Voting Rights

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A Long, Long Road
Radical Roots
Race before Gender
The Wild, Progressive West
Racist Plans
Status Strategy
Progressive Plan
Attack from all Sides
Not Without a Fight

Life Issue History

Consider this: We have only had the right to vote for 83 years. That means that there are women alive today who knew a United States that did not allow half of the population to vote.

It took 72 years to win the fight for the women's vote. Women who began the struggle did not live to see it end, and most women who celebrated the ratification of the 19th Amendment did not see the fight begin.

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The women who began the women's suffrage movement were already involved in social reform. Many women, including Sarah and Angelina Grimke, Abby Kelly, Lucretia Mott, and Lucy Stone, were part of the antislavery movement, but were not allowed to participate fully because they were women. Their outward cries for racial equality echoed their personal desire for gender equality, towards which they turned their energies at the Seneca Falls convention of 1848. The convention addressed a broad range of women's issues, including education, legal rights and economic status. The right to vote was not the main focus of the convention; in fact, many of the women who attended Seneca Falls believed the demand to be too radical.

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It was not until after the Civil War that woman began to take their voting rights very seriously. The fifteenth amendment was ratified shortly after the Civil War and gave black men the right to vote.

Black and white women were still excluded, causing a variety of reactions to the amendment. Many women suffragists were still in favor of the amendment because they felt that the enfranchisement of black men was a step towards the inclusion of all. Others were against the amendment because it restated the exclusion of women: it strengthened sexual difference by dividing black men and women before the law.

This disagreement between women leaders caused a deep rift in the movement, which lasted until 1890. Recognizing that this division was weakening the movement, the two sides rejoined to form the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and elected Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President, Lucy Stone head of the Executive Committee, and Susan B. Anthony as Vice President. Susan B. Anthony is credited with running the organization, and was officially elected president of the organization in 1892.

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Some states adopted women's suffrage, despite the discouragement of the federal government. Wyoming led the way in 1869, Utah in 1870, Colorado in 1893 and Idaho in 1896. Why were these states, which are now conservative, so progressive in their support of women's right to vote? There are a few theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon. One suggests that gender roles were less strict on the frontier because women had to do physical labor and were therefore seen as capable of "men's work."

While this theory explains the shift of traditional gender roles on the frontier, it does not explain why physical labor would lead to political inclusion. Another theory suggests that including women in the vote was ultimately more advantageous for (certain) men. For example, in Utah, Mormon men may have wanted Mormon women to vote so that the Mormon Church as a whole gained political power. Nevertheless, Utah and the other Western states/territories were the only places that women could vote in the 19th century.

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Women in NAWSA fought to get the Southern states on their side. The "southern strategy" was an attempt to convince white southern men that they could regain white supremacy by allowing women to vote. Suffragists reasoned that black women would still be excluded by economic voting requirements, and therefore, including white women in democracy would overpower the black vote. This racist plan was not convincing to white southern men who found other ways to dominate the vote without having to include women. Black men voters were threatened or taxed, or their votes simply weren't counted.

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When NAWSA's racist proposal flopped, the organization attempted to use the power of the upper class for their effort. NAWSA appealed to prominent and wealthy women to join the cause; women college graduates were urged to participate in their own emancipation. The organization was able to move forward with this powerful base and was then swept up by the Progressive movement, which believed that the woman's vote was the key to passing its desired reforms.

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The Progressive Movement, which fought for worker's rights, the end of child labor, political accountability, etc. gained momentum in the early 1900s. Many of the men and women involved believed that the woman's right to vote was needed to secure these reforms. Although the women's suffrage movement gained strength by joining the Progressive Movement, the relationship between the two suggested that women would vote progressively if they got the chance to vote. This gave conservatives a reason to oppose woman suffrage.

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There is no single event, person, or organization that pushed the 19th Amendment to ratification. Rather, it took thousands of men and women working together to make it happen. NAWSA refocused on a federal amendment while still encouraging state work. The organization enlisted more and more women to contact their representatives and push for suffrage. Further, they appealed to President Wilson. By supporting the war effort, NAWSA received support in return. Wilson eventually agreed to support woman suffrage and encouraged Congress to pass the amendment. Meanwhile, the National Women's Party adopted more radical strategies from the British suffragists, withdrawing support from any politician who did not include suffrage in his platform.

Many African American women and men gave life to the movement and encouraged its support within their communities. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Forten Purvis helped to shape the early movement, while Ida Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell and Adella Hunt Logan helped to bring the effort to fruition.

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Although Congress passed the amendment, the states still had to ratify it, and many states were still opposed. In the summer of 1920, states voted, and woman suffrage was nearly defeated. Although many of the southern states voted against the amendment, the suffragettes finally won when Tennessee consented. Having received the 36 state votes needed for ratification, the Nineteenth Amendment was officially added to the United States Constitution on August 26, 1920.

According to the census, in the year 2000, 34 million women of voting age were not registered to vote.

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