Jonah Patel
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed in 1869 and ratified in 1870, was a significant milestone in the nation's history, granting Black men the right to vote. However, its impact on the women's suffrage movement was complex and controversial. The amendment's failure to include women's suffrage led to a schism within the movement, with prominent suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony vehemently opposing it. They argued that any amendment that excluded women's right to vote was unacceptable and, at times, espoused racist rhetoric suggesting that white women deserved the vote before Black men. This division resulted in the formation of rival suffrage organisations with differing strategies, ultimately delaying the progress of women's suffrage until the early 20th century.
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What You'll Learn
The 15th Amendment didn't grant women the right to vote
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on February 3, 1870, was a remarkable accomplishment that gave Black people access to the ballot box. However, it did not grant women the right to vote, and this exclusion bitterly divided the women's suffrage movement.
The Fifteenth Amendment stated: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." While this amendment ensured that all men had the right to vote regardless of race, it did not extend the same right to women. The omission of "sex" or "gender" from the amendment's text reaffirmed that women lacked a constitutional right to vote.
Some suffragists, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, vehemently opposed the Fifteenth Amendment because it excluded women. They argued that any constitutional amendment that did not grant women's suffrage was unacceptable. Stanton, in particular, held racist views, believing that educated white women deserved the vote before Black men. She stated, "If that word 'male' be inserted, it will take us a century at least to get it out."
The disagreement over the Fifteenth Amendment resulted in a schism within the women's suffrage movement. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Stanton and Anthony, opposed the amendment and advocated for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage. On the other hand, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell, supported the Fifteenth Amendment and focused on state laws allowing women's suffrage.
The exclusion of women's suffrage from the Fifteenth Amendment slowed the progress of the women's rights movement. It took another half a century until 1920 for the Nineteenth Amendment to be ratified, finally granting women the constitutional right to vote.
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The insertion of the word male into the Constitution
The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on February 3, 1870, was a significant step forward in the fight for racial equality. It prohibited the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." However, the amendment's failure to address gender discrimination in voting rights proved controversial, particularly among suffragists who had long been advocating for women's right to vote.
The insertion of the word "male" into the Constitution, specifically in Section 2 of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, was a significant setback for women's suffrage. This insertion gave the appearance that voting was a right exclusively reserved for males, a notion that was further reinforced by the 15th Amendment's silence on gender equality. The 15th Amendment's text banned discrimination in voting solely based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," with no mention of sex or gender.
This omission was deeply troubling to suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who vehemently opposed the 15th Amendment. They argued that any constitutional amendment that did not grant women's suffrage was unacceptable. Stanton, in particular, held racist views, believing that educated white women deserved the vote before Black men. She wrote, "If that word 'male' be inserted, it will take us a century at least to get it out."
The controversy over the 15th Amendment led to a schism in the women's suffrage movement. The movement split into two rival organisations: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Stanton and Anthony, who opposed the amendment, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell, who supported it. The NWSA took on a broader political agenda, addressing issues like divorce laws and the temperance movement, while the AWSA focused solely on advocating for state laws allowing women's suffrage.
Despite the controversy surrounding the 15th Amendment, it was a remarkable accomplishment in the aftermath of the Civil War. It completed the greatest civil change since the nation's founding, conferring upon Black Americans the power to shape their destiny through the ballot. However, the fight for equal voting rights continued, with the 19th Amendment finally granting women's suffrage in 1920, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 providing further federal oversight to protect the voting rights of racial minorities.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton's racist beliefs
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a prominent suffragist and abolitionist who, along with Susan B. Anthony, founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869. The NWSA advocated for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage and took on other political issues such as divorce laws and the temperance movement. Stanton and Anthony had previously been members of the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which was formed with Frederick Douglass and other activists in 1866. The goal of the AERA was to win voting rights for both women and African Americans, but there was tension from the beginning over which of these demands should be prioritized.
Stanton's opposition to the 15th Amendment, which granted voting rights to Black men, was rooted in her racist beliefs. She argued that any constitutional amendment that did not grant women's suffrage was unacceptable and that if anyone was deserving of the vote, it was "educated" white women. In an 1868 article titled "Manhood Suffrage," Stanton wrote that African Americans were ignorant of the laws and customs of the U.S. political system and that it was "a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see 'Sambo' walk into the kingdom [of civil rights] first." She also gave addresses filled with racist stereotypes about male immigrants and formerly enslaved men whom the amendment would enfranchise.
Stanton's racist positions may have resulted from her perception of betrayal and abandonment by abolitionists who would not help her pursue women's suffrage. By denigrating Black men and asserting the superiority of white women, she attempted to compete with the abolitionist movement for support. However, these tactics ultimately distanced her from potential allies and harmed the appeal of the women's suffrage movement to African American women.
Stanton's racist beliefs had broad and lasting consequences for the women's suffrage movement. By claiming that some American citizens were more worthy of rights than others, she helped lay the groundwork for a defense of women's rights based on race, respectability, religion, and class. This appeal to prejudice, whether intentional or not, worked to draw new groups of white women into the cause.
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The belief that educated white women deserved voting rights first
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on February 3, 1870, was a remarkable accomplishment that gave Black people access to the ballot after the Civil War. However, it did not grant women the right to vote, leading to a schism in the women's suffrage movement.
Some suffragists, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, opposed the 15th Amendment, arguing that educated white women deserved voting rights first. Stanton, in particular, held racist, xenophobic, and classist views, believing that African Americans were ignorant of US political laws and customs. She stated that it was "a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see 'Sambo' walk into the kingdom [of civil rights] first."
Stanton and Anthony's beliefs reflected those of other white suffragists at the time, who considered themselves more deserving of the vote than Black men. They founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which advocated for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage and addressed other political issues such as divorce laws and the temperance movement. The NWSA took an exclusive stance on leadership, ensuring that only women led the organization.
On the other hand, activists like Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe supported the 15th Amendment, arguing that it was "the Negro's hour," and that Black male voting rights should come first. They formed the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which advocated for state laws allowing women's suffrage but refrained from engaging in other political issues. The AWSA had a more inclusive leadership approach, allowing men to take on leadership positions.
The debate over the 15th Amendment caused a significant rift in the women's rights movement, with Stanton and Anthony's NWSA vehemently opposing the amendment's exclusion of women. They requested that suffrage rights be extended to women and that women be granted the privilege of being heard on the floor of Congress. This division among suffragists delayed the success of the movement until the early 20th century, when women's voting rights were finally guaranteed by the 19th Amendment in 1920.
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The schism it caused in the women's suffrage movement
The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution, which was ratified in 1870, prohibited the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude". While this was a remarkable achievement in the fight for Black Americans' voting rights, the omission of any reference to sex or gender in the amendment caused a schism in the women's suffrage movement.
The amendment's failure to grant women the right to vote was a significant point of contention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, two of the most influential women's suffrage activists before the Civil War, vehemently opposed the 15th Amendment because it excluded women. They argued that any constitutional amendment that did not include women's suffrage was unacceptable. Stanton, in particular, held racist views, believing that white women were more deserving of the vote than Black men, and expressing the opinion that Black Americans were ignorant of US political laws and customs.
The schism resulted in the formation of two new rival suffrage organisations with different strategies to win women voting rights. Stanton and Anthony created the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which exclusively comprised women leaders and advocated for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage, taking on other political issues like divorce laws and the temperance movement. On the other hand, Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell formed the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which included men in leadership positions and advocated for state laws permitting women's suffrage while refraining from other political issues.
While some suffragists like Lucretia Mott accepted the political reality and supported the 15th Amendment, others like Stanton and Anthony were less forgiving, contributing to the schism that delayed the women's suffrage movement until the early 20th century. It wasn't until 1920 that the 19th Amendment was ratified, finally granting women the right to vote.
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Frequently asked questions
The 15th Amendment, proposed in 1868 and ratified in 1870, banned franchise restrictions on the basis of race, colour, or previous servitude. This gave Black men the right to vote.
Some suffragists opposed the 15th Amendment because it did not include voting rights for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, for example, argued that any constitutional amendment that did not grant women's suffrage was unacceptable.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in May 1869. The NWSA opposed the 15th Amendment because it excluded women.
The opposition to the 15th Amendment resulted in a schism that split the women's suffrage movement into two new suffrage organisations. The NWSA, led by Stanton and Anthony, advocated for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage. The American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell, supported the 15th Amendment and focused on advocating for state laws allowing for women's suffrage.
Some suffragists, like Lucretia Mott, accepted the 15th Amendment as a political reality and hailed its adoption as a victory. Leaders such as Stone and Douglass supported the 15th Amendment and argued that it was "the Negro's hour," and that Black male voting rights should come first.
