Sometimes it feels like the United States , as a company , has made major stride in the ongoing engagement for sexuality equality . And sometimes realism rears its worthless head teacher and you clear , well , the country still has along way to go . The truth is , cleaning lady proceed to fight every day for adequate right field , and it was n’t that long ago that the distaff universe ( roughly one-half of the United States ) was veto from participate in politics — until the 19th Amendment changed that .
pass by CongressJune 4 , 1919 , and ratified Aug. 18 , 1920 , the 19th Amendment eventually concede women the right wing to vote in America . " The 19th Amendment prevented states from limiting the right wing to vote free-base on sex , " saysAllison K. Lange , Ph . D.,assistant professor of history at Boston ’s Wentworth Institute of Technology and writer of " Picturing Political Power : mental image in the Women ’s Suffrage Movement . " " Women started vote in Wyoming in 1869 and won the right to vote in other states in later class . They also could often vote in local city elections or schooling control board election before the 19th Amendment . Even so , the 19th Amendment was radical because it affranchise more multitude than any other law in U.S. chronicle . "
The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention
Well before the Civil War give away out , many women were beginning to push back against the idea that their role nothing more than a submissive wife and female parent deal with her home and kinsperson . At the same time , charwoman were playing leading roles in reform groups , religious drive and anti - slavery organization . All of these actions helped redefine what it meant to be fair sex in nineteenth - one C United States .
But that was just the beginning of a conflict for distaff political input signal that was n’t won rapidly or easily . The first real marriage proposal for the approximation of women ’s right to vote as a end start at theSeneca Falls Convention , the first women ’s rights rule in the United States . It was curb in July 1848 in Seneca Falls , New York . More than 300 mass — both men and women — attended , include African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass and leading women ’s rights counsellor , Elizabeth Cady Stanton , one of the encounter organizers . She kicked off the event with a rouse manner of speaking :
The delegate wrote a " Declaration of Sentiments " describing cleaning lady ’s grievances and demands , and called on women to fight for equality . The convention passed a list of 11 resolutions , include a ninth resoluteness that promote woman " to secure themselves their hallowed rightfulness to the elective franchise " — theirright to vote . It was by far the most controversial — even prompting many women ’s rights supporters to pull their supporting — and barely passed . But it also became the creation of the women ’s suffrage movement start forward .
What Came After Seneca Falls
In the years following , women of all ages began writing about , march for and practicing civil noncompliance — even refer to the Declaration of Sentiments — in an movement to change the Constitution , which in the first place permitted onlyland - owning , livid men , of age 21 and older to vote .
By the sentence the U.S. entered World War I in 1917 , the National American Woman Suffrage Association ( NAWSA ) was well established . It was formed in 1890 by suffragists Lucy Stone , Alice Stone Blackwell , Susan B. Anthony , Harriot Stanton Blatch , Rachel Foster and Elizabeth Cady Stanton when the National Woman Suffrage Association ( NWSA ) and American Woman Suffrage Association ( AWSA ) merged .
Members were encouraging women ’s rights assistant to get together in the war sweat and arguing that women deserved to vote because their experience and voice were vital in the political conversation . NAWSA ’s work , in summation to the objection of the National Woman ’s Party ’s ( NWP ) , led to a widespread interest and fight for fair sex ’s right to vote .
" ' Suffrage ' was a pop term in the 19th century , and it means the right hand to vote , " Lange sound out . " Americans discussed male vote , distaff right to vote , fatal suffrage , etc . Today , people often colligate the term with the women ’s voting rights motion . "
The 19th Amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878 , but ittook more than 40 yearsof organizing , petitioning , picketing and more to finally get it ratified . Over the decades , unlike scheme were employed to try and get the amendment passed . Some seek to get vote human activity passed in each single state . The maneuver work to an extent : By 1912 , nine westerly states dramatize woman vote .
Other advocates went to court to challenge male - only balloting laws , and some suffragist organized and take part in parades , hungriness strikes and silent vigils . irrespective of the eccentric of action these supporters took , these char almost constantly encountered countless forms of verbal , and even physical , abuse .
By 1916 , almost all the major suffrage organisation formed a joined front to pass a built-in amendment . New York formally adopted woman vote in 1917 and a class after , President Woodrow Wilson changed his original view on the topic and declare reenforcement for the amendment .
ultimately , on May 21 , 1919 , the House of Representatives cash in one’s chips the amendment , and the Senate followed two weeks later . In 1920 , Tennessee became the thirty-sixth land to ratify the amendment — with three - fourths of the states in accord , the U.S. was eventually capable to officially adopt the newfangled policy . The nineteenth Amendment states : " The rightfulness of citizen of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex . "
But Women Still Had to Fight to Vote
As impactful as the 19th Amendment was , it did n’t terminate the battle for female political delegacy . " It ’s crucial to keep in thinker that the 19th Amendment did not grant all women the right to vote , " Lange suppose . " Many piteous women and women of color were still open to poll tax , literacy test and other restrictive laws . American woman gained greater access to the pate through other law like the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 , the abrogation of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . Puerto Rico concede cleaning woman the balloting in 1929 . So , the 19th Amendment opened up opportunity , but many womanhood still had to fight for the vote . "
While the suffrage movement did n’t put an death tosexismin society , its player and leaders left lasting bequest . " My enquiry examines the style that women used photograph to persuade Americans to support women ’s rights , " Lange says . " Some of the women who did this most effectively were Sojourner Truth , Susan B. Anthony , Mary Church Terrell and Alice Paul . All of them challenged popular cartoons that mocked suffragist as virile monsters who menace American values and gender roles . "
Lange ’s research has rick up infinite tales of how these women , in particular , uphold , beef up and propelled the vote movement .
" In the 1860s , Sojourner Truth sold her portrayal to bear out herself and emphasize that black-market women were good , hard - working the great unwashed who deserved freedom from captivity and rights , " Lange say . In the 1870s and 1880s , Susan B. Anthony also became an icon of the movement , extend supporters an picture of what female political drawing card could reckon like .
" In the 1890s , Mary Church Terrell , first president of the National Association of Colored Women , responded by distributing her own images of extremely develop , graceful black women to win esteem for the reforms she search . "
Lang also says in the 1910s , Alice Paul used new double technology that give up her to reproduce photos from the paper . She staged parades and the first - ever pickets of the White House to get attention and win support for the cause ( see more in the sidebar below ) . These variety of photos of women in such visible , political space proved to be very newsworthy , and convert Americans of the suffragists ' commitment to the cause .
