The Women's Suffrage Movement

If there was to be one constant, one thing that can characterize freedom across the American story, it is the simple notion of changing one's destiny, free from influence or coercion, the ability to make a choice and to have the possibility to act on that decision. To prove this statement true, we must link the idea with examples from different eras and periods in American history. Firstly, the Revolutionary War, and the break from the traditional monarchy colony dynamic. Secondly, the Civil War, and the eventual passing abolition legislation. Lastly, the women's suffrage culmination in the 19th Amendment . The examples are all in different centuries; they concern different groups of people. They are chosen to show that freedom is a relative …show more content…
Ironically enough the women's movement gained steam when groups joined together to promote the abolition of slavery during the Civil War, and heroes of the women's movement like Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were instrumental in aiding the passing of the 13th and 14th Amendments . However, the women's movement was "frustrated" by the inclusion of the word "male" in the description of the voter in the 14th Amendment . The struggle for women at this time period was overshadowed; "it was the Negro's hour." The long wait would not be over until 1920, when the Amendment was passed . Traditionally, women, virtually half of every population, were barred from major life decisions, a subordinate of their male family members. The suffrage struggle was linked to that of the American Negro as it was the fight for a voice, an opportunity to influence their direction and their definition. The first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 . Women did not have the opportunity of a moral war to expedite their cause; they had to wait and keep faith over almost a century before their hope was