WOMEN SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT

Women Suffrage Movement in United States

Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of Women Suffrage Movement in United States in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on Women Suffrage Movement and its impact on United States. The research also analyzes many aspects of Women Suffrage Movement and tries to gauge its effect on United States.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

The Woman Suffrage Movement Post-Civil War to 19205

The Second Women's Movement: Policy Advocacy for a Changing America8

Gaining Access to Elective Office9

The Proposed Equal Rights Amendment10

Conclusion13

End Notes15

Women Suffrage Movement in United States

Introduction

Women's suffrage refers to the right of women to participate in democratic processes through voting on the same basis as men. In the medieval and early modern periods in Europe, the right to vote was typically severely limited for all people by factors such as age, ownership of property, and gender. The development of the modern democratic state has been characterized internationally by the erosion of these various limitations following periods of collective struggle. Women's suffrage has been achieved as part of this process of modernization at different times in different national contexts, although very few nations granted women the right to vote in national elections before the twentieth century. This entry presents the arguments for women's suffrage that have been proposed and considers the forms of political campaigning that have led to the achievement of women's suffrage internationally since the late nineteenth century.

After ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the proposed Fifteenth Amendment became the center of controversy. It stated that “the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged in the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” In 1866 the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed to promote universal suffrage. With universal suffrage, not only black men, but all women would be enfranchised. Conflicts arose, however, within the organization over priorities—should women be included in the proposed amendment, or should the suffrage amendment apply only to black males? The Fifteenth Amendment was viewed by some women as their final opportunity to obtain the right to vote through the post-Civil War amendments. The dispute within the AERA resulted in many women suffragists leaving the organization. As a consequence, two suffrage organizations were formed. The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone and Henry Ward Beecher, supported the passage of the proposed Fifteenth Amendment and the passage of a separate amendment for woman suffrage. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, fought for the inclusion of women within the proposed Fifteenth Amendment.

The Woman Suffrage Movement Post-Civil War to 1920

Disputes over the strategy and tactics divided the woman suffrage movement from 1869 up to the ratification in 1920 of the Nineteenth Amendment that established universal woman suffrage in the United States. NWSA supported both suffrage amendments to state constitutions and, less enthusiastically at first, a suffrage amendment to the federal ...