Introduction
The history of the United States demonstrates significant progress of the nation, a desire to change and improve human lives, and a necessity to promote respect for past achievements and future discoveries. There are many important stages in the development of American society, and each century has its contributions and leading figures. In American history, the 19th century was rich in a variety of changes, and the Women’s Rights Movement was one of the most remarkable events. It touched fields like politics, economics, society, and even psychology, provoking a sense of self-esteem and power. In this paper, the peculiarities of women’s suffrage, its political and social background, and further reactions will be discussed to clarify the worth and impact of the chosen event. In the middle of the 19th century, the women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan A. Anthony, and Anna Elizabeth Dickinson began their fight for voices and rights, which made them great political and social leaders and resulted in a solid basis and inspiration for future female generations striving for equality and respect.
Social and Political Situation in the 19th Century
At the beginning of the 19th century, women did not have any political and social freedoms. They were dependent on their men and did not have an opportunity to change something. Having no legitimate rights, they had to perform the roles of housewives, including such common activities as mothering, cooking, gardening, supporting family moral purity, cleaning, and agriculture (Jiang 883). Despite the evident progress in such industries as textile, farming, and trade, women’s actions were determined by certain religious beliefs and moral authorities. Job opportunities were limited, and husbands usually made decisions instead of their wives (Shah). Although the situation for women seemed to the same regardless of their classes and income levels, divorces or unmarried women faced harsher conditions and severer requirements because of the lack of male protection.
Multiple debates continued because it was hard for the local people to identify the role of an American woman in society. On the one hand, a woman was defined as “neither a voter nor a holder of real estate” (“The Question of Suffrage in the South”). On the other hand, it was absurd not to call the “women of America… not citizens because they are not voters” (“The Question of Suffrage in the South”). Citizenship included the possibility “to be one of the body of a nation, and as a father defends his family, so must the government defend its people” (“The Question of Suffrage in the South”). In the middle of the 19th century, it was evident that women did not want to keep silent and pretend that they were satisfied with the offered living and working conditions. The first waves of feminism occurred between the 1830s and the 1840s.
Taking into consideration that the 19th century was characterized by a number of abolitionist movements and ideas, American women found it necessary to participate in various antislavery debates and activities. They relied on their religious backgrounds and promoted political and social ideologies (Levy 105). However, even at that period, women were divided into several groups. For example, some women believed that a woman’s place had to be in the domestic sphere and that the public arena had to be avoided by any means (Levy 105). There were also a number of women like Maria Weston Chapman and the Grimké sisters who supported anti-slavery reforms and promoted solidarity among the races (Levy 105). The situation changed when the Civil War began and took the lives of many men, making women starting working and supporting the development of the country. At that period of time, several attempts to protect women’s rights and votes were made from religious and political perspectives. Social freedoms were still unclear, and women had to take new steps to demonstrate how serious their intentions were.
Movement, Its Participants, and Suffrage
Women’s rights movements could be divided into two major stages: the first wave at the end of the 1940s and the second wave at the end of the 1890s. First attempts to promote and protect female rights were made in the spheres of education and employment. It was necessary for women to be heard and understood by the local powers and men, in particular. Further attempts took place after the Civil War when society was damaged by its consequences, and women believed that they could define their political rights and vote freedoms.
At the beginning of the movement, women did not want to continue living and being dependent on their men only. One of their initial goals was to break the cult of domesticity and reform the world (Jiang 886). 19-20 July 1848, was the date when the first women’s rights convention was held (“The Women’s Rights Movement”). It was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls, New York (“The Women’s Rights Movement”). Approximately 100 people attended the convention (one-third were men) and listened to the first draft of a “Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions” (“The Women’s Rights Movement”). Stanton et al. introduced this document as the intention to explain why “man was the only transgressor” and that “he had been guilty of injustice and usurpation” (137). As well as the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Sentiments presented a framework for women to express their grievances and hopes in regards to property rights, law equity, and education (“Stanton, Elizabeth Cady” 120). The movement with its goals and missions were formed, and it was hard to stop women who were aware of their rights and new opportunities.
The events of the Civil War stopped the development of the movement because all the citizens were occupied with the necessity to survive and protect their properties. Women and men of different races were united into groups to avoid the marginalization of social issues (“The Women’s Rights Movement”). The end of the Civil War raised a number of new problems, and the right to vote was one of them. In 1868, the 14th Amendment was made to ratify citizens’ rights and equal protection. In 1870, the 15th Amendment came into force, promoting the rights of black people to vote. However, not much attention was paid to women and their legally approved rights. At the same time, the role of American women underwent considerable changes because many men died during the war, and it was necessary to improve the labor force and find new sources of income.
The representatives of the women’s rights movement were not satisfied with the change they observed. Stanton and her friend Susan B. Anthony demonstrated their discontent with the Amendments because they excluded women’s suffrage (“Stanton, Elizabeth Cady” 121). The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was established in 1866 to support voting rights for women and black men, then, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was created to focus on women’s rights only in 1869. In 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed on the basis of the NWSA and the AERA. There were many supporters of this organization and its ideas. Senator Pomeroy spoke in favor of female suffrage and offered Anna S. Dickinson, a famous antislavery orator of that time, to stump the state (“The Kansas Senators on Women’s Suffrage”). There were also many opponents to the idea of women’s suffrage, including Reverend Robert L. Collier, who believed that home is the only place for women (“Animated Debate Between Miss Anna Dickinson and Rev. Robert L. Collier”). Then, the NAWSA participants changed their position to prove not equality but differences between genders from a political virtue.
Outcomes of the Movement
After the support from Kansas (not official), many other states began to reconsider their attitudes towards women as legal voters. Women suffrage was extended in such states as Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Idaho (1896), and Utah (1896) (“The Women’s Rights Movement”). During the next several decades, the representatives of the NAWSA improved their nonpartisan positions and continued proving their voting rights and social freedoms. The West turned out to be more progressive and loyal to female interests compared to other regions of the United States.
However, it is necessary to admit that the success of the NAWSA was doubtful. If some states were ready to support and accept women as equal citizens of the country, in many places, the governments did not find it necessary to legalize their voting rights. As a result, many women, including the NAWSA members were arrested. New campaigns and parties were organized to demonstrate violent (as it could possibly be among women) attempts, including strikes, pickets, and debates. World War I influenced the progress of the movement, but women did not stop their activities and strive for justice by means of their patriotic intentions. They proved that they deserved legal rights as well as men already had. The final result was achieved on August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified, and all women got the right to vote (“The Women’s Rights Movement”). That year, more than eight million women went to their first elections.
Conclusion
In general, the women’s rights movement played an important role in the development of the United States. The events between the middle of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1990s proved that women possessed a number of good qualities that integrated not only housekeeping and babysitting but politics and human rights. Although the movement was not a single properly organized event or community, it was a serious attempt to change something and improve American society. Both waves of the movement had their distinctive features, but their leaders, including Stanton, Anthony, and Dickinson, followed their goals and never regretted all the decisions they made. The NAWSA, as well as other organizations, opened new opportunities for women, and the 19th and 20th centuries were known not only as the period when slavery was over but the period when quality and justice spread across the United States.
Works Cited
“Animated Debate Between Miss Anna Dickinson and Rev. Robert L. Collier, at the Library Hall Convention in Chicago.”The New York Times. 1869, Web.
Jiang, Qianyu. “Diplomatic Implications of Women’s Work in American Consumer Society.” Sociology Study, vol. 5, no. 11, 2015, pp. 883-894.
“The Kansas Senators on Women’s Suffrage.”The New York Times. 1867, Web.
Levy, Valerie D. “The Grace of God Assisting”: Abolitionist Women and the Politics of Religion.” Nineteenth-Century American Women Write Religion: Lived Theologies and Literature, edited by Mary McCartin Wearn, Routledge, 2014, pp. 105-119.
“The Question of Suffrage in the South: What Is Suffrage? What Is Citizenship? Their Application to Women, Negroes and Chilren Who Hold Power in the South to Be Reorganized by Loyal Men Duly.”The New York Times. 1865, Web.
Shah, Dhara. “19th Century American Women Enter the Labor Force.” Working Women. 2015, Web.
“Stanton, Elizabeth Cady (1815-1902).” Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO, 2017.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, et al. History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. 1, Ayer Company, 1881.
“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848-1920.”History House, Web.