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The American Woman
Suffrage Movement
1848-1920
Reading Like a Historian
Why did people oppose woman suffrage?
Did anti-suffragists think men were superior to women?
Women and Reform Movements

In early 1800s,
women involved in
many different
reform movements
including suffrage,
abolition (no
slavery), and
temperance (no
alcohol)
Right to vote:
Suffrage = Enfranchisement =Franchise
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Seneca Falls Convention 1848

July 1848, -Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott and
other organized the first
women’s right convention in
Seneca Falls, New York.

The convention, attended by
women and men, issued a
Declaration of Sentiments
and Resolutions modeled on
the Declaration of
Independence.

Susan B Anthony built the
women’s movement into a
national organization
A Declaration of Sentiments

The most controversial
issue concerned suffrage

Elizabeth Stanton insisted
that they include a
demand for woman
suffrage, but the idea of
women voting was too
radical.
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Anti-Suffragists:
Those who
opposed suffrage
(many “Anti’s”
were women)
Arguments of Anti-Suffragists:

Women were high-strung,
irrational, emotional

Women were not smart or
educated enough

Women should stay at
home

Women were too
physically frail; they would
get tired just walking to the
polling station

Women would become
masculine if they voted
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The Seneca Falls Convention &
The Declaration of Sentiments
Comparing Two
Declarations
The Declaration of Independence
and
The Declaration of Sentiments
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The Five Parts of
The Declaration of Independence

Preamble


The Rights of the People


“…He has refused his assent to laws…for the public
good…”
Efforts to avoid separation


“…We hold these truths to be self evident…”
List of Grievances


“When in the Course of Human events…”
“…We have petitioned for a redress of grievances in the
most humblest terms…”
Independence Declared

“…These united colonies are, of right ought to be free
and independent states…”
Declaration of Sentiments

Read the “Declaration of Sentiments” handout
together with your partner.

Fill in the Grievance/Explanation Chart and be
ready to discuss.
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Comparing Two Declarations
Turn to pg. 166-169 of your textbook
Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Sentiments
Discussion questions

Which complaints would you consider the most
serious?

Which complaints most resemble complaints of
colonists prior to the Revolutionary War?

Do any of the grievances relate more to
entrenched attitudes about women than they do
to legal obstacles to equality?
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19th Amendment, 1920
“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
sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.”
(Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify and it
passed by only 1 vote)
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