups went from self improving to improving what is wrong. Throughout time these women’s clubs began expanding to states to national. In 1890 many of the women’s clubs around the country came together to form an organization known as the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC). This program included reform clubs, health associations, and economic groups.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During The Progressive Era

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages

    (National American Woman Suffrage Association) The two groups had very different ways in achieving their goal to vote, but in the 1890s the members decided that it would be in their cause’s best interest to consolidate both groups and become the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The leaders of the group included Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, all big contenders in the suffrage movement. The ladies’ strategy was to push for voting legislation with the state governments, and then that would pressure the federal government into finally granting women the right to vote. (Dumenil, 2007)…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women's suffrage before the 1930s was very minimal, no matter how much women tried, they were still discriminated upon. They were treated like men’s property and told to do ‘woman tasks’. The right to vote for women did not only allow free choice, but it represented the breaking of sexist barriers. From the 1850s through the 1920s, groups like The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and the National Woman's Party were instrumental in making sure their voices were heard. They worked hard protesting their beliefs no matter how society reacted.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The two movements eventually reunited in 1890 to become the National American Woman Suffrage Association led by Susan B. Anthony until 1900 when Carrie Chapman Catt took over. Under the direction of organizer Carrie Chapman Catt, the NAWSA pursued a “state-by-state” strategy to win the vote for women in each state. During the world war women insisted, that the failure to extend the vote to women might impede their participation in the war effort just when they were most needed to play a greater role as workers and volunteers outside the home. Responding to these overtures, the House of Representatives initially passed a voting rights amendment on January 10, 1918, but the Senate did not follow suit before the end of the 65th Congress. It was not until after the war, however, that the measure finally cleared Congress with the House again voting its approval by a wide margin on May 21, 1919, and the Senate concurring on June 14, 1919.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The National Woman Suffrage Association also known as the NWSA, was founded in 1869 by two women named Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This association was founded for the sole purpose of allowing women to have more rights, such as voting. The association, on numerous occasions, would begin public debates on many issues including marriage and divorce. By the time the NWSA had reunited with its’ sister foundation, The American Woman Suffrage Association in 1890, the group of women had expanded its ranks to a very large number. (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The start of the group was the Woman's rights convention in the United States that was held in Seneca Falls New York, 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the former leader of the group who made the National Women's Association happen and Susan B Anthony was her partner in crime. 200,000 Women and a couple hundred men joined the National Women's Association group which formed on May 15, 1864. They would participate in speeches, protest, campaigns and more, these women always stood up for what they believed in and made sure that each and every one of them were heard loud and clear. Their main goal was to be able to have an anti-racist organization for dedicated men and women to make suffrage universal and especially make not to discriminate…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These ladies founded the National Women Suffrage Association known as NWSA on May 15,1869 in New York City. It marked an important step forward women’s right to vote. The NWSA argued that women should be allowed to vote because their responsibilities inside of there home was irrelevant and unrelated to being politically incompetent. In order to support the 15th amendment, they wanted a change in voting rights and to extend the privilege to vote to women as well as men of color.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays