INTRODUCTION

TO
WOMENS
STUDIES


SUMMER 2010
THE HISTORY OF WOMEN SUFFAGE
By:
Stefanie
Guffey
On 12 June 1840, the worlds first anti-slavery
convention in London drew thousands of
delegates from several countries.
Men and women alike who were apposed to slavery
and oppression, attended this historical event.
As the women arrived
they were herded as if
cattle up a set of stairs
and hid behind a
screen, away from any
active part of the
conference due to only
their gender.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Lucretia Mott
Soon after the convention, Lucretia Mott and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton pulled together their circle of
friends in a conference to bring the issues of
treatment of women to light.
Issues of social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of women were considered.
In the Declaration of Independence it states that, We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to
secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
This caused the U.S. government to review the same rights in the constitution.
As a woman before this point in time, she was denied all opportunities of
thinking for herself, receiving an education beyond how to cook and
clean, and the ability to obtain ownership of property.
This of course, left her as a lifeless shell body of a slave;
voiceless, penniless, and hopeless in her own life.
Change was needed to ensure every human, whether a
man, woman, or child, has the basic civil rights our
forefathers intended when they formed the United States
of America.
Thus, the first Womens Rights Convention was held 19 July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York.
Using the Declaration of
Independence as an
example, the Declaration of
Sentiments was written.
The morning of 20 July
1848, sixty eight
women and thirty-two
men adopted and signed
the Declaration of
Sentiments.
By May 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
formed the National Woman Suffrage Association which focused
on women gaining the right to vote.
On 1 November 1872, Susan B. Anthony and three of her sisters walked into a
barbershop that had been set up as a voter registration office, to register in Rochester,
New York.
After being denied due to the Fourteenth Amendment
which states that only citizens have the right to vote, Susan
B. Anthony stood firm and stated that she would bring
charges against each of them in the Criminal Court and sue
for exemplary damages.
Four days later Susan B. Anthony votes in the federal election--
the straight Republican ticket-- and on a 2 to 1 vote, the
election inspectors agree to accept her vote.
By 1888 women in Wyoming had begun to vote as well.
In 1903, The National Womens Trade Union League was
established by Jane Addams to improve wages and the
working conditions. The agenda was to sponsor a
combination of vocational training and protective
legislation.
By 1916 Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in Brooklyn.
http://candobetter.org/files/Margaret-Sanger-and-supporters.JPG
As a result, in 1973 the well known Roe vs. Wade helped to establish a
womans right to safe and legal abortion.
Although we live in a free country in the year 2010,
women have yet to receive the same social, civil,
and religious rights as men. However, by pulling
together as one, we can demand the right to receive
equal treatment and be called American citizens.

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Ray, Margo. "Women's Lives." Declaration of Sentiments and
Resolutions, Seneca Falls (1848). fifth. McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.


Rupp, Leila J. "Eleanor Flexner's "Century of Struggle": Women's History and the
Women's Movement." Johns Hopkins University Press. 4.2 (1992): 157-169. Print.


Cohen, Philip N. "Nationalism and Suffrage: Gender Struggle in Nation-Building
America." University of Chicago Press. 21.3 (1996): 707-727. Print.


WORKS CITED