The Road to Women's Suffrage

The Road to Women's Suffrage. . , When the constitution was drafted and signed in 1787, women were excluded from many of the rights we now perceive as fundamental: The right to own property, the right to control earned income, and the right to vote in political elections. African American women were excluded entirely, and it would prove to be a much longer, deeply-rooted fight for suffrage rights., 1848 The Beginning of a Movement , Women's suffrage was achieved not without its trials and losses, but also unwavering determination. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, equal rights activists of both sexes lectured, wrote, marched, congregated, and lobbied for the cause. The event credited with kicking off what we observe as the Women's Suffrage Movement is the 1848 Women's Rights Convention of Seneca Falls, New York. This convention acted as a catalyst for other suffrage advocates across the nation to host their own conventions in order to rally support, including Ohio suffragists, who organized the Ohio Women's Convention in Salem in 1850., As the movement progressed it was not the most unified, as many suffrage groups did not agree on a common goal or methodology to their campaigns. This produced various state and national organizations, some arguing that the federal government should recognize women's suffrage through a constitutional amendment, while others sought rights at the state/territory level. Some organizations were also racially exclusive., The first federal amendment was proposed in 1878, but fell considerably short. The Constitution left voting eligibility to the state/territory's jurisdiction; fifteen of them, predominantly in the west, had granted women's suffrage in some capacity prior to 1920., 1869-1919 Organizing for the Cause , In 1869, two organizations formed out of a dispute within the American Equal Rights Association: The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), co-founded by Lucy Stone and Frances E. W. Harper, and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The AWSA advocated for universal suffrage, but with close ties to the abolitionist movement, was willing to support the 15th Amendment as progress towards their cause. The NWSA wanted synchronous enfranchisement for Black men and women; Stanton argued in The Revolution that by enfranchising almost all men while excluding all women, the amendment would give constitutional authority to the idea that men were superior to women., In 1890, the two organizations set aside their differences and merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led predominantly by Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt. Further discrepancy between leadership led to the formation of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (1913), later National Woman's Party (1916), by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. These figures are credited with igniting a renewed militancy into the suffrage campaign, shifting attention away from state rights towards a federal amendment., By 1918, President Woodrow Wilson changed his stance to support women's suffrage following his reelection, as more states adopted laws permitting full or partial suffrage rights to women. The 19th Amendment was proposed and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 21, 1919 and the Senate on June 4., 1920 Making it Official , After reaching the thirty-six states required to ratify, the 19th Amendment was adopted into law August 26, 1920. The handful of national suffrage organizations dissolved and resolved to form the League of Women Voters (Chicago, 1920), led by Carrie Chapman Catt, to focus on the duty of helping women carry out their newfound responsibilities as voters., It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Johnson prohibiting racial discrimination in voting eligibility, that racial minorities made great advancement in the battle for truly equal suffrage. The struggle continues today, as equal rights advocates battle against prevailing political and social issues such as racial gerrymandering.