History of women's suffrage in the USA
Women's suffrage in the United States of America (English: Women's suffrage in the United States) - or better history of the women's suffrage movement in the United States - describes the lengthy process to the legal admission of women to political elections. The women's suffrage was introduced over a period of over half a century, first in individual states and municipalities, and sometimes only on a limited basis. In 1920, only after the First World War , the 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote on a national level.
The demand for the right to vote for women, of which no thought came up in the 18th century when male independence was declared, became stronger in the 1840s. A broad movement for the enforcement of women's rights developed. Between 1848 and 1860 there were the first meetings of women's rights activists and the first " National Women's Rights Conventions ", which led to a greater public awareness of these ideas. A group of well-known women leaders emerged who often fought for other issues, for example against slavery or alcohol abuse .
This women's rights and women's suffrage movement was only able to develop into a real social movement after the war of secession . Two national organizations emerged in 1869, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) and National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which only reunited in 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The changed social conditions, the changed position of women in the economy and in public, meant that around the turn of the 20th century (1890 to 1916) there were real opportunities for the legal realization of women's rights and women's suffrage.
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The “victory” was achieved between 1917 and 1920, after good tactical and strategic preparatory work by the two women's associations; In addition to NAWSA, there was also the more radical National Woman's Party (NWP) founded by Alice Paul since 1916 . In many states women had already achieved the right to vote and thus had more and more influence on the elections for the House of Representatives and Senate. First the House of Representatives, then the Senate, passed the 19th Amendment. And after a laborious ratification process , the last necessary state - Tennessee - approved the amendment to the constitution with a narrow majority. 72 years after the Seneca Falls Convention , the goal was achieved: National suffrage for women in the United States:
"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."
(German: "The right to vote of the citizens of the United States may not be denied or restricted by the United States or a single state on the basis of gender.")
Natural law and human rights as man's ideas
In the formulation of human rights in the great debates leading up to the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution , it was always assumed that the principles of natural law and the principle that "the consent of the governed is essential to a just government" apply only to men be. The theorists of liberal thought could never imagine political or public participation by women. Like slaves and dependent servants, women were simply non-existent in the realm of justice and law.
While gradually all white men got the right to vote, the democratic logic with regard to women took hold much more slowly. The idea of equality between men went hand in hand with the idea of inferiority and the different nature of women. Men had a deep understanding of the "true nature of women" and probably feared nothing more than that the established relationships between the sexes could be changed.
In addition, there was the widespread legal status of married women in the so-called conjugal gender guardianship in the Anglo-Saxon area and in the USA . As a wife, a woman could not exercise her rights in the same way as a man, but required male support or guardian , i.e. the husband. She had to leave the running of her business entirely to her husband. There was a kind of patriarchy .
And a fundamental problem always arose for the women in politics and public life with no rights: How can one bring about or influence women-friendly legislation if the elected representatives of the legislative body do not have to fear the election by the women, since only the men vote? allowed to? This problem played a major role throughout the 19th century.
Growth of a new idea: women's rights
For two hundred years, women in America had worked by the side of men, listening to the political discussions and watching the growth of local, state, and state governments and policies. And they had rarely complained publicly that they were not empowered to vote or hold office. It wasn't until the second and third decades of the 19th century that the question was asked here and there, and in the fourth decade the idea that women should have a change in their political position emerged.
It was because women took part in party election campaigns and became increasingly important as supporters, it was because they cared about the moral renewal of society and humanitarian and philanthropic matters, and it was also because they provided training opportunities for Wanted to advance women and teacher training. There were also women among the workers in the early textile factories who confronted the problems of the new relationships with the factory owners and the working conditions prevailing in the factories, and who spoke and wrote about them in public.
The debate about the liberation of slaves also changed women's attitudes towards their role in society and made them aware of some limitations. So wrote Angelina Emily Grimké (German: "The investigation of the rights of the slaves has led me to a better understanding of my own." The study of the rights of slaves led me to a better understanding of my own. ) And she said added that all human beings should have the same rights because all these rights would come as a product of the moral nature of the human being.
As the controversy spread, women began to comment in printed articles. Sarah Grimké wrote the Letters on the Equality of the Sexes in response to the allegations made against her sister Angelina and other public speaking women. It was a broad analysis and critique of the entire world of female experience in American society.
The early conventions on women's rights
The gatherings that had been held in the small town of Seneca Falls (New York) since the 1848 convention were important for the growth of the women's rights movement and the idea of women's suffrage . Some women who campaigned for the liberation of slaves and wanted to appear in public were prevented from doing so because they were women. They were not allowed to appear in public and certainly not to speak; addressing a mixed audience of men and women was completely unthinkable and against all convention. But that changed now around the middle of the century.
Seneca Falls Convention
Elizabeth Cady Stanton , along with other abolitionists, made a long journey to the World Anti-Slavery Convention of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1840 . There they saw that despite a debate that lasted for days on the subject of “women's participation in the Congress”, these were not allowed. They were not allowed to speak or vote, they were only allowed to listen from the gallery. On that occasion, Stanton and Quaker Lucretia Mott became friends and vowed to hold a women's rights conference back in the States. It then took around eight years before the opportunity arose in 1848.
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first gathering of American women to focus on women's rights. It was a women-only gathering. It was held in the western part of New York State, in the small town of Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19-20, 1848. In the end, a famous manifesto was issued, the Declaration of Sentiments .
This manifesto has been described by Judith Wellman, a historian, as "the single most important factor in spreading news of the women's rights movement around the country in 1848 and into the future"
(German: "the most important factor in the spread of the women's rights movement across the country, both in 1848 and in the period that followed")
Before the list of "sentiments", the perceived injustices, begins, Stanton formulates the following famous sentence:
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:
(German: The history of mankind is a consequence of repeated injustices and attacks on the part of men against women, with the clear intention of establishing absolute tyranny over them. To prove this, facts should be submitted to the well-meaning public :)
A heated debate arose over the treatment of the right to vote for women, which was particularly close to Stanton's heart. Many, including Mott, pushed for this concept of women's suffrage to be eliminated. But Frederick Douglass , who participated alongside other men and was the only African American , argued convincingly for keeping it. In the end exactly 100 of the 300 or so people present signed the document, most of them women.
National conventions
The National Women's Rights Convention (German: National meetings on women's rights ) were in the middle of the 19th century in the United States takes place almost yearly events that the early women's movement could be more visible to the public. The first meeting was held in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850 and brought together both male and female supporters; the twelfth and final regular was held in Washington, DC after the Civil War in 1869 .
Those involved also received extensive support from the Temperenzler - who only reached the 18th amendment to the constitution in 1919 - and the abolitionists . Speeches were given on equal pay, educational improvements and career opportunities, women's property rights, marital reforms and alcohol bans. But the main topic discussed in the meetings was the passage of laws that would allow women to vote.
The outbreak of the Civil War ended these annual gatherings and shifted the emphasis of women's activities to the emancipation of slaves. Susan B. Anthony was unable to convince the women activists to hold another convention devoted solely to women's rights. Instead, the first Woman's National Loyal League Convention was convened in the Puritan Church in New York City on May 14, 1863. And you managed to 400,000 signatures to 1864 for a petition to the Congress of the United States to get the adoption of 13 amendments called for the abolition of slavery.
However, many women became aware that after the liberation of the slaves the problem of the liberation of women from the "slavery of men" in marriage and family would come back to the agenda.
Formation of leaders
Beginning with the Seneca Falls Convention and over the next 12 years that the National Conventions took place, a social movement developed that produced an impressive line of female leaders in New England, Pennsylvania, New York and the Midwest:
- Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) was an experienced and talented speaker as a Quaker, together with Elizabeth Cady Stanton she convened the Seneca Falls Convention.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) was a headstrong and intelligent woman who excelled, especially in parliaments with astute arguments, in which it was the laws governing the property rights of married women.
- Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) was Stanton's constant assistant, a tireless organizer in the affairs of women as well as temperers and the liberation of slaves.
- Lucy Stone (1818–1893) had already founded a women's debating club at Oberlin College and then gave lectures on women's rights. She was the leading woman at the first National Convention in 1850.
- Frances Dana Barker Gage (1808-1884) was a mother of eight who petitioned the Ohio Parliament to have the term "white and male" erased in a new constitution.
- Hannah Tracy Cutler (1815-1896) was refused a degree by her father, so she studied theology and law in her home with her husband, who was enrolled in Oberlin. Later, now widowed and mother of three children, she was able to take a course in Oberlin herself. She gave a series of lectures in London on women's rights in 1851.
- and many more ...
Lucretia Mott
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Susan B Anthony
Lucy Stone
Frances Dana Barker Gage
The cohesive movement around the leaders took on more and more shape, discussed, debated and argued, so that a common belief and ideology developed. This not only contained the generally approved goals, but also led to the development of a broad-based approach. A learning process was set in motion and leaders - each with their own following - emerged. These again became role models for new followers. A system of communication with suitable "heroines" or role models developed; the components of a social movement came together.
At each convention , small advances could be reported: changes in state laws, MPs converted to women's suffrage, or newspapers that reported positively. By around 1860 a friendly press had developed and a more serious public debate had begun. But nobody had yet addressed or solved the central problem: the men made all the laws. How could or should they be persuaded to share power? Because in order to come to power, women needed the right to vote that only men had and, out of deeply rooted convictions, did not want to share. It would be many years before an answer to this question was found.
Women's suffrage movement before and after the Civil War - 1860 to 1896
By the 1860s, there had been some changes in federal laws governing women's property rights; a considerable expansion of the education of girls and women had taken place. But the male ideal of a “true woman” was still the pious, obedient and domestic wife who saw in her husband the guardian and protector and who essentially limited her sphere of activity to her home and family.
And most of the women affected were shocked that the more courageous women were gradually trying to break the taboos of the male-dominated society. Even if they applauded internally or in private, they were too afraid to do so in public.
Political development and alternatives
With the civil war and the subsequent period of reconstruction of the entire state, i.e. the Reconstruction era, which lasted until 1877, new complications arose. During this time, the women had to postpone their concerns about voting because there were more urgent matters to be settled.
The organization of the "Women's National Loyal League" was founded to enforce the 13th Amendment (in the 1865 version). 400,000 signatures on the petitions made a significant contribution to the adoption of the amendment. With that, slavery was eliminated.
Then most of the women wanted to anchor the right to vote for the former slaves. They thought they were also pursuing their own interests. If they saw themselves as a kind of "slave of the husband," they hoped that the rest of the women would come to the same conclusion.
The 14th amendment prohibited, among other things, denying male citizens the right to vote. This included the former male slaves, who were now allowed to vote in all states.
The 15th Amendment reads:
"The right to vote for citizens of the United States may not be denied or restricted by the United States or any state on the basis of race, skin color, or previous easement."
Unfortunately, in the eyes of many women, the addition of “gender” was missing.
Even in the combination of all these new additional articles, it was not possible to enforce women's suffrage in trials up to the Supreme Court in the next few decades. In the “Minor versus Happersett” trial, the Supreme Court put an end to the so-called “Awakening Strategy” by ruling as follows: “The Constitution of the United States does not confer the right of suffrage upon anyone.” (German: Die Verfassungs der United States does not give anyone the right to vote.)
Splitting of the women's rights movement
The founding of the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) in 1866 following the 11th National Women's Rights Convention was a mistake and failure for various reasons. The aim was to achieve women's suffrage at a time when it was - mainly in the eyes of many men - before all about securing the right to vote for the freed slaves, i.e. the male African-Americans.
AERA carried out two main campaigns in 1867. In New York State , which was in the process of revising the state constitution, she sought petitions for women's suffrage and the abolition of electoral property requirements. In Kansas, she campaigned for referendums that included the right to vote for both African Americans and women. Both goals could not be reconciled, because the abolitionists believed that the desire for women to vote was a direct obstacle to achieving the right to vote for blacks. There were also different views on this in the women's movement.
AERA continued with its annual meetings, but the growing differences made cooperation difficult. The disappointment with the proposed 15th Amendment was particularly great because the expression "gender" was not taken into account. The AERA meeting in 1869 already signaled the end of the association.
In May 1869, Anthony, Stanton, and others founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). In November 1869, Lucy Stone , Julia Ward Howe , Henry Blackwell, and others, many of whom had helped found the New England Woman Suffrage Association a year earlier, founded the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Over the next 20 years, the rivalry between these two organizations created a partisan mood that even distorted the history of the women's movement.
The immediate reason for the split was the proposed 15th Amendment, which still did not give women the right to vote because the addition “of gender” was missing. The two organizations differed - due to their leaders - mainly in their future approach. Stanton and Anthony wanted to take a proactive approach to the "sacred home and motherhood" ideology of women and saw women's suffrage as a cure. They used every opportunity for dramatic performances and became very well known. Stone and Blackwell did not want their supporters to be afraid. They trusted the solid information in their Woman's Journal and the quiet work in each state that would gradually lead to more and more women's suffrage laws in those states.
Political trials and experiments
1872: Anthony (along with a few other women) took part in an election in Rochester that resulted in trial and sentencing and a fine. Because she did not pay them and the court did not collect the fine, they could not be sued to the Supreme Court.
The aforementioned Minor against Happersett trial , which was held before the Supreme Court, resulted in the constitution not giving women the right to vote. In the event of a dispute, the Supreme Court ruled in 1875 that the prerogatives or immunity clauses of the 14th Amendment did not protect or protect women from voting rights.
1876: Presentation of the “Women's Declaration of Rights” at the Philadelphia Centennial Celebration. Anthony's petition has been referred by the Senators to an unauthorized commission. Everything fizzled out.
1878: Senator Aaron Sargent of California proposed an amendment to Congress that was not to be ratified as the 19th amendment until 1920, 42 years later. It is translated:
“The right to vote for citizens of the United States must not be denied or restricted by the United States or any state on the basis of gender. Congress is empowered to enforce this amendment by law. "
Social change: growth of women's organizations
In the last third of the 19th century, i.e. in the age of industrialization, there were many important social changes and developments. Overall, the women acquired higher education and training. Many associations emerged that also took care of the interests of women in society. Women met in clubs and charities.
The most important association was the WCTU, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union . This association was not just about banning the production and distribution of alcohol. Under the leadership of Frances Willard, the WCTU also mobilized conservative women for the course on women's suffrage and other socio-political issues.
When Willard was elected President of the WCTU in 1879, the WCTU had grown to become the largest women's organization in the country with 27,000 members. Under Frances Willard's leadership, the WCTU fought for women's suffrage and the eight-hour day , led the abstinence movement, supported the kindergarten movement , advocated prison reform, called for model institutions for handicapped children and promoted federal aid in matters of general education and vocational training. She represented Christian socialism , joined the Knights of Labor in the fight for the eight-hour day and in 1882 organized the campaign against the sale of alcohol in the Prohibition Party .
These many new clubs were a kind of training school for women. They learned organization, leadership behavior, public speaking and the representation of common interests. Many members were equally well connected with the two women's rights associations and their leaders were equally welcome.
Reunification of the women's rights movement in 1890
The AWSA was originally the stronger of the two rival women's rights organizations, but lost its strength and effectiveness in the 1880s. Stanton and Anthony, the leading figures in the competing NWSA, were far better known and set the goals of the movement; sometimes with the use of daring tactics. Anthony, for example, interrupted the official celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence to present the "Declaration of Rights of Women" to their NWSA.
Over time, the two organizations grew closer again, because the younger members did not understand at all why there was such animosity among the older leaders. Furthermore, in 1887 the hopes of the NWSA for a nationwide amendment to women's suffrage were finally destroyed when the Senate voted against it. One turned more strongly to the individual states, where the efforts had not yet led to great success. Women's suffrage had been achieved in two states, Colorado and Idaho.
Alice Stone Blackwell , daughter of AWSA leaders Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, made great contributions in her effort to bring the two organizations together. In 1890 the two organizations merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The women's movement declined in strength and effectiveness after the merger. When Carrie Chapman Catt became chair of the organizing committee in 1895 , she began to revitalize the organization. She developed work plans with clear goals for each state and calendar year. In 1903 she replaced Anthony in the chairmanship, but had to withdraw from the club for a few years due to her husband's illness. It was not until 1915 that Catt returned to the chair, replacing Anna Howard Shaw , who had not been a good administrator, and was allowed to designate her own executive team. It transformed the previously loosely structured organization into a highly centralized and effective association. But many years had passed and society and the economy had changed dramatically.
The turning point - 1896 to 1916
The turning point, in which there was a successful turnaround in the women's suffrage movement, and the time of the final spurt and victory in reaching the 19th Amendment both fall into the special "Progressive Era" of US history.
This "period of progress" (1890–1920), lasting around 30 years, was a period of extensive social activity and political reform in the United States. At that time, efforts were made to tackle the problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration and political corruption . The economy was regulated by antitrust legislation to encourage more competition. Many progressives supported the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, some for religious reasons. At the same time, women's suffrage was supported in order to have a “purer” female right to vote in the political arena.
So it is no coincidence that the “Progressive Era” came to an end in 1920 when the 19th Amendment was reached, the introduction of the right to vote for women.
The New Woman Era
Although it was not always so obvious to contemporaries, the position of women in society had changed dramatically by the last third of the 19th century. Women as a social group had undergone amazing progressive development since the middle of the century. In every part of the country and in different ways, they broke out of their limited domestic and family spheres to take on more important roles in public and political life.
Several factors were decisive for the development of this " new woman ", which aroused the growing interest of social critics and commentators:
- The falling birth rate, which relieved her in the area of family work and motherhood,
- the increasing level of education, which enabled her to perform demanding jobs and gave her more self-confidence and independence,
- the changed working conditions of the developing industrial and service society, and
- the changes in consciousness through volunteering in associations and clubs, which also clarified the necessary political and social contexts and opened up access.
This self-reliance and independence was not just a spiritual matter, it also brought about an externally visible change in the behavior and clothing of women. For example, through her activity as a cyclist, she increased the opportunity to deal with the world and its problems more widely and more actively. And she also had to dress differently in order to be able to cope well with cycling or the upcoming sporting activities. Corsets and floor-length dresses were just a hindrance. The New Woman gradually broke the limitations imposed by a male-dominated society. It was also clear that it was above all the well-educated women of the upper class and the middle class, i.e. the upper middle class, who embodied this image of the New Woman .
It is understandable that it was particularly urgent for bourgeois women to break the political monopoly of men in politics. The most effective means of achieving this was still the introduction of women's suffrage.
The opposition is organizing
When the movement towards women's suffrage began in the mid-19th century, the rejection of this demand among men (but also among many women) was so general that no formal opposition appeared necessary. It was not until 1872 that the "Anti-Suffrage Group" was formed in Boston. Gradually, such groups emerged in around 20 states. In 1911 the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) was founded.
The leaflet shown, which was distributed to households, makes some of the arguments clear why women in particular did not want the right to vote. The last point on the left side of the sheet seems to be particularly transparent:
"Vote No on Woman Suffrage, because it is unwise to risk the good we already have for the evil which may occur."
(German: "Vote with no to women's suffrage, because it is unwise to risk the good that we already have for the bad that may arise.")
There were many reasons why men rejected the right to vote for women; they were based on a large reservoir of worries and alarms if the following traditional principles were no longer to apply:
- According to the Bible, God and Paul had assigned women a subordinate role.
- It was a biological fact that the man was rational, the woman above all emotional.
- Women have always been too weak for politics and too susceptible to corruption by other politicians.
- By nature there was a gender-specific division of labor from the beginning, should it now be destroyed by the right to vote?
- Such a right to vote is insignificant, why should a woman who could become a mother demand such a trivial right?
- And so on ...
And of course there were groups of men who were economically or politically interested in avoiding women's suffrage. The brewers and alcohol producers feared that the women would enforce an alcohol ban in the future. Textile manufacturers feared that women would campaign for the ban on child labor and for health and safety laws. Local politicians were afraid because women wanted to "clean up" the communities and Congressmen were afraid that their behavior and finances would be "scrutinized". Southern politicians had several additional concerns when they thought of the status of the former slaves and the injustices that still existed.
New zeal for organization
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"Progressivism" brought about a change in the political atmosphere, and much happened in the women's rights movement. Young people were attracted to the social and political activities. Their enthusiasm was accompanied by a willingness to cross the boundaries of social classes, to deal with economic questions and to get involved in public rallies.
This energy was evident in the growth of local franchise groups and in the formation of new groups alongside the traditional ones. After years of slow growth, the suffrage movement gradually took on the appearance of a mass movement. They also experimented with different forms of advertising and door-to-door campaigns.
It became increasingly clear to the young American women that a militant wing of the British suffrage movement had emerged in England. In 1903 Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst , members of the Labor Party , founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). And since 1905 they experimented with dramatic and high-profile tactics. These actions by the suffragettes generated considerable press coverage for the first time.
Campaigns began to be organized in many parts of the country, and successes were achieved, especially in the West, between 1910 and 1913:
- In Washington state, the right to vote was introduced after a quiet election campaign that was carried out according to plan in every district. Emma Smith DeVoe had developed her skills with Carrie Chapman Catt and achieved an enthusiastically received success.
- In California , with the help of similar campaign methods, they only narrowly won, but from 1911 women were able to vote in six western states.
- The third breakthrough came in Illinois , where "women’s right to vote in presidential elections" was introduced (since no amendment was required).
Inner change and renewed division
Between 1910 and 1916 there was great unrest on the board of directors of NAWSA, the organization almost self-destructed by the internal conflicts. In 1912 two young women who had spent some time in England and were part of the militant movement there, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns , offered to work. They were sent to Washington DC to join the Congressional Committee, where they were soon to cause a stir because they were tasked with advancing the movement toward an amendment to women's suffrage.
Together with Burns, Paul organized a “Suffrage Parade” in 1913, called the Woman Suffrage Procession . It took place in the capital, Washington, on the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration . Male opponents of the march turned the event into almost a disaster with rabble and attacks on women; order could only be restored through the intervention of a cavalry unit. Public outrage over the incident that subsequently cost the police chief his job earned the movement widespread notoriety and gave it a fresh boost.
Paul and Burns did not understand the essential differences that distinguished the English parliamentary system from the American one. While NAWSA had always taken the position that a two-thirds majority had to be found in both parties in Congress and that one should not take a partisan position, Paul and Burns wanted to hold the majority party in the House and Senate responsible if it was not for either Amendment would come and organize an opposition to the Democratic Party .
But there was no such party discipline in the United States as there was in the English Parliament, where a simple majority of the ruling party could introduce the law on women's suffrage. In the United States, an amendment had to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses and then ratified by a large majority of the states. The opposition to one party turned out to be counterproductive.
After Paul and Burns formed their own lobbying group, called the Congressional Union, in 1913 to pursue their tactics, NAWSA withdrew their support and continued their practice of supporting any candidate who advocated women's suffrage, without looking at his party affiliation. In 1916 Paul founded the National Woman's Party (NWP). Again the women's movement was split, but this time the result was something like a division of labor. NAWSA polished its image of respectability and participated in well-organized lobbying work at the national and state levels. The smaller NWP also engaged in lobbying, but became increasingly known for its activities based on dramatic and confrontational actions, mostly taking place in the capital.
The 1916 election - change of strategy to the National Amendment
By 1916, women's suffrage had become a major national concern, and NAWSA had grown to become the largest volunteer organization in the United States, with two million members. In this year's party congresses, both parties had supported women's suffrage, but only on a state basis, with the consequence that states could or (in some cases) not introduce the right to vote in different ways.
Expecting more, Catt convened a special NAWSA convention and proposed what became known as the "Winning Plan." The conference changed the association's strategy and approved their proposal to make the national amendment a priority for the whole organization. The board was empowered to develop a plan of work to accomplish this goal in each state, with the option to take the job in any state subsidiary that disagrees.
Wilson received in 1916, he had campaigned across the country with the slogans "Peace and Progress", three million votes more than in 1912. Analyzes showed that it was also many female voters that had led to the increase in the number of votes. This was significant in the states of California, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. As a politician, one could learn the lesson from this: women voted in states that made up a total of one hundred “Electoral Votes” (electoral votes). The candidates now had to watch out and take care of it, because now their position of power - through election or re-election - also depended on the female voters.
When the 64th Congress met on December 4, 1916 to hear President Wilson's "Message to Congress," the convincingly re-elected President did not mention women's suffrage. But this problem could no longer be ignored, in this time of reform, the “Progressive Era”, it was no longer a question of whether women's suffrage would come, it was just a matter of when it would happen.
Victory of women's suffrage - 1917 to 1920
The First World War had a profound effect on women's suffrage in the ranks of the warring nations. Women played a vital role on their home fronts, and many countries recognized their achievements by introducing women to vote during or shortly after the war, including the United States.
United States enters the war
The entry of the United States into the First World War in April 1917 had a decisive influence on the suffrage movement. Women replaced men who were in the military in jobs that were not traditionally occupied by women, such as the labor market. B. in steel mills and refineries. NAWSA participated in the war effort, and Catt and Shaw served on the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense. In contrast, the NWP took no steps to participate in the war effort.
In January 1917, the NWP set up demonstrating posts at the White House, which had never been so “besieged” before, with banners demanding women's suffrage. Tensions arose when a Russian delegation went to the White House in June and the NWP members unfolded a banner that read:
"We, the women of America, tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million American women are denied the right to vote. President Wilson is the chief opponent of their national enfranchisement"
(German: We, the women of America, tell you America is not a democracy. Twenty million American women are denied the right to vote. President Wilson is the main opponent of their participation in national elections. )
In August another banner pointed to "Kaiser Wilson" and compared the plight of the German people with that of American women.
Some of the viewers reacted violently by ripping the banners from the hands of the demonstrators. Police, who had previously been reluctant to intervene, began arresting the protesters for blocking the sidewalk. Gradually, 200 were arrested, about half of which were sent to prison. In October Alice Paul was sentenced to seven months in prison. When she and other detained suffragettes started a hunger strike, the prison authorities force-fed them. This extreme measure made the public's negative reaction and pressure on the government so strong that it relented and released all prisoners.
Effects of the war effort
In November 1917, a referendum on women's suffrage in New York State - at the time the most populous state - was won by a sizeable majority. In September 1918, President Wilson spoke to the Senate, calling for the electoral law amendment to be approved as a war requirement. He said:
“We have made partners of the women in this war; shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right? "
(German: "We made women partners in this war; should we only allow them to partner in suffering, sacrifice and work and not to partner in law and order?")
At the end of 1919, women were able to vote very effectively in the presidential election with 326 electoral votes (out of a total of 531). Political leaders understood that women's suffrage would inevitably come and began pressuring local or national representatives to support it. So their respective party should be able to take the credit for this in future elections.
The war also acted as a catalyst for the expansion of women's suffrage in several other states. Women had the right to vote after years of campaigning, in part because of their support for the war effort. About half of British women had been admitted since January 1918, as had women in most of the Canadian provinces. These facts added to the pressure to allow women to vote in the United States.
Ratification of the 19th Amendment
The First World War thus had a fundamental impact on women's suffrage in the ranks of the warring nations. Women played a vital role on their home fronts, and many countries recognized their achievements by introducing women to vote during or shortly after the war, including the United States. When an electoral law was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 12, 1915, it was rejected with a vote of 284 to 174. That should change in the next few years.
President Woodrow Wilson held back until he was sure the Democratic Party would support him. The referendum in New York State in 1917 in favor of women's suffrage proved crucial for him. When another bill was tabled in the House of Representatives in January 1918, Wilson appealed strongly and with great public effectiveness to the MPs to pass the bill.
Behn makes the following arguments:
"The National American Woman Suffrage Association, not the National Woman's Party, was decisive in Wilson's conversion to the cause of the federal amendment because its approach mirrored his own conservative vision of the appropriate method of reform: win a broad consensus, develop a legitimate rationale , and make the issue politically valuable. Additionally, I contend that Wilson did have a significant role to play in the successful congressional passage and national ratification of the 19th Amendment. "
(German: The "National American Woman Suffrage Association" - not the "National Woman's Party" - was crucial in Wilson's U-turn in the case of the Amendment to the Constitution, because the procedure reflected his own conservative idea of what the appropriate course of action was for a reform project : Gaining broad consensus, developing sensible legislation, and doing good political work on the matter. In addition, I question that Wilson had a significant role to play in the successful adoption and national ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.)
The 19th Amendment was passed with two-thirds of the House vote, one vote more than necessary. The vote was then passed on to the Senate. Wilson appealed again to the senators, but on September 30, 1918, two votes were missing to the two-thirds majority that would have been necessary for approval. It was voted again on February 10, 1919, but the vote failed due to a missing vote.
There was considerable concern among politicians from both parties about getting the amendment passed and effective in time for the general election to Congress in 1920. Therefore, the President called a special session of Congress and again a law introducing the amendment was brought before the House of Representatives. On May 21, 1919, it went through with 304 votes to 89. With these 42 votes more than necessary, it was submitted to the Senate on June 4, 1919. After a long discussion, it was narrowly accepted with 56 to 25 votes. In a matter of days, Illinois , Wisconsin, and Michigan ratified the amendment as their legislatures were in session. Other states followed suit in a regular sequence until the amendment was ratified by 35 of the necessary 36 states. According to Washington State , on March 22, 1920, the ratification process was delayed for months. Finally, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution by a narrow majority , making it law throughout the United States.
In this way, the winning strategy of Catt and the National American Woman Suffrage Association had achieved the expected success and so the election of 1920 became the first presidential election in which women were allowed to vote in every state. It had been 72 years since the Seneca Falls Convention.
Effects
In the 100 years since then, Republican candidates have won thirteen times and Democratic candidates twelve times in the presidential election. Still, in the weeks leading up to the last election in 2016, the Twitter hashtag # Repealthe19th was broadcast after Nate Silver forecast that men would predominantly vote for Trump but women would vote for Hillary Clinton. That is why some Trump supporters suggested abolishing women's suffrage, as Ann Coulter had called for in 2007, in order to prevent a Democrat from becoming president of the USA again.
Equality in the United States
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a long-proposed constitutional amendment designed to ensure equal rights for women in the United States. It was to become the 27th amendment to the United States Constitution . The ERA was written by Alice Paul and first tabled in Congress in 1923 , three years after the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote. The ERA states: "Men and women should have equal rights in the United States and wherever US law applies."
Up until 1982 this amendment did not succeed in overcoming the hurdles of adoption and ratification for a variety of reasons.
Web links
- 19th Amendment (Women's Suffrage) - accessed January 5, 2019 from US Embassies and Consulates website
See also
- The bondage of the woman
- 19. Amendment to the United States Constitution
- National American Woman Suffrage Association
- National Woman's Party
- Women's suffrage
literature
- Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. ISBN 0-397-47333-8 .
- Steven M. Buechler: Women's Movements in the United States: Woman Suffrage, Equal Rights, and beyond. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 1990, ISBN 978-0-8135-1559-5 .
- Ellen Carol DuBois: Woman Suffrage and Women's Rights . New York University Press 1998. ISBN 0-8147-1901-5 .
- Sally G. McMillen: Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement. Oxford University Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-518265-1 .
- Hedwig Richter and Kerstin Wolff (2017): Women's suffrage. The democratization of democracy in Germany and Europe. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 2017.
- Dawn Durante (Ed.): 100 Years of Women's Suffrage: A University of Illinois Press Anthology. University of Illinois Press, Baltimore 2019, ISBN 978-0-252-04292-8 .
- Marion W. Roydhouse: Votes for Women! The American Woman Suffrage Movement and the Nineteenth Amendment: A Reference Guide. Greenwood Press, Westport 2020, ISBN 978-1-4408-3670-1 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. pp. 3-9.
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. pp. 6-8.
- ^ Wellman, 2004, p. 192
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. pp. 11-13.
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. p. 14.
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. p. 14.
- ^ Ann D. Gordon: The Trial of Susan B. Anthony: Legal Questions Before the Federal Courts . Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved December 31, 2013. This article also states that Supreme Court rulings failed to establish a link between citizenship and suffrage, and this was true until the mid-20th century.
- ^ Jacob Roberts: Women's work In: Distillations 2017, Volume 3.1, pp. 6-11, accessed on March 22, 2018
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. pp. 25-27.
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. p. 31.
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. pp. 31-32
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. pp. 38-39
- ↑ Trineke Palm: Embedded in social cleavages: suffrage in explanation of the variation in timing of women's . In: Scandinavian Political Studies, Volume 36, pp. 1–22. accessed on January 3, 2019
- ^ Anne F. and Andrew M. Scott: One Half the People. The Fight for Woman Suffrage. JBLippincott Comp. Philadelphia / New York / Toronto 1975. p. 41
- ^ The record of the Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, Inc., 1917-1929 , by Rose Young, posted on the web by the Library of Congress.
- ↑ Trineke Palm: Embedded in social cleavages: suffrage in explanation of the variation in timing of women's . In: Scandinavian Political Studies, Volume 36, pp. 1–22. accessed on January 3, 2019
- ↑ Christine A. Lunardini, Thomas J. Knock: Woodrow Wilson and woman suffrage: a new look . In: Political Science Quarterly, Volume 95, pp. 655-671
- ^ Beth Behn: Woodrow Wilson's conversion experience: the president and the federal woman suffrage amendment . Ed. University of Massachusetts Amherst Quoted from abstract accessed January 3, 2019
- ↑ Voting result , accessed on January 3, 2019.
- ↑ Voting result , accessed on January 3, 2019.
- ↑ Voting result , accessed on January 3, 2019.
- ↑ Voting result , accessed on January 3, 2019.
- ↑ Marirose Arendale: Tennessee and women's rights , In: Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, pp. 62-78. Retrieved January 3, 2019
- ↑ Seema Mehta in Los Angeles Times, 2016-10-16: Trump Backers Tweet #Repealthe 19th After Polls Show He'd Win if Only Men Voted.
- ↑ Kristen Ghodsee : Why women have better sex under socialism. P. 230 f.Suhrkamp Berlin 2018.
- ^ Roberto Hernandez: Equal Rights Amendment . In: Encyclopedia of Women's Health . Springer 2004, ISBN 978-0-306-48073-7 , pp. 457-459. doi : 10.1007 / 978-0-306-48113-0_153 .