Suffrage Flashcards
What Was The Seneca Fall Convention (1848)
-Launched the feminist campaign for female suffrage.
-Women’s groups active in the temperance movement and the abolition of slavery.
-Struggle for women’s voting rights split for decades on issue of black voting rights, as males given priority in 14th and 15th Amendments at expense of women.
-Campaigners not sure where priorities should focus and whether African American men should be given voting rights before white women.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
-Took part in 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
-Leading figure in the fight for female suffrage.
-A prominent campaigner for abolition of slavery.
-1890, became first president of the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
- In 1892 she was part of a female delegation presenting the argument for female suffrage to Congress.
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
-A social reformer and campaigner for women, the abolition of slavery and the temperance movement.
-Worked closely with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
-Early as 1878 Susan B. Anthony played a key role in women’s suffrage by presenting to Congress a proposed constitutional amendment, giving women the right to vote.
-Congress finally passed the ‘Susan B. Anthony Amendment’ in her honour, also the 19th Amendment, 15 years after she died.
Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)
-Became the president of the NAWSA in 1915.
-Strategy was campaigners for women’s suffrage should focus on their campaigning for a constitutional amendment as their primary goal.
-Lead the movement in winning sympathy for the suffrage cause by actively cooperating with the war effort during WW1.
Alice Paul (1885-1977)
-An American Quaker, Suffragist, feminist and women’s right activist.
-One of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
-Represented the militant wing of the suffrage movement, often suffered police brutality and other physical abuse, always responded with non-violence and courage.
-Initiated 2 major campaigns.
-Women Suffrage Procession, 3rd March 1913, first suffrage parade in Washington D.C.
-‘Silent Sentinels’ on 10th January 1917, members of National Women’s Party protested silently in front of the White House during Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency.
National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
-18th February 1890 NAWSA was founded.
-To advocate in favour of women’s suffrage in the US.
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton first president.
-Played pivotal role in passing of the 19th Amendment.
-Membership was 7,000 at time of formation and grew to 2,000,000, making it largest voluntary organisation in the nation.
-By 1909 the NAWSA was organising public rallies and making closer links with the suffragette movement in Britain.
The National Women’s Party (NWP)
-1910 Alice Paul returned to US from England where she was part of the militant wing of the suffrage movement.
-Jailed there and had endured forced feedings after going on hunger strike.
-When she returned she joined the NAWSA.
-1916 Alice Paul broke away from NAWSA, due to internal divisions, to form the rival NWP.
-NAWSA exploited its image of respectability and engaged in highly organised lobbying, became increasingly known for more radical activities.
WW1, Wilson And The 19th Amendment
-Outbreak of war became important turning point for women’s suffrage.
-NAWSA, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, supported the war effort.
-NWP staged marches, demonstrations and hunger strikes while pointing out the contradictions of fighting abroad for democracy by limiting it at home by denying women the right to vote.
-Work of both organisations swayed public opinion, prompting Wilson to announce his support for the suffrage amendment in 1918.
-Amendment passed in 1919 and adopted in 1920.
