190-805: The Equal Rights Amendment ( ERA ) is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would, if added, explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It was written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman and introduced in Congress in December 1923 as a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution . With the rise of the women's movement in the United States during the 1960s, the ERA garnered increasing support, and, after being reintroduced by Representative Martha Griffiths in 1971, it
380-636: A Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU. After the ordeal of her final London imprisonment, Paul returned to the United States in January 1910 to continue her recovery and to develop a plan for suffrage work back home. Paul's experiences in England were well-publicized, and the American news media quickly began following her actions upon her return home. She drew upon the teachings of Woodbrooke and her religion and quickly decided that she wanted to embrace
570-722: A Quaker facility in Moorestown, New Jersey , less than a mile from her birthplace and childhood home. She is buried at Westfield Friends Burial Ground in Cinnaminson, New Jersey . Visitors frequently leave notes at her tombstone to thank her for her lifelong work on behalf of women's rights. Paul was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1979, and into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2010. Her alma mater, Swarthmore College , named
760-701: A bachelor's degree in biology in 1905. After graduation, partly to avoid going into teaching, Paul pursued a fellowship year in New York City , living on the Lower East Side at the Rivington Street Settlement House . Working in the settlement movement reinforced her determination to right perceived injustices in America, but Paul soon realized that social work was not the way she was to achieve this goal: "I knew in
950-532: A ballot in a Democratic party primary election on the basis of race. The Court found in his favor on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law, while not discussing his Fifteenth Amendment claim. After Texas amended its statute to allow the political party's state executive committee to set voting qualifications, Nixon sued again; in Nixon v. Condon (1932),
1140-479: A better future." According to the Court, "Regardless of how to look at the record no one can fairly say that it shows anything approaching the 'pervasive', 'flagrant', 'widespread', and 'rampant' discrimination that faced Congress in 1965, and that clearly distinguished the covered jurisdictions from the rest of the nation." In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, "Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and
1330-453: A common core goal. Paul understood the value of single-issue politics for building coalitions and securing success. Not everyone agreed about next steps or the ERA; from the start, the amendment had its critics. While Paul's activism in the years after suffrage centered on securing legal protections for women's equality in the U.S. and abroad, other activists and some members of the NWP focused on
1520-422: A fellow American activist, while arrested in a British police station, who would become an essential ally for the duration of the suffrage fight, first in England, then in the United States. The two women impressed prominent WSPU members and began organizing events and campaign offices. When Emmeline Pankhurst attempted to spread the movement to Scotland, Paul and Burns accompanied her as assistants. Paul gained
1710-658: A figure only five percent less than that for Southern whites. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Sections 4 and 5 in South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966). However, in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court ruled that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which established the coverage formula that determined which jurisdictions were subject to preclearance,
1900-705: A group that organized whites-only pre-primary elections with the assistance of Democratic party officials. The Court also used the amendment to strike down a gerrymander in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960). The decision found that the redrawing of city limits by Tuskegee, Alabama officials to exclude the mostly black area around the Tuskegee Institute discriminated on the basis of race. The Court later relied on this decision in Rice v. Cayetano (2000), which struck down ancestry-based voting in elections for
2090-524: A harsher penalty, this signaled to the states that they still possessed the right to deny ballot access based on race. Northern states were generally as averse to granting voting rights to blacks as Southern states. In the year of its ratification, only eight Northern states allowed blacks to vote. In the South, blacks were able to vote in many areas, but only through the intervention of the occupying Union Army . Before Congress had granted suffrage to blacks in
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#17327650829552280-431: A literacy test, finding it to be discriminatory. The Court ruled in the related case Myers v. Anderson (1915), that the officials who enforced such a clause were liable for civil damages. The Court addressed the white primary system in a series of decisions later known as the "Texas primary cases". In Nixon v. Herndon (1927), Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon sued for damages under federal civil rights laws after being denied
2470-482: A marriage proposal in 1917. Paul became a vegetarian around the time of the suffrage campaign. In 1974, Paul suffered a stroke and was placed in a nursing home under the guardianship of her nephew, who depleted her estate. News of her penniless state reached friends, and a fund for indigent Quakers quickly aided Paul. Paul died at the age of 92 on July 9, 1977, at the Greenleaf Extension Home
2660-652: A member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and would sometimes join her mother in attending suffragist meetings. Paul attended Moorestown Friends School , where she graduated at the top of her class. In 1901, she entered Swarthmore College , which had been co-founded in 1864 by her grandfather and other Hicksite Friends. While at Swarthmore, Paul served on the executive board of Student Government, an experience which may have sparked her excitement for political activism. She graduated from Swarthmore with
2850-415: A new view of the rights and responsibilities of men and women. It firmly rejects sharp legislative lines between the sexes as constitutionally tolerable. Instead, it looks toward a legal system in which each person will be judged on the basis of individual merit and not on the basis of an unalterable trait of birth that bears no necessary relationship to need or ability. Later, Ginsburg voiced her opinion that
3040-403: A number of professions (it would later be amended in the early 1970s to include the professions that it initially excluded) and secured an executive order from Kennedy eliminating sex discrimination in the civil service . The commission, composed largely of anti-ERA feminists with ties to labor, proposed remedies to the widespread sex discrimination it unearthed. The national commission spurred
3230-511: A pane of stained glass, and both women yelled, "Votes for women!" Following this event, both women were arrested and sentenced to one-month hard labor after refusing to pay fines and damages for the window damage. She was imprisoned at Holloway Prison in London . Whilst associated with the Women's Social and Political Union, Paul was arrested a total of seven times and imprisoned three times. It
3420-480: A petition for the Equal Rights Amendment at the U.S. Capitol . Influential news sources such as Time also supported the cause of the protestors. Soon after the strike took place, activists distributed literature across the country as well. In 1970, congressional hearings began on the ERA. On August 10, 1970, Michigan Democrat Martha Griffiths successfully brought the Equal Rights Amendment to
3610-561: A political meeting at St. Andrew's Hall in Glasgow in August 1909, Paul camped out on the hall's roof so that she could address the crowd below. When police forced her to descend, crowds cheered her effort. Later, when Paul, Burns, and fellow suffragettes attempted to enter the event, they were beaten by police as sympathetic bystanders attempted to protect them. After Paul and her fellow protesters were taken into custody, crowds gathered outside
3800-488: A prohibition under protective legislation—and had long been blocked from joining labor unions on par with men. She also believed that women should be treated under the law like men were and not as a class that required protection. To Paul, such protections were merely a form of entrenched "legalized inequality," a position shared by suffragist Harriot Stanton Blatch . To Paul, the ERA was the most efficient way to ensure legal equality. Paul expected women workers to rally behind
3990-551: A series of non-violent direct action tactics in support of the ERA in Illinois in 1982. It has been noted that many African-American women have supported the ERA. One prominent female supporter was New York representative Shirley Chisholm . On August 10, 1970, she gave a speech on the ERA called "For the Equal Rights Amendment" in Washington, D.C. In her address, she claimed that sex discrimination had become widespread and that
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#17327650829554180-515: A single goal as a testimony. The single goal she chose was the recognition of women as equal citizens. Paul reenrolled at the University of Pennsylvania , pursuing her Ph.D. while speaking about her experiences in the British suffrage movement to Quaker audiences and starting to work towards United States suffrage on the local level. After completing her dissertation, a comprehensive overview of
4370-536: A special status: "[T]hey were not searched upon arrest, not housed with the rest of the prisoner population, not required to wear prison garb, and not force-fed if they engaged in hunger strikes." Though arrested suffragists often were not afforded the status of political prisoners, this form of civil disobedience provided much press for the WSPU. For example, during a London arrest (after being denied political prisoner status), Paul refused to put on prisoner's clothing. After
4560-541: A suffragist magazine on street corners. Considering the animosity towards the suffragettes, this was an arduous task and opened her eyes to the abuse women involved in the movement faced. These experiences, combined with the teachings of Professor Beatrice Webb , convinced Paul that social work and charity could not bring about the needed social changes in society: this could only be accomplished through equal legal status for women. While in London, Paul also met Lucy Burns ,
4750-635: A very short time I was never going to be a social worker, because I could see that social workers were not doing much good in the world ... you couldn't change the situation by social work." In 1907, after completing coursework in political science, sociology, and economics, Paul earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania . She continued her studies at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham , England. Paul also took economics classes from
4940-640: A way to include sex as a protected civil rights category. Alice Paul, like many early feminists and suffragists, was opposed to abortion. Paul was quoted as saying, "Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women." Paul had an active social life until she moved to Washington, D.C., in late 1912. She was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution . She enjoyed close relationships with women and befriended and occasionally dated men. Paul did not preserve private correspondence for
5130-555: A week, holding banners demanding the right to vote. Paul knew the only way they could accomplish their goal was by displaying the President's attitude toward suffrage, so picketing would achieve this in the best manner. Each day Paul would issue "General Orders", selecting women to be in charge and who would speak for the day. She was the "Commandant", and Mabel Vernon was the "Officer of the Day". Paul created state days to get volunteers for
5320-539: A wide range of issues from birth control and air conditioning to educating newly enfranchised women voters. Some of Paul's earlier allies in suffrage found the ERA troubling, especially since they believed it would erode protective legislation—laws about working conditions or maximum hours that protected women in the workplace. If the ERA guaranteed equality, opponents argued, protective legislation for women would be null and void. The rival League of Women Voters (LWV), which championed workplace legislation for women, opposed
5510-478: Is an exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This, under the express provisions of the second section of the amendment, Congress may enforce by "appropriate legislation". White supremacists , such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), used paramilitary violence to prevent blacks from voting. A number of blacks were killed at
5700-426: Is not. If citizens of one race having certain qualifications are permitted by law to vote, those of another having the same qualifications must be. Previous to this amendment, there was no constitutional guaranty against this discrimination: now there is. It follows that the amendment has invested the citizens of the United States with a new constitutional right which is within the protecting power of Congress. That right
5890-690: The 1944 Democratic National Convention , the Democrats made the divisive step of including the ERA in their platform, but this was a hotly contested change not reflected in later party platforms. At the Democratic National Convention in 1960 , a proposal to endorse the ERA was rejected after it was opposed by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the AFL-CIO , labor unions such as
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6080-611: The American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of black former slaves freed by the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment , the latter of which had formally abolished slavery. Following the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by Congress, however, Republicans grew concerned over the increase it would create in
6270-412: The American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions of black freedmen . By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws, but the election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters
6460-856: The American Federation of Teachers , Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), the American Nurses Association , the Women's Division of the Methodist Church , and the National Councils of Jewish, Catholic, and Negro Women. Between 1948 and 1970, chairman Emanuel Celler of the House Judiciary Committee, refused to consider the ERA in the House of Representatives. Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy announced his support of
6650-805: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 , and that women's colleges would have to admit men. Schlafly's argument that protective laws would be lost resonated with working-class women. At the 1980 Republican National Convention , the Republican Party platform was amended to end its support for the ERA. The most prominent opponent of the ERA was Schlafly. Leading the Stop ERA campaign, Schlafly defended traditional gender roles and would often attempt to incite feminists by opening her speeches with lines such as, "I'd like to thank my husband for letting me be here tonight—I always like to say that, because it makes
6840-595: The Colfax massacre of 1873 while attempting to defend their right to vote. The Enforcement Acts were passed by Congress in 1870–1871 to authorize federal prosecution of the KKK and others who violated the amendment. However, as Reconstruction neared its end and federal troops withdrew, prosecutions under the Enforcement Acts dropped significantly. In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), the Supreme Court ruled that
7030-679: The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was written by Paul and Crystal Eastman . Drafted and delivered to Congress in 1923, the original text of the Equal Rights Amendment—which Paul and the National Woman's Party dubbed the " Lucretia Mott Amendment" in honor of this antislavery and suffrage activist of an earlier generation —read, "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." In 1943,
7220-527: The Fourteenth Amendment in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966). Section 1. 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. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. In the final years of
7410-503: The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) also suppressed black participation. Although the fifteenth amendment is “self-executing” the court early emphasized that the right granted to be free from racial discrimination should be kept free and pure by congressional enactment whenever necessary. In the twentieth century, the Court began to interpret the amendment more broadly, striking down grandfather clauses in Guinn v. United States (1915) and dismantling
7600-588: The Library of Congress , in the House of Representatives 144 Republicans voted to approve the 15th Amendment, with zero Democrats in favor, 39 no votes, and seven abstentions. In the Senate, 33 Republicans voted to approve, again with zero Democrats in favor. United States Supreme Court decisions in the late nineteenth century interpreted the amendment narrowly. From 1890 to 1910, the Democratic Party in
7790-471: The NWSA , fought for a federal amendment to the constitution securing women's suffrage until the 1890 formation of NAWSA, which campaigned for the vote on a state-by-state basis. Paul's militant methods started to create tension between her and the leaders of NAWSA, who thought she was moving too aggressively in Washington. Eventually, disagreements about strategy and tactics led to a break with NAWSA. Paul formed
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7980-526: The National Black Feminist Organization . The ERA has been supported by several Republican women including Florence Dwyer , Jill Ruckelshaus , Mary Dent Crisp , Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , First Lady Betty Ford and Senator Margaret Chase Smith . Support from Republican men has included President Dwight D. Eisenhower , President Richard Nixon , Senator Richard Lugar and Senator Strom Thurmond . Many opponents of
8170-559: The Office of Hawaiian Affairs ; the ruling held that the elections violated the Fifteenth Amendment by using "ancestry as a racial definition and for a racial purpose". After judicial enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment ended grandfather clauses, white primaries, and other discriminatory tactics, Southern black voter registration gradually increased, rising from five percent in 1940 to twenty-eight percent in 1960. Although
8360-613: The Reconstruction era and Post-Reconstruction era: It's a remarkable accomplishment given that slavery was such a dominant institution before the Civil War. But the history of the 15th Amendment also shows rights can never be taken for granted: Things can be achieved and things can be taken away. African Americans called the amendment the nation's " second birth " and a "greater revolution than that of 1776 ," according to historian Eric Foner in his book The Second Founding: How
8550-574: The Silent Sentinels , which were part of the successful campaign that resulted in the amendment's passage in August 1920. Paul often suffered police brutality and other physical abuse for her activism, always responding with nonviolence and courage. She was jailed under terrible conditions in 1917 for participating in a Silent Sentinels protest in front of the White House , as she had been several times during earlier efforts to secure
8740-505: The Southern United States adopted new state constitutions and enacted "Jim Crow" laws that raised barriers to voter registration. This resulted in most black voters and many Poor Whites being disenfranchised by poll taxes and literacy tests , among other barriers to voting, from which white male voters were exempted by grandfather clauses . A system of white primaries and violent intimidation by Democrats through
8930-587: The United Nation's charter , such as the phrase "the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small." NWP is credited with drafting over 300 pieces of legislation that became law. Paul remained in leadership positions, officially and unofficially, until she moved to Connecticut in 1974. Once suffrage was achieved in 1920, Paul and some members of the National Woman's Party shifted attention to constitutional guarantees of equality through
9120-515: The University of Birmingham while continuing to earn money doing social work. It was at Birmingham that she first heard Christabel Pankhurst speak. When Paul later moved to London to study sociology and economics at the London School of Economics , she joined the militant suffrage group the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) led by Christabel and her mother, Emmeline Pankhurst . Paul
9310-487: The University of Pennsylvania , Paul moved to England , where she eventually became deeply involved with the British women's suffrage movement, regularly participating in demonstrations and marches of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). After a "conversion experience" seeing Christabel Pankhurst speak at the University of Birmingham, Paul became enamored of the movement. She first became involved by selling
9500-402: The women's liberation movement such as Redstockings —and having a small number of participants in contrast to the large-scale anti-war and civil rights protests that had occurred in the recent time prior to the event, the strike was credited as one of the biggest turning points in the rise of second-wave feminism . In Washington, D.C., protesters presented a sympathetic Senate leadership with
9690-532: The "specific bills for specific ills" approach to equal rights. Ultimately, Kennedy's ties to labor unions meant that he and his administration did not support the ERA. President Kennedy appointed a blue-ribbon commission on women, the President's Commission on the Status of Women , to investigate the problem of sex discrimination in the United States. The commission was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt , who opposed
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#17327650829559880-548: The 100th anniversary of American women winning the right to vote via the 19th Amendment . In 1987, a group of New Jersey women raised the money to purchase Paul's papers when they came up for auction so that an archive could be established. Her papers and memorabilia are now held by the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University , and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In 1990,
10070-451: The 1890s. Nevada was the first state to ratify the amendment, on March 1, 1869. The New England states and most Midwest states also ratified the amendment soon after its proposal. Southern states still controlled by Radical reconstruction governments, such as North Carolina, also swiftly ratified. Newly elected President Ulysses S. Grant strongly endorsed the amendment, calling it "a measure of grander importance than any other one act of
10260-408: The 1920s, the Equal Rights Amendment has been accompanied by discussion among feminists about the meaning of women's equality. Alice Paul and her National Woman's Party asserted that women should be on equal terms with men in all regards, even if that means sacrificing benefits given to women through protective legislation, such as shorter work hours and no night work or heavy lifting. Opponents of
10450-751: The Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women. Two countries have honored her by issuing a postage stamp: Great Britain in 1981 and the United States in 1995. The U.S. stamp was the $ 0.78 Great Americans series . Paul appeared on a United States half-ounce $ 10 gold coin in 2012 as part of the First Spouse Gold Coin Series. A provision in the Presidential $ 1 Coin Program directs that Presidential spouses be honored. As President Chester A. Arthur
10640-759: The Alice Paul Women's Center in her honor, a name in use from 1975 to the early 1990s. In 2004, Swarthmore opened the Alice Paul Residence Hall. Montclair State University in New Jersey has also named a dormitory (Alice Paul Hall) in her honor. On April 12, 2016, President Barack Obama designated Sewall-Belmont House as the Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument , named for Alice Paul and Alva Belmont . The University of Pennsylvania, her doctoral alma mater, maintains
10830-426: The American housewife . They took homemade bread, jams, and apple pies to the state legislators, with the slogans, "Preserve us from a Congressional jam; Vote against the ERA sham" and "I am for Mom and apple pie." They appealed to married women by stressing that the amendment would invalidate protective laws such as alimony and eliminate the tendency for mothers to obtain custody over their children in divorce cases. It
11020-543: The Cabinet member. After Grey discussed proposed legislation he claimed would lead to prosperity at the meeting, Paul stood up and exclaimed: "Well, these are very wonderful ideals, but couldn't you extend them to women?" Police responded by dragging her out of the meeting and through the streets to the police station, where she was arrested. As planned, this act was viewed by many as a public silencing of legitimate protest and increased press coverage and public sympathy. Later events involved even more risk of bodily harm. Before
11210-575: The Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution . The first black person known to vote after the amendment's adoption was Thomas Mundy Peterson , who cast his ballot on March 31, 1870, in a Perth Amboy, New Jersey , referendum election adopting a revised city charter. African Americans—many of them newly freed slaves—put their newfound freedom to use, voting in scores of black candidates. During Reconstruction, 16 black men served in Congress and 2,000 black men served in elected local, state, and federal positions. In United States v. Reese (1876),
11400-416: The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and, later, the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1916. The NWP began introducing some of the methods used by the suffrage movement in Britain and focused entirely on achieving a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage. Alva Belmont , a multi-millionaire socialite at the time, was the largest donor to Paul's efforts. The NWP was accompanied by press coverage and
11590-399: The Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress: " ARTICLE — " Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. " Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation,
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#173276508295511780-466: The Court again found in his favor on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment. Following Nixon , the Democratic Party's state convention instituted a rule that only whites could vote in its primary elections; the Court unanimously upheld this rule as constitutional in Grovey v. Townsend (1935), distinguishing the discrimination by a private organization from that of the state in the previous primary cases. However, in United States v. Classic (1941),
11970-459: The Court ruled that primary elections were an essential part of the electoral process, undermining the reasoning in Grovey . Based on Classic , the Court in Smith v. Allwright (1944), overruled Grovey , ruling that denying non-white voters a ballot in primary elections was a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. In the last of the Texas primary cases, Terry v. Adams (1953), the Court ruled that black plaintiffs were entitled to damages from
12160-487: The District Jail where Paul languished. Despite the brutality that she experienced and witnessed, Paul remained undaunted. On November 27 and 28, all the suffragists were released from prison. Within two months, Wilson announced a bill on women's right to vote. After Suffrage, the National Women's Party (NWP) continued to lobby in Congress and abroad, advocating for legal equality for women. Alice Paul and NWP members successfully lobbied to include equality provisions into
12350-426: The ERA also increased. In 1946, the ERA passed by three votes in the Senate, not the majority needed for it to advance. Four years later, it would garner the Senate votes but fail in the House, thereby halting it from moving forward. Paul was encouraged when women's movement activism gained steam in the 1960s and 1970s, which she hoped would spell victory for the ERA. When the bill finally passed Congress in 1972, Paul
12540-453: The ERA because they believed women need to be treated differently than men, because they are biologically different. Women entered the workforce and proved they could handle working the same jobs as men, including joining the U.S. Armed Forces. Women were supporting their country, despite not being compensated or respected fairly. With the increased patriotism in the country people began to see the value of women being involved in their country. As
12730-407: The ERA believed—rightly in my view—that the Amendment would have been ratified by 1975 or 1976 had it not been for Phyllis Schlafly's early and effective effort to organize potential opponents." Legal scholar Joan C. Williams maintained, "ERA was defeated when Schlafly turned it into a war among women over gender roles." Historian Judith Glazer-Raymo asserted: As moderates, we thought we represented
12920-430: The ERA but no longer spoke against it publicly. In the early 1960s, Eleanor Roosevelt announced that, due to unionization, she believed the ERA was no longer a threat to women as it once may have been and told supporters that, as far as she was concerned, they could have the amendment if they wanted it. However, she never went so far as to endorse the ERA. The commission that she chaired reported (after her death) that no ERA
13110-444: The ERA focus on the importance of traditional gender roles. They argued that the amendment would guarantee the possibility that women would be subject to conscription and be required to have military combat roles in future wars if it were passed. Defense of traditional gender roles proved to be a useful tactic. In Illinois, supporters of Phyllis Schlafly , a conservative Republican activist from Missouri, used traditional symbols of
13300-449: The ERA in an October 21, 1960, letter to the chairman of the National Woman's Party. When Kennedy was elected, he made Esther Peterson the highest-ranking woman in his administration as an assistant secretary of labor. Peterson publicly opposed the Equal Rights Amendment based on her belief that it would weaken protective labor legislation. Peterson referred to the National Woman's Party members, most of them veteran suffragists and preferred
13490-429: The ERA to their platforms. The National Organization for Women (NOW) and ERAmerica , a coalition of almost 80 organizations, led the pro-ERA efforts. Between 1972 and 1982, ERA supporters held rallies, petitioned, picketed, went on hunger strikes, and performed acts of civil disobedience. On July 9, 1978, NOW and other organizations hosted a national march in Washington, D.C., which garnered over 100,000 supporters, and
13680-522: The ERA would remedy it. She also claimed that laws to protect women in the workforce from unsafe working conditions would be needed by men, too, and thus the ERA would help all people. By 1976, 60% of African-American women and 63% of African-American men were in favor of the ERA, and the legislation was supported by organizations such as the NAACP , National Council of Negro Women , Coalition of Black Trade Unionists , National Association of Negro Business, and
13870-426: The ERA; some did, many did not. While early on, there was hope among NWP members that they could craft a bill that would promote equality while also guaranteeing labor protection for women, to Paul, that was a contradiction. What's more, she was surprised when Florence Kelley , Ethel Smith , Jane Addams , and other suffragists parted with her and aligned with protective legislation. While Paul continued to work with
14060-492: The Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced in each subsequent Congress, but made little progress. In 1943, Alice Paul further revised the amendment to reflect the wording of the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments. This text would later become Section 1 of the version passed by Congress in 1972. As a result of this revision, ERA opponents proposed an alternative in the 1940s. This alternative provided that "no distinctions on
14250-488: The Equal Rights Amendment. Paul and her cohorts, including a small group from the NWP, thought that sex-based workplace legislation restricted women's ability to compete for jobs with men and earn good wages. In fact, Paul believed that protective legislation hurt women wage earners because some employers simply fired them rather than implement protections on working conditions that safeguarded women. Women were paid less than men, lost jobs requiring them to work late nights—often
14440-545: The Fifteenth Amendment to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , achieving further racial equality in voting. Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act required states and local governments with histories of racial discrimination in voting to submit all changes to their voting laws or practices to the federal government for approval before they could take effect, a process called "preclearance". By 1976, sixty-three percent of Southern blacks were registered to vote,
14630-478: The Fifteenth Amendment was never interpreted to prohibit poll taxes, in 1962 the Twenty-fourth Amendment was adopted banning poll taxes in federal elections, and in 1966 the Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966) that state poll taxes violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause . Congress used its authority pursuant to Section 2 of
14820-409: The Fifteenth Amendment. Initially, both houses passed a version of the amendment that included language referring to officeholding but ultimately the language was omitted. During this time, women continued to advocate for their own rights, holding conventions and passing resolutions demanding the right to vote and hold office. Some preliminary versions of the amendment even included women. However,
15010-511: The Hayden rider was added to the ERA. Eleanor Roosevelt and most New Dealers opposed the ERA. They felt that ERA was designed for middle-class women, but that working-class women needed government protection. They also feared that the ERA would undercut the male-dominated labor unions that were a core component of the New Deal coalition . Most Northern Democrats , who aligned themselves with
15200-490: The House Rules Committee. Smith's amendment was passed by a teller vote of 168 to 133. For twenty years, Smith had sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment in the House because he believed in equal rights for women, even though he opposed equal rights for blacks. For decades, he had been close to the National Woman's Party, especially to Paul. She and other feminists had worked with Smith since 1945, trying to find
15390-440: The House floor, after 15 years of the joint resolution having languished in the House Judiciary Committee. The joint resolution passed in the House and continued on to the Senate, which voted for the ERA with an added clause that women would be exempt from the military. The 91st Congress , however, ended before the joint resolution could progress any further. Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977)
15580-510: The NWP and even served as president again in the 1940s, she remained steadfastly committed to women's equality as her singular mission. Along with the ERA, Paul worked on behalf of similar efforts in state legislation and international contexts. She helped ensure that the United Nations proclamations include equality for women. She hoped that this would encourage the United States to follow suit. Paul worked to change laws that had altered
15770-400: The NWP staged the first political protest and picketing at the White House . Picketing had been legalized by the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act , so the women were not doing anything illegal. The pickets, participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience campaign known as the " Silent Sentinels ", dressed in white, silent and with 2,000 taking part over two years, maintained a presence six days
15960-477: The Pennsylvania Avenue route and strongly suggested the group move the parade. Paul responded by demanding the city supervisor provide more police, which was not done. On March 3, 1913, the parade gained legitimacy with Congress passing a special resolution ordering the city supervisor to prohibit all ordinary traffic along the parade route and prevent any interference with the suffrage marchers. On
16150-475: The President would be able to influence Congress the most. She assigned volunteers to contact suffragists nationwide and recruit supporters to march in the parade. In a matter of weeks, Paul succeeded in gathering roughly eight thousand marchers representing most of the country. However, she had much more trouble gaining institutional support for the protest parade. Paul insisted the parade route go through Pennsylvania Avenue where President Wilson would be. Her goal
16340-477: The States, or the United States, however, from giving preference, in this particular, to one citizen of the United States over another on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Before its adoption, this could be done. It was as much within the power of a State to exclude citizens of the United States from voting on account of race, &c., as it was on account of age, property, or education. Now it
16530-772: The Third National Conference on the Status of Women in Washington, D.C. , Betty Friedan and a group of activists frustrated with the lack of government action in enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act formed the National Organization for Women (NOW) to act as an "NAACP for women", demanding full equality for American women and men. In 1967, at the urging of Alice Paul, NOW endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment. The decision caused some union Democrats and social conservatives to leave
16720-592: The United States Constitution The Fifteenth Amendment ( Amendment XV ) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race , color , or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments . In the final years of
16910-512: The United States Senate, a subcommittee of which was holding hearings on a constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18. NOW disrupted the hearings and demanded a hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment and won a meeting with senators to discuss the ERA. That August, over 20,000 American women held a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality protest to demand full social, economic, and political equality. Said Betty Friedan of
17100-563: The United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Paul named this version the Lucretia Mott Amendment, after a female abolitionist who fought for women's rights and attended the First Women's Rights Convention. The proposal was seconded by Dr. Frances Dickinson , a cousin of Susan B. Anthony . Following its introduction in 1923,
17290-614: The United States or any territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Alice Paul, the head of the National Women's Party, believed that the Nineteenth Amendment would not be enough to ensure that men and women were treated equally regardless of sex. In 1923, at Seneca Falls, New York , she revised the proposed amendment to read: Men and women shall have equal rights throughout
17480-423: The amendment did not prohibit literacy tests and poll taxes. Following congressional approval, the proposed amendment was then sent by Secretary of State William Henry Seward to the states for ratification or rejection. Though many of the original proposals for the amendment had been moderated by negotiations in committee, the final draft nonetheless faced significant hurdles in being ratified by three-fourths of
17670-458: The amendment viable again, although other experts dispute it. Paul played a significant role in adding protection for women in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , despite the opposition of liberals who feared it would end protective labor laws for women. The prohibition on sex discrimination was added to the Civil Rights Act by Howard W. Smith , a powerful Virginia Democrat who chaired
17860-696: The amendment was particularly high among religious conservatives, who argued that the amendment would guarantee universal abortion rights and the right for homosexual couples to marry. Critchlow and Stachecki say the anti-ERA movement was based on strong backing among Southern whites, Evangelical Christians, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Orthodox Jews , and Roman Catholics , including both men and women. The ERA has long been opposed by anti-abortion groups who believe it would be interpreted to allow legal abortion without limits and taxpayer funding for abortion. In February 1970, NOW picketed
18050-425: The amendment was renamed the "Alice Paul Amendment," and contained wording was changed to the version that still exists today: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." For Paul, the ERA had the same appeal as suffrage in that it was a constitutional amendment and a single-issue campaign that she believed could and should unite women around
18240-404: The amendment's final text, which banned voter restriction only on the basis of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." To attract the broadest possible base of support, the amendment made no mention of poll taxes or other measures to block voting, and did not guarantee the right of blacks to hold office. Preliminary drafts did include officeholding language, but scholars disagree as to
18430-592: The amendment's passage "confers upon the African race the care of its own destiny. It places their fortunes in their own hands." Congressman John R. Lynch later wrote that ratification of those two amendments made Reconstruction a success. In the year of the 150th anniversary of the Fifteenth Amendment Columbia University history professor and historian Eric Foner said about the Fifteenth Amendment as well as its history during
18620-490: The amendment, such as the Women's Joint Congressional Committee , believed that the loss of these benefits to women would not be worth the supposed gain to them in equality. In 1924, The Forum hosted a debate between Doris Stevens and Alice Hamilton concerning the two perspectives on the proposed amendment. Their debate reflected the wider tension in the developing feminist movement of the early 20th century between two approaches toward gender equality. One approach emphasized
18810-658: The amendment, with 143 Republicans and one Conservative Republican voting "Yea" and 39 Democrats, three Republicans, one Independent Republican and one Conservative voting "No"; 26 Republicans, eight Democrats, and one Independent Republican did not vote. The final vote in the Senate was 39 to 13, with 14 not voting. The Senate passed the amendment, with 39 Republicans voting "Yea" and eight Democrats and five Republicans voting "Nay"; 13 Republicans and one Democrat did not vote. Some Radical Republicans, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner , abstained from voting because
19000-415: The anti-ERA labor unions, opposed the amendment. The ERA was also opposed by the American Federation of Labor and other labor unions, which feared the amendment would invalidate protective labor legislation for women. The League of Women Voters , formerly the National American Woman Suffrage Association , opposed the Equal Rights Amendment until 1972, fearing the loss of protective labor legislation. At
19190-564: The basis of sex shall be made except such as are reasonably justified by differences in physical structure, biological differences, or social function." It was quickly rejected by both pro- and anti-ERA coalitions. When the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted in 1868, the Equal Protection Clause , which guarantees equal protection of the laws, did not apply to women. It
19380-520: The best course of action on the Equal Rights Amendment is to start over, due to being past its expiration date. While at a discussion at Georgetown University in February 2020, Ginsburg noted the challenge that "if you count a latecomer on the plus side, how can you disregard states that said 'we've changed our minds?'" In the early 1940s, both the Democratic and Republican parties added support for
19570-455: The bill, President Johnson vetoed it on March 27, 1866. In his veto message , he objected to the measure because it conferred citizenship on the freedmen at a time when 11 out of 36 states were unrepresented in the Congress, and that it allegedly discriminated in favor of African Americans and against whites. Three weeks later, Johnson's veto was overridden and the measure became law. Despite this victory, even some Republicans who had supported
19760-460: The common humanity of women and men, while the other stressed women's unique experiences and how they were different from men, seeking recognition for specific needs. The opposition to the ERA was led by Mary Anderson and the Women's Bureau beginning in 1923. These feminists argued that legislation including mandated minimum wages, safety regulations, restricted daily and weekly hours, lunch breaks, and maternity provisions would be more beneficial to
19950-533: The congressional representation of the Democratic -dominated Southern states. Because the full population of freed slaves would be now counted rather than the three-fifths mandated by the previous Three-Fifths Compromise , the Southern states would dramatically increase their power in the population-based House of Representatives . Republicans hoped to offset this advantage by attracting and protecting votes of
20140-765: The conscience of the whole nation." Suffragists continued picketing outside the White House after the Wilson pardon and throughout World War I. Their banners contained such slogans as "Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait For Liberty?" and "We Shall Fight for the Things Which We Have Always Held Nearest Our Hearts—For Democracy, For The Right of Those Who Submit To Authority To Have A Voice in Their Own Governments." The capitalization of each word emphasized
20330-501: The democratic process and the will of the pro-ERA majority. Such supporters argued that while the public face of the anti-ERA movement was Phyllis Schlafly and her STOP ERA organization, there were other important groups in the opposition as well, such as the powerful National Council of Catholic Women, labor feminists and (until 1973) the AFL–CIO . Steinem blamed the insurance industry and said Schlafly "did not change one vote." Opposition to
20520-573: The early history of the Equal Rights Amendment, middle-class women were largely supportive, while those speaking for the working class were often opposed, arguing that women should hold more domestic responsibility than men and that employed women needed special protections regarding working conditions and employment hours. Modern proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and women in matters of divorce, property, employment , and other matters. Opponents have argued that it would remove protections from women and open women to be drafted into
20710-495: The establishment of state and local commissions on the status of women and arranged for follow-up conferences in the years to come. The following year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned workplace discrimination not only on the basis of race, religion, and national origin, but also on the basis of sex, thanks to the lobbying of Alice Paul and Coretta Scott King and the political influence of Representative Martha Griffiths of Michigan . A new women's movement gained ground in
20900-487: The event day, the procession proceeded along Paul's desired route. The event, which was led by notable labor lawyer Inez Milholland dressed in white and riding a horse, was described by the New York Times as "one of the most impressively beautiful spectacles ever staged in this country". Multiple bands, banners, squadrons, chariots, and floats were also displayed in the parade representing all women's lives. One of
21090-797: The federal government did not have the authority to prosecute the perpetrators of the Colfax massacre because they were not state actors . Congress further weakened the acts in 1894 by removing a provision against conspiracy. In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president after a highly contested election , receiving support from three Southern states in exchange for a pledge to allow white Democratic governments to rule without federal interference. As president, he refused to enforce federal civil rights protections, allowing states to begin to implement racially discriminatory Jim Crow laws . A Federal Elections Bill (the Lodge Bill of 1890)
21280-410: The federal government only; Paul's original and 1943 reworded versions required both states and the federal government to oversee its provisions. Paul's version was politically insightful and strategic: politicians who believed in states' rights , including many Southern states, were more likely to support an ERA that gave states some discretion of enforcement authority than a version that did not. Paul
21470-413: The female sex." By allowing women to keep their existing and future special protections, it was expected that the ERA would be more appealing to its opponents. Though opponents were marginally more in favor of the ERA with the Hayden rider, supporters of the original ERA believed it negated the amendment's original purpose—causing the amendment not to be passed in the House. ERA supporters were hopeful that
21660-468: The final version of the Declaration in 1948 opened with a reference to "equal rights of men and women". The ERA was introduced in Congress in 1923 and had various peaks and valleys of support in the following years as Paul continued to push for its passage. There were favorable committee reports in Congress in the late 1930s, and with more women working in men's jobs during the war, public support for
21850-780: The final version omitted references to sex, further splintering the women's suffrage movement. After an acrimonious debate, the American Equal Rights Association , the nation's leading suffragist group, split into two rival organizations: the National Woman Suffrage Association of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton , who opposed the amendment, and the American Woman Suffrage Association of Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell , who supported it. The two groups remained divided until
22040-416: The first U.S. Supreme Court decision interpreting the Fifteenth Amendment, the Court interpreted the amendment narrowly, upholding ostensibly race-neutral limitations on suffrage, including poll taxes , literacy tests , and a grandfather clause that exempted citizens from other voting requirements if their grandfathers had been registered voters. The Court also stated that the amendment does not confer
22230-414: The floor of either the Senate or the House for a vote. Instead, it was usually blocked in committee; except in 1946, when it was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 38 to 35—not receiving the required two-thirds supermajority. World War II was correlated with a rise supporters of the ERA. Due to the war, many women had to take on untraditional roles at home and in the workforce. Protectionists were against
22420-547: The floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Supporters of the ERA point to the lack of a specific guarantee in the Constitution for equal rights protections on the basis of sex. In 1973, future Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg summarized a supporting argument for the ERA in the American Bar Association Journal : The equal rights amendment, in sum, would dedicate the nation to
22610-425: The force-feeding of prisoners was for their own benefit, Paul and other women described the process as torturous. Paul had developed severe gastritis at the end of her month in prison. She was carried out of prison and immediately tended to by a doctor. However, after this event, her health was permanently scarred; she often developed colds and flu, which would sometimes require hospitalization. Paul had been given
22800-563: The forces of reason and goodwill but failed to take seriously the power of the family values argument and the single-mindedness of Schlafly and her followers. The ERA's defeat seriously damaged the women's movement, destroying its momentum and its potential to foment social change... Eventually, this resulted in feminist dissatisfaction with the Republican Party, giving the Democrats a new source of strength that when combined with overwhelming minority support, helped elect Bill Clinton to
22990-465: The form of lynch mobs and terrorist attacks by the Ku Klux Klan. Some Democrats even advocated a repeal of the amendment, such as William Bourke Cockran of New York . In the 20th century, the Court began to read the Fifteenth Amendment more broadly. In Guinn v. United States (1915), a unanimous Court struck down an Oklahoma grandfather clause that effectively exempted white voters from
23180-548: The franchise to foreign-born citizens, as did Representatives from the West, where ethnic Chinese people were banned from voting. Both Southern and Northern Republicans also wanted to continue to deny the vote temporarily to Southerners disenfranchised for support of the Confederacy , and they were concerned that a sweeping endorsement of suffrage would enfranchise this group. A House and Senate conference committee proposed
23370-423: The goals of the Civil Rights Act began to doubt that Congress possessed the constitutional power to turn those goals into laws. The experience encouraged both radical and moderate Republicans to seek Constitutional guarantees for black rights, rather than relying on temporary political majorities. On June 18, 1866, Congress adopted the Fourteenth Amendment , which guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under
23560-406: The gravity of the situation. With the hope of embarrassing Wilson, some of the banners quoted Wilson's own words against him. Wilson ignored these women, but his daughter Margaret waved in acknowledgment, a major victory for the protesters. Although the suffragists protested peacefully, their protests were sometimes violently opposed. While protesting, young men would harass and beat the women, with
23750-531: The history of the legal status of United States women, she began participating in National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) rallies, and in April 1910, was asked to speak at NAWSA's annual convention. After this significant opportunity, Paul and Burns proposed to NAWSA leadership a campaign to gain a federal amendment guaranteeing the vote for women. This was wholly contrary to NAWSA's state-by-state strategy. Paul and Burns were laughed at by NAWSA leadership;
23940-468: The injured. The incident mobilized public dialogue about the police response to the women's demonstration, producing greater awareness and sympathy for NAWSA. After the parade, the NAWSA's next focus was lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the right to vote for women. Such an amendment had been initially sought by suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who, as leaders of
24130-576: The key issue of the day. After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Paul enrolled at two law schools, taking day and evening classes to finish more quickly. In 1922, Paul received her LL.B degree from the Washington College of Law at American University . In 1927, she earned a master of laws degree, and in 1928, a doctorate in civil law from American University. In 1907, after completing her master's degree at
24320-465: The kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day." He privately asked Nebraska's governor to call a special legislative session to speed the process, securing the state's ratification. In April and December 1869, Congress passed Reconstruction bills mandating that Virginia, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia ratify the amendment as a precondition to regaining congressional representation; all four states did so. The struggle for ratification
24510-484: The later 1960s as a result of a variety of factors: Betty Friedan 's bestseller The Feminine Mystique ; the network of women's rights commissions formed by Kennedy's national commission; the frustration over women's social and economic status; and anger over the lack of government and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In June 1966, at
24700-421: The laws regardless of race, and sent it to the states for ratification. After a bitter struggle that included attempted rescissions of ratification by two states, the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted on July 28, 1868. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment punished, by reduced representation in the House of Representatives, any state that disenfranchised any male citizens over 21 years of age. By failing to adopt
24890-423: The libs so mad." When Schlafly began her campaign in 1972, public polls showed support for the amendment was widely popular and thirty states had ratified the amendment by 1973. After 1973, the number of ratifying states slowed to a trickle. Support in the states that had not ratified fell below 50%. Public opinion in key states shifted against the ERA as its opponents, operating on the local and state levels, won over
25080-441: The majority of women who were forced to work out of economic necessity, not personal fulfillment. The debate also drew from struggles between working class and professional women. Alice Hamilton, in her speech "Protection for Women Workers", said that the ERA would strip working women of the small protections they had achieved, leaving them powerless to further improve their condition in the future, or to attain necessary protections in
25270-549: The march later testified that he personally took the badge numbers of 22 officers who had stood idle, including two sergeants. Eventually, members of the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania National Guard intervened, and students from the Maryland Agricultural College provided a human barrier to help the women pass. Some accounts even describe Boy Scouts as stepping in and providing first aid to
25460-474: The military. The resolution, "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and women", reads, in part: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled ( two-thirds of each House concurring therein ), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of
25650-561: The most notable sights was the lead banner in the parade which declared, "We Demand an Amendment to the United States Constitution Enfranchising the Women of the Country." Some participating groups and leaders, however, wanted black and white women's organizations and state delegations to be segregated; after much discussion, NAWSA decided black women could march where they wished. Still, Ida B. Wells
25840-433: The most part, so few details about her personal life are available. Once Paul devoted herself to winning the vote for women, she placed the suffrage effort first in her life. Nevertheless, Elsie Hill and Dora Kelly Lewis, two women whom she met early in her work for NAWSA, remained close to her all their lives. She knew William Parker, a scholar she met at the University of Pennsylvania , for several years; he may have tendered
26030-784: The newly enfranchised black population. In 1865, Congress passed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1866 , guaranteeing citizenship without regard to race, color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. The bill also guaranteed equal benefits and access to the law, a direct assault on the Black Codes passed by many post-war Southern states. The Black Codes attempted to return ex-slaves to something like their former condition by, among other things, restricting their movement, forcing them to enter into year-long labor contracts, prohibiting them from owning firearms, and by preventing them from suing or testifying in court. Although strongly urged by moderates in Congress to sign
26220-703: The next six months, many, including Paul, were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia (which later became the Lorton Correctional Complex) and the District of Columbia Jail. When the public heard the news of the first arrests, some were surprised that leading suffragists and very well-connected women were going to prison for peacefully protesting. President Wilson received bad publicity from this event and
26410-411: The only exception was Jane Addams , who suggested that the women tone down their plan. As a response, Paul asked to be placed on the organization's Congressional Committee. One of Paul's first big projects was initiating and organizing the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C. , the day before President Wilson 's inauguration. Paul was determined to pressure Wilson because the office of
26600-503: The organization and form the Women's Equity Action League (within a few years WEAL also endorsed the ERA), but the move to support the amendment benefited NOW, bolstering its membership. By the late 1960s, NOW had made significant political and legislative victories and was gaining enough power to become a major lobbying force. In 1969, newly elected representative Shirley Chisholm of New York gave her famous speech "Equal Rights for Women" on
26790-463: The passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which had explicitly protected only male citizens in its second section, activists found the civil rights of women divorced from those of blacks. Matters came to a head with the proposal of the Fifteenth Amendment, which barred race discrimination but not sex discrimination in voter laws. One of Congress's most explicit discussions regarding the link between suffrage and officeholding occurred during discussions about
26980-401: The pickets, such as Pennsylvania Day, Maryland Day, and Virginia Day. She also made special days for professional women, such as doctors, nurses, and lawyers. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, many people viewed the picketing Silent Sentinels as disloyal. Paul made sure the picketing would continue. In June 1917, picketers were arrested for "obstructing traffic". Over
27170-526: The police never intervening on behalf of the protesters. Police would even arrest other men who tried to help the women who were getting beaten. Even though they protested during wartime, they maintained public support by agitating peacefully. More protesters were arrested and sent to Occoquan or the District Jail throughout this time. Pardons were no longer given. In solidarity with other activists in her organization, Paul purposefully strove to receive
27360-621: The police station demanding the women's release. On November 9, 1909, in honor of Lord Mayor's Day , the Lord Mayor of London hosted a banquet for cabinet ministers in the city's Guild Hall. Paul planned the WSPU's response; she and Amelia Brown disguised themselves as cleaning women and entered the building with the normal staff at 9:00 am. Once in the building, the women hid until the event started that evening. Then they came out of hiding and "took their stand". When Prime Minister H. H. Asquith stood to speak, Brown threw her shoe through
27550-632: The present. The National Woman's Party already had tested its approach in Wisconsin , where it won passage of the Wisconsin Equal Rights Law in 1921. The party then took the ERA to Congress, where U.S. senator Charles Curtis , a future vice president of the United States , introduced it for the first time in October 1921. Although the ERA was introduced in every congressional session between 1921 and 1972, it almost never reached
27740-464: The presidency in 1992 and again in 1996. The John Birch Society and its members organized opposition to the ERA in multiple states. According to Professor Edward H. Miller, the group a key role in addition to Schlafly in preventing the amendment's ratification. Many ERA supporters blamed their defeat on special interest forces, especially the insurance industry and conservative organizations, suggesting that they had funded an opposition that subverted
27930-482: The primary author of the Fourteenth Amendment, pushed for a wide-ranging ban on suffrage limitations, but a broader proposal banning voter restriction on the basis of "race, color, nativity, property, education, or religious beliefs" was rejected. A proposal to specifically ban literacy tests was also rejected. Some Representatives from the North, where nativism was a major force, wished to preserve restrictions denying
28120-487: The prison matrons could not undress her forcibly, they requested assistance from male guards. This act, considered shockingly improper by Victorian era standards, provided extensive press coverage for the suffrage movement. Another popular civil disobedience tactic used by the suffragists was hunger striking . The first WSPU-related hunger strike was conducted by sculptor Marion Wallace Dunlop in June 1909. By that fall, it
28310-413: The prison's psychiatric ward and being force-fed raw eggs through a feeding tube. "Seems almost unthinkable now, doesn't it?" Paul told an interviewer from American Heritage when asked about forced feeding, "It was shocking that a government of men could look with such extreme contempt on a movement that was asking nothing except such a simple little thing as the right to vote." On November 14, 1917,
28500-509: The provisions of this article. " Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification." On September 25, 1921, the National Woman's Party announced its plans to campaign for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee women equal rights with men. The text of the proposed amendment read: Section 1. No political, civil, or legal disabilities or inequalities on account of sex or on account of marriage, unless applying equally to both sexes, shall exist within
28690-405: The public. The state legislators in battleground states followed public opinion in rejecting the ERA. Phyllis Schlafly was a key player in the defeat. Political scientist Jane Mansbridge in her history of the ERA argues that the draft issue was the single most powerful argument used by Schlafly and the other opponents to defeat ERA. Mansbridge concluded, "Many people who followed the struggle over
28880-507: The publication of the weekly newspaper, The Suffragist . In the U.S. presidential election of 1916, Paul and the National Woman's Party (NWP) campaigned in western states where women could already vote against the continuing refusal of President Woodrow Wilson and other incumbent Democrats to actively support the Suffrage Amendment. Paul went to Mabel Vernon to help her organize a picketing campaign. In January 1917,
29070-459: The reason for this change. This compromised proposal was approved by the House on February 25, 1869, and the Senate the following day. The vote in the House was 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it, some because they thought the amendment did not go far enough in its protections. The House of Representatives passed
29260-407: The right of suffrage, but it invests citizens of the United States with the right of exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of their race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and empowers Congress to enforce that right by "appropriate legislation". The Court wrote: The Fifteenth Amendment does not confer the right of suffrage upon anyone. It prevents
29450-559: The same group, now the Alice Paul Institute, purchased the brick farmhouse, Paulsdale , in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, where Paul was born. Paulsdale is a National Historic Landmark and is on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. The Alice Paul Institute keeps her legacy alive with educational exhibits about her life, accomplishments, and advocacy for gender equality. Fifteenth Amendment to
29640-450: The second term of President Dwight Eisenhower would advance their agenda. Eisenhower had publicly promised to "assure women everywhere in our land equality of rights," and in 1958, Eisenhower asked a joint session of Congress to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, the first president to show such a level of support for the amendment. However, the National Woman's Party found the amendment to be unacceptable and asked it to be withdrawn whenever
29830-441: The seven-month jail sentence that started on October 20, 1917. She began serving her time in the District Jail. Whether sent to Occoquan or the District Jail, the women were given no special treatment as political prisoners. They had to live in harsh conditions with poor sanitation, infested food, and dreadful facilities. In protest of the conditions at the District Jail, Paul began a hunger strike . This led to her being moved to
30020-426: The states. Historian William Gillette wrote of the process, "it was hard going and the outcome was uncertain until the very end." One source of opposition to the proposed amendment was the women's suffrage movement, which before and during the Civil War had made common cause with the abolitionist movement. State constitutions often connected race and sex by limiting suffrage to "white male citizens." However, with
30210-410: The status of a woman's citizenship based on that of her husband's. In the U.S., women who married men from foreign countries lost their U.S. citizenship and were considered by the U.S. to be citizens of whatever country their husbands were from. To Paul, this was a violation of equal rights. As such, she successfully worked on behalf of the international Equal Nationality Treaty in 1933 and in the U.S. for
30400-481: The strike, "All kinds of women's groups all over the country will be using this week on August 26 particularly, to point out those areas in women's life which are still not addressed. For example, a question of equality before the law; we are interested in the Equal Rights Amendment." Despite being centered in New York City—which was regarded as one of the biggest strongholds for NOW and other groups sympathetic to
30590-538: The successful passage of the Equal Nationality Act in 1934, which let women retain their citizenship upon marriage. Just after the founding of the United Nations in 1945, Paul wanted to ensure that women's equality was a part of the organization's charter and that its Commission on Human Rights included a focus on women's equality in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights . She prevailed:
30780-476: The suffragists who were imprisoned at Occoquan endured brutality allegedly endorsed by prison authorities which became known as the " Night of Terror ". The National Woman's Party (NWP) went to court to protest the treatment of the women such as Lucy Burns , Dora Lewis , and Alice Cosu, her cellmate in Occoquan Prison, who suffered a heart attack at seeing Dora's condition. The women were later moved to
30970-551: The territories by passing the Territorial Suffrage Act on January 10, 1867 (Source: Congressional Globe, 39th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 381-82), blacks were granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia on January 8, 1867. Anticipating an increase in Democratic membership in the following Congress, Republicans used the lame-duck session of the 40th United States Congress to pass an amendment protecting black suffrage. Representative John Bingham ,
31160-402: The thirty-seven states, and forestalling any court challenge to New York's resolution to withdraw its consent. The first twenty-eight states to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment were: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish certified the amendment on March 30, 1870, also including the ratifications of: The remaining seven states all subsequently ratified the amendment: The amendment's adoption
31350-569: The trust of fellow WSPU members through her talent with visual rhetoric and her willingness to put herself in physical danger to increase the visibility of the suffrage movement. While at the WSPU's headquarters in Edinburgh, Paul and local suffragettes made plans to protest a speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir Edward Grey . For a week prior, they spoke with people on the streets to promote knowledge about why they were protesting against
31540-481: The vote for women in the United Kingdom . After 1920, Paul spent a half-century as leader of the National Woman's Party , which fought for the Equal Rights Amendment , written by Paul and Crystal Eastman , to secure constitutional equality for women. She won a major permanent success with the inclusion of women as a group protected against discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Alice Stokes Paul
31730-402: The war continued, more opportunities for women to work opened up due to fewer men being available. The support for equality grew with this as women continued to prove their ability and willingness to work. The Republican Party included support of the ERA in its platform beginning in 1940 , renewing the plank every four years until 1980 . The main support base for the ERA until the late 1960s
31920-801: The white primary system created by the Democratic party in the " Texas primary cases " (1927–1953). Voting rights were further incorporated into the Constitution in the Nineteenth Amendment (voting rights for women, effective 1920), the Twenty-fourth Amendment (prohibiting poll taxes in federal elections, effective 1964) and the Twenty-sixth Amendment (lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, effective 1971). The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided federal oversight of elections in discriminatory jurisdictions, banned literacy tests and similar discriminatory devices, and created legal remedies for people affected by voting discrimination. The Court also found poll taxes in state elections unconstitutional under
32110-439: Was a widower, Paul is shown representing "Arthur's era". The U.S. Treasury Department announced in 2016 that an image of Paul will appear on the back of a newly designed $ 10 bill along with Lucretia Mott , Sojourner Truth , Susan B. Anthony , Elizabeth Cady Stanton , and the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession that Paul initiated and organized. Designs for the new $ 5, $ 10, and $ 20 bills will be unveiled in 2020 in conjunction with
32300-470: Was among middle class Republican women, while some Southern Democrats also supported it. In 1950 and 1953, the ERA was passed by the Senate with a provision known as "the Hayden rider", introduced by Arizona senator Carl Hayden . The Hayden rider added a sentence to the ERA to keep special protections for women: "The provisions of this article shall not be construed to impair any rights, benefits, or exemptions now or hereafter conferred by law upon persons of
32490-485: Was an American Quaker , suffragette , suffragist , feminist , and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote . Paul initiated, and along with Lucy Burns and others, strategized events such as the Woman Suffrage Procession and
32680-433: Was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives that year, and by the U.S. Senate in 1972, thus submitting the ERA to the state legislatures for ratification, as provided by Article V of the U.S. Constitution . The amendment's ratification in the states remains disputed to today, and it remains legally unratified. The purpose of the ERA is to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. In
32870-524: Was arrested repeatedly in London during suffrage demonstrations and served three jail terms. After returning from England in 1910, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Ph.D. in sociology. Her dissertation was entitled "The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania"; it addressed the history of the women's movement in Pennsylvania and the rest of the U.S. and urged woman suffrage as
33060-504: Was asked not to march with the Illinois delegation; ultimately, she joined the Chicago group and continued the march with the state delegation. Over half a million people came to view the parade. With insufficient police protection, the situation soon devolved into a near-riot, with onlookers pressing so close to the women that they could not proceed. Police largely did nothing to protect the women from rioters. A senator who participated in
33250-431: Was being widely used by WSPU members because of its effectiveness in publicizing their mistreatment and gaining quick release from prison wardens. Refusing food worked in securing an early release for Paul during her first two arrests. However, during her third prison stint, the warden ordered twice daily force-feeding to keep Paul strong enough to finish her month-long sentence. Though the prisons staunchly maintained that
33440-557: Was born on January 11, 1885, to William Mickle Paul I and Tacie Parry Paul at Paulsdale in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey . She was a namesake of Alice Stokes, her maternal grandmother and the wife of William Parry. Her siblings were Willam Mickle Paul II, Helen Paul Shearer, and Parry Haines Paul. She grew up in the Quaker tradition of public service; Alice Paul first learned about women's suffrage from her mother,
33630-418: Was during her time in prison that she learned the tactics of civil disobedience from Emmeline Pankhurst. Chief among these tactics was demanding to be treated as a political prisoner upon arrest. This not only sent a message about the legitimacy of the suffragists to the public but also had the potential to provide tangible benefits. In many European countries, including England, political prisoners were given
33820-496: Was followed by a Lobby Day on July 10. On June 6, 1982, NOW sponsored marches in states that had not passed the ERA including Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Key feminists of the time, such as Gloria Steinem , spoke out in favor of the ERA, arguing that ERA opposition was based on gender myths that overemphasized difference and ignored evidence of unequal treatment between men and women. A more militant feminist group, Grassroots Group of Second Class Citizens , organized
34010-442: Was important for the party's future. On February 26, 1869, after rejecting more sweeping versions of a suffrage amendment, Republicans proposed a compromise amendment which would ban franchise restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude. After surviving a difficult ratification fight and opposition from Democrats, the amendment was certified as duly ratified and part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870. According to
34200-479: Was livid with the position he was forced into. He quickly pardoned the first women arrested on July 19, two days after they had been sentenced, but reporting on the arrests and abuses continued. For example, the Boston Journal stated, "The little band representing the NWP has been abused and bruised by government clerks, soldiers, and sailors until its efforts to attract the President's attention has sunk into
34390-537: Was met with widespread celebrations in black communities and abolitionist societies; many of the latter disbanded, feeling that black rights had been secured and their work was complete. President Grant said of the amendment that it "completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came to life." Many Republicans felt that with the amendment's passage, black Americans no longer needed federal protection; congressman and future president James A. Garfield stated that
34580-555: Was needed, believing that the Supreme Court could give sex the same "suspect" test as race and national origin, through interpretation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. The Supreme Court did not provide the "suspect" class test for sex, however, resulting in a continuing lack of equal rights. The commission did, though, help win passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 , which banned sex discrimination in wages in
34770-403: Was no longer constitutional and exceeded Congress's enforcement authority under Section 2 of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Court declared that the Fifteenth Amendment "commands that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race or color, and it gives Congress the power to enforce that command. The Amendment is not designed to punish for the past; its purpose is to ensure
34960-491: Was not until 1972 that the United States Supreme Court extended equal protection to sex-based discrimination. However, women have never been entitled to full equal protection as the Court subsequently ruled that statutory or administrative sex classifications were subject to an intermediate standard of judicial review , a less stringent standard than that applied to other forms of discrimination. Since
35150-512: Was particularly close in Indiana and Ohio, which voted to ratify in May 1869 and January 1870, respectively. New York, which had ratified on April 14, 1869, tried to revoke its ratification on January 5, 1870. However, in February 1870, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas ratified the amendment, bringing the total ratifying states to twenty-nine—one more than the required twenty-eight ratifications from
35340-468: Was proved correct: while the ERA did receive a three-year extension from Congress, it remained three states short of those needed for ratification. States continued to attempt to ratify the ERA long after the deadline passed, including Nevada in 2017 and Illinois in 2018. In 2017 and again in 2019, the Senate and House introduced resolutions to remove the deadline from the ERA. These or similar measures, if passed, according to some experts, would make
35530-433: Was successfully filibustered in the Senate. From 1890 to 1910, poll taxes and literacy tests were instituted across the South, effectively disenfranchising the great majority of black men. White male-only primary elections also served to reduce the influence of black men in the political system. Along with increasing legal obstacles, blacks were excluded from the political system by threats of violent reprisals by whites in
35720-427: Was suggested that single-sex bathrooms would be eliminated and same-sex couples would be able to get married if the amendment were passed. Women who supported traditional gender roles started to oppose the ERA. Schlafly said passage of the amendment would threaten Social Security benefits for housewives. Opponents also argued that men and women were already equal enough with the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and
35910-432: Was to send the message that the push for women's suffrage existed before Wilson and would outlast him if need be. Washington officials originally resisted this route, and according to biographer Christine Lunardini, Paul was the only one who truly believed the parade would take place on that route. Eventually, the city ceded the route to NAWSA. However, the city supervisor claimed that the women would not be safe marching along
36100-410: Was unhappy about the changes in the wording of the ERA that now included time limits for securing its passage. Advocates argued that this compromise—the newly added seven-year deadline for ratification in the states—enabled the ERA's passage in Congress, but Paul accurately predicted that the inclusion of a time limit would ensure its defeat. In addition, this version put enforcement power in the hands of
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