The Suffrage Movement: Constitutional Amendment Demands

Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of women's suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change in the Constitution – guaranteeing women the right to vote. The women's suffrage movement experienced fractures over race, particularly with the introduction of the 15th Amendment, which granted voting rights to Black men but excluded women. The movement split into two organizations: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which opposed the 15th Amendment, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which supported it. The NWSA pursued a federal constitutional amendment for women's suffrage, while the AWSA focused on a state-by-state approach. It took more than a century of activism and the use of various tactics, including lobbying, picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes, for the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to be ratified in 1920, finally granting women the right to vote.

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The 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote

The 19th Amendment, passed on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, legally guarantees American women the right to vote. It states that the right to vote shall not be "denied or abridged [...] on account of sex". This was a radical change to the U.S. Constitution, and it took several generations of suffragists and more than a century of activism to achieve this goal.

Beginning in the mid-19th century, suffragists lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve this change. Some used more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. In the second decade of the 20th century, suffragists began staging large and dramatic parades to draw attention to their cause. During World War I, they tried to embarrass President Woodrow Wilson into supporting a federal woman suffrage amendment.

The women's suffrage movement experienced divisions over race and strategy. The passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870, which granted voting rights to Black men, caused a schism in the movement. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), formed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, opposed the 15th Amendment because it excluded women. They pursued a federal constitutional amendment for women's suffrage and a wide-ranging feminist agenda that included women's social equality. On the other hand, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, and Henry Brown Blackwell, supported the 15th Amendment and focused exclusively on suffrage.

At the local level, suffragists made several attempts to vote, and when they were turned away, they filed lawsuits hoping to bring the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court. The movement also faced challenges due to apathy among women, with many indifferent to the issue of suffrage. Despite these obstacles, by 1916, most suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment. The momentum created by state-level victories, combined with the nation's entry into World War I in 1917, turned the tide in favour of a national amendment.

The fight for women's suffrage lasted over a century

The fight for women's suffrage in the United States was a long and arduous journey that spanned over a century. The campaign, which began in the mid-19th century, was driven by generations of activists who lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practised civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical constitutional change—guaranteeing women the right to vote. The movement faced numerous obstacles and was marked by divisions over race and strategy.

The first wave of women's suffrage supporters faced strong opposition and indifference from both men and women. Despite their tireless efforts, no state granted women suffrage between 1896 and 1910. The movement also experienced fractures, with the formation of two new suffrage organisations in 1869 due to disagreements over the 15th Amendment, which granted Black men the right to vote. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, opposed the 15th Amendment, arguing that it excluded women and pursued a federal constitutional amendment for universal suffrage. The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), on the other hand, supported the 15th Amendment and focused exclusively on achieving women's suffrage through a state-by-state approach.

As the movement progressed into the early 20th century, suffragists adopted more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. They also staged large and dramatic parades to draw attention to their cause. During World War I, suffragists pressured President Woodrow Wilson, who eventually changed his position and supported a federal woman suffrage amendment in 1918. This shift in political balance, combined with the momentum created by state-level victories, led to the introduction of the federal amendment in Congress.

The amendment faced strong opposition, and it took multiple votes in the House and Senate between 1918 and 1919 before it finally passed. On June 4, 1919, the amendment was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The fight for ratification was not without drama, with anti-suffrage legislators fleeing to prevent a quorum and pro-suffrage legislators employing creative tactics to secure the required number of states. Finally, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, and the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was born.

The ratification of the 19th Amendment was a significant milestone in the fight for women's suffrage, but the struggle for full enfranchisement continued, especially for African American and minority women. The journey towards universal suffrage in the United States was a long and challenging one, requiring perseverance and unity among generations of activists to achieve their common goal.

The women's suffrage movement was split over the 15th Amendment

Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of women's suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practised civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change in the Constitution – guaranteeing women the right to vote. Some suffragists used more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes.

On the other hand, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), founded by Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, supported the 15th Amendment and protested the confrontational tactics of the NWSA. The AWSA focused on gaining women's access to the polls at the state and local levels, believing that victories there would gradually build support for national action. They argued that it was "the Negro's hour," and that Black male voting rights should come first. Once the 15th Amendment was ratified, they could then push for a separate amendment for women's suffrage.

The disagreement over the 15th Amendment resulted in a "schism" that divided the women's suffrage movement into these two organisations, each with different strategies for achieving women's voting rights. This division within the movement was detrimental to the cause, delaying the achievement of suffrage rights until the early 20th century.

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Grassroots efforts were needed to convince indifferent women

The women's suffrage movement faced divisions over race and strategy, particularly with the introduction of the 15th Amendment, which granted voting rights to African American men. The movement split into two organisations: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, and Henry Brown Blackwell. The NWSA opposed the 15th Amendment, arguing that it excluded women and pursued a federal constitutional amendment for women's suffrage, while the AWSA supported the 15th Amendment and focused exclusively on suffrage.

The NAWSA, which later became the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), shifted its focus towards a national constitutional amendment after no state granted women suffrage between 1896 and 1910. They continued to press for voting rights in individual states while advocating for federal recognition. The NAWSA also had to navigate racial tensions within the organisation, with white suffragists often adopting strategies that appeased the Southern states at the expense of African American women. Despite these challenges, the NAWSA united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment by 1916.

The grassroots efforts of suffragists included picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. They also staged large and dramatic parades to draw attention to their cause. For example, in 1913, more than 5,000 suffragists paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. During World War I, they tried to embarrass President Woodrow Wilson into supporting a federal woman suffrage amendment. By January 1918, due to grassroots pressure and state-level victories, Wilson announced his support for a constitutional amendment during his State of the Union address.

The grassroots efforts of suffragists were crucial in building momentum for the women's suffrage movement and convincing indifferent women of the importance of their right to vote. It took more than a century of fighting by generations of activists to achieve suffrage for all American women, and the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, finally guaranteed women the right to vote in the United States Constitution.

Southern Democrats opposed giving women the vote

Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of women's suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practised civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change in the Constitution – guaranteeing women the right to vote. The campaign for women's suffrage was long and difficult, and suffragists used a variety of strategies to achieve their goal. Some pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in individual states, while others challenged male-only voting laws in the courts. Some suffragists also used more confrontational tactics such as picketing, silent vigils, and hunger strikes.

The question of women's suffrage in the Southern states was intimately entwined with racial politics shaped by the Civil War, Reconstruction, and its aftermath. The expansion of Black civil rights after the Civil War, guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and attempts to curtail those rights set the context for debates over voting rights in the Southern states for decades. Many white Southerners feared that a national woman suffrage amendment would bring increased federal scrutiny of elections and enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. They also believed that a national amendment would enfranchise Black women, increasing Black women's political influence.

To avoid accusations of anti-suffrage activists that women's suffrage would increase Black women's influence, white suffrage supporters often attempted to downplay this possibility. At conventions in 1901 and 1903 in Atlanta and New Orleans, the NAWSA prevented African Americans from attending. NAWSA president Anna Howard Shaw refused to formally denounce white supremacy, saying she was "in favor of colored people voting" but did not want to alienate others in the suffrage movement.

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