Historical Synthesis of the Women's Suffrage
The Women’s Rights movement was a long struggle to obtain the right to vote. It began in 1848 with the first women’s rights convention. A group of activists led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, came together in Seneca Falls, NY to discuss the rights of women because they realized that the legal status of women was not equal to that of white men. During the convention, they wrote the “Declaration of Sentiments” which demanded equality between men and women in terms of the law, workplace and education. This was also where the fight for women’s right to vote began (Declaration of Sentiments, 2000). A small group of 68 women and 32 men signed on behalf of the declaration (Imbornoni). In 1850, the first National Women’s Rights Convention took place in Worchester, Massachusetts, where there were more than 1,000 people in attendance. In May of 1869, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony came together to form a group called the National Women Suffrage Association. Their goal was to get a Congressional amendment made to the US Constitution giving women the right to vote (Imbornoni). By the time November came, the suffragists’ approach changed. Lucy Stone and other activists created the American Women Suffrage Association. Instead of fighting for an amendment to the US Constitution, they focused on getting women’s voting rights state by state, through amendments to each individual state’s constitution. In December, Wyoming becomes the first territory to pass the women’s suffrage law (Imbornoni). The activists continue to work state to state and decide to combine the two associations, and are now know as the National American Women Suffrage Association. Colorado was the first state to make an amendment to their state constitution giving women the right to vote. In 1919, the House of Representatives and Senate pass the federal women suffrage amendment (Imbornini). On August 26, 1920, the nineteenth amendment is added to the US Constitution which finally granted women the right to vote (Imbornini).
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http://www.findingdulcinea.com/docroot/dulcinea/fd_images/news/on-this-day/July-August-08/On-this-Day--19th-Amendment-Gives-Women-Right-to-Vote/news/0/image.jpg
http://www.norcalblogs.com/post_scripts/2009/03/womens_right_to_vote_the_1.html
Photo Credits:
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/docroot/dulcinea/fd_images/news/on-this-day/July-August-08/On-this-Day--19th-Amendment-Gives-Women-Right-to-Vote/news/0/image.jpg
http://www.norcalblogs.com/post_scripts/2009/03/womens_right_to_vote_the_1.html