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Seneca Falls Convention
In July, 1848 Elizabeth Candy Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women's rights convention. This launched the women suffrage movement and would have an impact on the world for eternity. These women realized that they too deserved rights after the 15th amendment was passed granting black men the right to vote. Many of the other people at this convention were also abolitionists whose goals were universal suffrage. -
National Women Suffrage Association
The NWSA had a big impact on the methods used to push women's suffrage and the results themselves. The NWSA was formed by Elizabeth Candy Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1869. The goal ,like I will continue to mention, was to get a federal constitutional amendment allowing women to vote. The same year the AWSA was formed proving that the NWSA forming influenced more to take a stand on the cause. -
Stanton's Petition to Congress
Stanton helped organize the first petition to Congress right after the Civil War. She and the other abolitionist did this in hopes of women getting added to the 15th Amendment with black males. This petition to Congress was signed by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Candy Stanton, and other suffragists. This petition not only requested that women be added to the 15th Amendment but also that women would be heard on the floor of Congress. -
Memorial to Congress
This Memorial was written to the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States. The American Women's Suffrage Association wrote this and their goal was to convince the Senate and House of Representatives to enact a law that allows women citizens to vote. They also wanted the Legislative branch to update the constitution with an amendment that prohibits privileges by sex. This was one of the efforts that helped convince the Senate and House their needed to be a change. -
Susan B. Antony's Petition
Not only did suffragists use petitions and memorials to push what they are fighting for but they also tried out new tactics. Susan B. Antony did this when she went and voted for a representative of congress. She was convicted by the state of New York and was fined $100. She insisted that she would never pay a penny of this fine. Antony wrote a petition saying that the fine imposed against her be dropped because it was unjust. -
Petition Signed By Frederick Douglas
Whites were not the only supporters of the abolition movement. Frederick Douglas was a former slave who also supported this. He attended the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and published an editorial saying that "there can be no reason in the world for denying women the elective franchise". His entire family also signed this petition and were also advocates. Frederick Douglas was the only known African American man to sign a petition for women's suffrage. -
Kaiser Wilson Poster
During WW1 militant suffragists demanded that Woodrow Wilson reverse his opposition to a federal amendment. They stood at the white house with posters comparing the President to Kaiser Wilson II of Germany. One of these posters said "Have you forgotten your sympathy with the poor Germans because they were not self-governed? 20,000,000 American women were not self-governed. Take the beam out of your own eye. Posters like these caused violence and often arrests. -
Civil War Army Nurses Letter
Women that were active advocates of the women suffrage movement in the 1860's and the 1870's continued to be active even 50 years later. One of these women was Mary O. Stevens. She asked the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to help the cause of the women suffrage. She explained by saying "My father trained me in my childhood days to expect this right. I have given y help to the agitation, and work[ed] for its coming a good many years." -
Petition to U.S. Senate; Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of NY WW1
By 1916 most of the Women Suffrage Associations had the same goal; to get an amendment. When New York adopted women suffrage in 1917 and President Woodrow Wilson started supporting an amendment in 1918, things started looking up in terms of women getting the vote. The political balance began favoring their goal. There was still a strong amount of people against this, however, as shown in this position from the Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of NY at the start of the U.S. involvement in WW1. -
Ratification of the 19th
August 18th, 1920 the 19th Amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote. It took 70 long years for Americans to finally realize that women also deserved the right to vote and not only men. Women were overjoyed and celebrated with parades and parties.
