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129-535: In 1866, a group of former abolitionists formed the American Equal Rights Association , an organization working to win suffrage to all, regardless of race or sex. After three years, however, the group split over arguments with the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment (all persons born in the US were citizens and received Due Process) was ratified in 1868. This

258-627: A Fourteenth Amendment began circulating that would secure citizenship (but not yet voting rights) for African Americans. Some of the proposals for this amendment would also for the first time introduce the word "male" into the Constitution, which begins with the words "We the People of the United States". Stanton said that "if that word 'male' be inserted, it will take us a century at least to get it out." Stanton, Anthony and Lucy Stone ,

387-619: A co-founder of the NWP. Although Paul was closely tied to the militant suffrage campaign in England, when she left to pursue suffrage in the United States, instead Paul pioneered civil disobedience in the United States. For example, members of the WSPU heckled members of parliament, spit on police officers, and committed arson. While the British suffragettes stopped their protests in 1914 and supported

516-613: A different attitude towards militancy. Catt disapproved of the radical strategies, inspired by the British "Suffragettes", Paul and Burns were trying to implement into the American Suffrage Movement. The split was confirmed by a major difference of opinion on the Shafroth–Palmer Amendment. This amendment was spearheaded by Alice Paul's replacement as chair of the National's Congressional Committee, and

645-588: A drive strong enough to convince the Anti-Slavery Society to accept its goal of universal suffrage rather than suffrage for black men only. The AERA held its first annual meeting in New York City on May 9, 1867. Referring to the growing demand for suffrage for African American men, Lucretia Mott , the AERA's president, said, "woman had a right to be a little jealous of the addition of so large

774-579: A federal amendment ideologically opposed SSWSA's state rights approach. Nevertheless, Belmont donated to both. Known for her philanthropy towards African Americans in New York, Belmont also wrote to Laura Clay saying that she understood the SSWSA’s “eternal vigilance [on the race problem] in the southern suffrage movement”. Gordon and Clay’s group was increasingly at odds with NAWSA, and many Southern suffragists opposed Gordon’s state level approach. No policies in

903-536: A few state associations and no formal national organization. The movement largely disappeared from public notice during the Civil War (1861–1865) as women's rights activists focused their energy on the campaign against slavery. In 1863 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony organized the Women's Loyal National League , the first national women's political organization in the U.S., to campaign for an amendment to

1032-578: A letter to Anthony, Stone wrote, "But the negroes are all against us. There has just now left us an ignorant black preacher named Twine, who is very confident that women ought not to vote. These men ought not to be allowed to vote before we do, because they will be just so much more dead weight to lift." By the end of summer the AERA campaign had almost collapsed under the weight of Republican hostility, and its finances were exhausted. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton arrived in September to work on

1161-773: A local-level suffrage, much like the AWSA’s strategy. Like conservative Southern Democrats at the time, the SSWSA felt that black voters were a source of corruption and saw black disenfranchisement as a positive. The SSWSA, specifically Gordon, paralleled their beliefs to the United Daughters of the Confederacy . Formed in 1894, the United Daughters of the Confederacy was a group championing the Lost Cause, or that

1290-450: A merger of that organization with the women's rights movement to create a new organization that would advocate for the rights for African Americans and women, including suffrage for both. The proposal was blocked by Phillips, who once again argued that the key issue of the day was suffrage for African American men. Phillips and other abolitionist leaders expected a constitutional provision of voting rights for former slaves to help preserve

1419-690: A merger proved to be impossible for twenty years. Ellen Carol DuBois, a historian of the women's suffrage movement, says this rivalry had far-reaching consequences for the women's movement: "More than a century has passed, and still historians become partisans in the hostilities that their opposition created." In 1890 the NWSA and the AWSA combined to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), with Stanton, Anthony and Stone as its top officers. Anthony

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1548-623: A national suffrage amendment. There are many different theories about why Wilson changed his stance of suffrage. Wilson favored  woman suffrage at the state level, but held off support for a nationwide constitutional amendment because his party was sharply divided, with the South opposing an amendment on the grounds of state's rights. The only Southern state to grant women the vote was Arkansas. The NWP in 1917–1919 repeatedly targeted Wilson and his party for not enacting an amendment. Wilson, however, kept in close touch with more moderate suffragists of

1677-508: A notable member of the NWP, wrote about their horrible experiences in the Occoquan Workhouse in her memoir Jailed for Freedom . The resulting publicity was at a time when Wilson was trying to build a reputation for himself and the nation as an international leader in human rights . Many of banners featured quotes from Wilson about preserving democracy abroad, which called attention to Wilson's hypocrisy and his lack of support for

1806-439: A number of men to the voting class, for the colored men would naturally throw all their strength upon the side of those opposed to woman's enfranchisement." Asked by George T. Downing , an African American, whether she would be willing for the black man to have the vote before woman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton replied, "I would say, no; I would not trust him with all my rights; degraded, oppressed himself, he would be more despotic with

1935-670: A planning committee was formed in May 1868 to organize a pro-Republican women's suffrage organization in the Boston area that would support the proposal to enfranchise black males first. The New England Woman Suffrage Association was subsequently founded in November 1868. Several participants in new organization were also active in the AERA, including Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass and the Fosters. Prominent Republican politicians were involved in

2064-406: A possible federal encroachment into their restrictive system of voting laws, meant to disenfranchise the black voter. Paul and Burns felt that this amendment was a lethal distraction from the true and ultimately necessary goal of an all-encompassing federal amendment protecting the rights of all women—especially as the bruising rounds of state referendums were perceived at the time as almost damaging

2193-513: A powerful Virginian Democrat who chaired the House Rules Committee. He was a conservative who strongly opposed civil rights laws for blacks, but voted in support of such laws for white women. Smith's amendment was passed by a teller vote of 168 to 133. Historians debate Smith's motivation—was it a cynical attempt to defeat the bill by someone opposed to both civil rights for blacks and women, or did he support women's rights and

2322-623: A promise that became a reality for a brief period, violence and legal maneuvers prevented most African Americans in the South from voting until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. ) Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony issued the call for the Eleventh National Women's Rights Convention , the first since the Civil War began, which met on May 10, 1866, in New York City. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , an African American abolitionist and writer, spoke at

2451-709: A public letter praising Train. Stone and her allies angered Anthony by charging her with misuse of funds, a charge that was later disproved, and by blocking payment of her salary and expenses for her work in Kansas. Opposition to Train was not due solely to his racism. Henry Blackwell, Stone's husband, had just demonstrated that even AERA workers were not automatically free from the racial presumptions of that era by publishing an open letter to Southern legislatures assuring them that if they allowed both blacks and women to vote, "the political supremacy of your white race will remain unchanged" and that "the black race would gravitate by

2580-454: A result, a diverse group of activists such as pacifists and Socialists were attracted to the NWP due to its opposition to an anti-suffrage president. The escalating conflict in Europe didn't stop Alice Paul and the NWP from protesting Wilson's hypocritical stance on the war. Wilson promoted the idea of maintaining democracy abroad, even though the United States still denied half of its citizens

2709-579: A searchlight, the great white rays of Liberty are turned on one state after another." In a local Tennessee newspaper, the Bristol Herald Courier , the New Southern Citizen is mentioned as reporting on the "state rights" stance of Congressmen who voted against a federal suffrage amendment. The SSWSA perceived its greatest victory to be the 1916 Democratic primary, claiming that its “states' rights suffrage” had been included in

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2838-463: A single-minded and single-issue pressure group, still reliant on getting into the newspapers as a means of publicizing its cause, very insistent on the method of "getting in touch with the key men." NWP lobbyists went straight to legislators, governors, and presidents, not to their constituents. In 1972 Congress passed the ERA Amendment and many states ratified it, but in 1982 it was stopped by

2967-499: A traditional political party and therefore would not endorse a candidate for president during elections. While non-partisan, the NWP directed most of its attention to President Woodrow Wilson and the Democrats, criticizing them as responsible for the failure to pass a constitutional amendment. As a result, in 1918, Paul ran a campaign that boycotted Democrats because of their refusal to support women's suffrage. They decided to boycott

3096-441: A way to include sex as a protected civil rights category. Now was the moment. Griffiths argued that the new law would protect black women but not white women, and that was unfair to white women. Furthermore, she argued that the laws "protecting" women from unpleasant jobs were actually designed to enable men to monopolize those jobs, and that was unfair to women who were not allowed to try out for those jobs. The amendment passed with

3225-441: A while, the guards were told to force-feed the women. They had long narrow tubes shoved down their throats, which caused many injuries that failed to heal. The suffragists were also forced to provide labor in the workhouses and were often beaten and abused. Taking advantage of the mistreatment and physical abuse, some of the suffragists shared their stories to the press and to The Suffragist , their suffrage newspaper. Doris Stevens ,

3354-523: Is more imperative than his own." Referring to Douglass's earlier assertion that "There are no KuKlux Clans seeking the lives of women", Stone cited state laws that gave men control over the disposition of their children, saying that children had been known to have been taken from their mothers by "Ku-Kluxers here in the North in the shape of men". Stone supported the Fifteenth Amendment and at

3483-419: Is no question of principle between us." Frederick Douglass objected to Stanton's use of "Sambo" to represent black men in an article she had written for The Revolution . The majority of the attendees supported the pending Fifteenth Amendment, but debate was contentious. Douglass said, "I do not see how anyone can pretend that there is the same urgency in giving the ballot to woman as to the negro. With us,

3612-630: The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Many activists, especially from the Midwest, were distressed by the split and sought ways to overcome it. Theodore Tilton , an abolitionist and women’s rights advocate, organized a petition drive that gathered the names of more than a thousand people who wanted reunification. He then announced that members of the NWSA and AWSA would meet in New York in April 1870 to reunite

3741-484: The National Woman’s Suffrage Association (NWSA). The NWSA wanted to achieve the vote with a Constitutional amendment, and pressed the federal government with other women’s rights issues (unionization of female workers, marital rights). The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), formed by Lucy Stone, wanted to achieve suffrage by reforming the local and state levels. Local suffrage also became

3870-826: The 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , the NWP advocated for other issues including the Equal Rights Amendment . The most prominent leader of the National Woman's Party was Alice Paul , and its most notable event was the 1917–1919 Silent Sentinels vigil outside the gates of the White House. On January 1, 2021, NWP ceased operations as an independent non-profit organization and assigned its trademark rights and other uses of

3999-550: The Anti-Slavery Society, the convention voted to transform itself into a new organization called the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) that would campaign for the rights of both women and blacks, advocating suffrage for both. The new organization elected Lucretia Mott as president and created an executive committee that included Stanton, Anthony and Lucy Stone. The AERA launched lobbying and petition campaigns in several states, hoping to create

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4128-412: The British war effort, Paul continued her struggle for women's equality and organized picketing of a wartime president to maintain attention to the lack of enfranchisement for women.  Members of the NWP argued it was hypocritical for the United States to fight a war for democracy in Europe while denying its benefits to half of the US population. Similar arguments were being made in Europe, where most of

4257-488: The Confederate fight was a just one. They worked to commemorate fallen Confederate soldiers with statues, romanticizing the era of slavery and continuing white supremacy. Membership numbers of the SSWSA were never recorded. The organization’s New Southern Citizen was a monthly publication updating members on SSWSA’s progress; it was published from October 1914 to 1917. The New Southern Citizen famously said that "like

4386-687: The Democratic Party of that era. Despite the growing number of Democratic leaders who advocated the acceptance of black political power in the South, Southern Democrats had already begun the process of re-establishing white supremacy there, including violent suppression of the voting rights of blacks. Several AERA members expressed anger and dismay over the activities of Stanton and Anthony during this period, including their deal with Train that gave him space to express his views in The Revolution . Some, including Lucretia Mott, president of

4515-553: The Democrats in midterm elections, using the voting power of women in the west, appealing to Wilson everyday through picketing, and calling out Wilson for supporting world democracy but not supporting it at home. These tactics were a contributing factor in getting Wilson to change his position on the suffrage bill. It passed but the Senate stalled until 1919 then finally sent the amendment to the states for ratification. Scholar Belinda A. Stillion Southard has written that "...the campaign of

4644-437: The Democrats. Distressed at Stanton's and Anthony's association with George Francis Train and the hostilities it had generated, Lucretia Mott resigned as president of the AERA that same month. She said she thought it had been mistake to attempt to unite the women's and abolitionist movements, and she recommended that the AERA be disbanded. At the climactic AERA annual meeting on May 12, 1869, Stephen Symonds Foster objected to

4773-784: The ERA was noticed by the NAWSA, and she was offered a position as secretary of the organization. However, her more conservative views and state’s right approach ostracized her from NAWSA. Gordon opposed the push for a national amendment, and formed the Southern States Woman Suffrage Association (SSWSA) at a conference in New Orleans. This gathering was later known as the Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference, and

4902-464: The ERA, doggedly lobbying year in and year out for the amendment's introduction in Congress." In 1997, the NWP ceased to be a lobbying organization. Instead, it turned its focus to education and to preserving its collection of first hand source documents from the women's suffrage movement. The NWP continues to function as an educational organization, maintaining and interpreting the collection left by

5031-978: The Hovey Fund to support its Kansas campaign, which worked for the enfranchisement of both African Americans and women. The fund refused to finance the Kansas campaign, however, because Phillips opposed mixing those two causes, leaving the campaign desperately short of money. It was difficult for the women's movement itself to raise enough money for projects like this because few women had independent sources of income, and even those with employment generally were required by law to turn over their pay to their husbands. The AERA's Kansas campaign began when Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell arrived in April. The AERA workers were disconcerted when, after an internal struggle, Kansas Republicans decided to support suffrage for black men only, not merely refusing to support women's suffrage but forming an "Anti Female Suffrage Committee" to organize opposition to those who were campaigning for it. In

5160-584: The NAWSA. Wilson continued to hold off until he was sure the Democratic Party in the North was in support; the 1917 referendum in New York State in favor of suffrage proved decisive for him. In January 1918, Wilson went in person to the House and made a strong and widely published appeal to the House to pass the bill. The NWP had many innovative non-violent tactics including staging sit-ins, organizing deputations of high class and working-class women, boycotting

5289-406: The NWP did support working women and their support was vital throughout their campaign for the national Amendment. Alice Paul organized many working class deputations and even sent over 400 blue collar workers to meet with Wilson. Although seen as highly controversial due to the status difference, this move showed Paul's support for all types of women, not just those of prestigious class. After 1920,

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5418-514: The NWP was crucial toward securing the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment." The NWP played a critical role in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, which granted U.S. women the right to vote. Alice Paul then turned her attention to securing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) which she felt was vital for women to secure gender equality. The NWP regrouped in 1923 and published the magazine Equal Rights . The publication

5547-399: The NWSA were women, as were all of its officers, but the AWSA actively sought male support and included men among its officers. Stanton and Anthony, the leading figures in the NWSA, were more widely known as leaders of the women's suffrage movement during this period and were more influential in setting its direction. Events soon removed the basis for two key differences of principle between

5676-451: The NWSA. The AERA still existed although it was no longer an effective organization. Twenty leaders of the AERA, including Stanton, Anthony, Tilton and Stone, met in executive committee on May 14, 1870, to formally end its existence. Stone wanted the AERA simply to be dissolved, but the majority voted to merge its remnants into the UWSA. That organization itself had a short life. In 1872,

5805-444: The National Woman's Party authored over 600 pieces of legislation fighting for women's equality; over 300 were passed. In addition, the NWP continued to lobby for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and under president Sarah Tarleton Colvin , who served in 1933, pressed for equal pay. Scholar Mary K. Trigg has noted, "...the NWP played a central role in the women's rights movement after 1945. It stuck to its laser-like focus on

5934-497: The Nineteenth Amendment was written in 1919, Gordon opposed its ratification. The group's activity began to decline in 1917, becoming nothing more than a “paper organization”. The group officially ended after the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. American Equal Rights Association The American Equal Rights Association ( AERA ) was formed in 1866 in the United States . According to its constitution, its purpose

6063-443: The North's recent victory over the slaveholding states during the Civil War. No such benefit could be expected to follow from women's suffrage, and the effort needed to mount an effective campaign for it, they believed, would endanger the chances of winning suffrage for African American men. (Their strategy did not work as planned. Even though the Constitution was amended in 1870 to prohibit the denial of voting rights because of race,

6192-524: The SSWSA were established to govern relations with other suffragist groups. Gordon and her ideas were seen as extreme to most suffragists, even in the South, and was all but shunned by the federal level movement. However, the position was similar to that first claimed by the National Woman Suffrage Association and Elizabeth Cady Stanton : the 15th Amendment was an over-reach of federal intervention. Laura Clay, having studied

6321-834: The Southern Strategy, convincing Southern political leaders that they could ensure white supremacy by enfranchising white women. At this time, women from the South were interspersed in groups like NAWSA, forming local chapters such as the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia . However, in the early 1900s, a uniquely Southern movement arose. Led by Kate Gordon of Louisiana (1861-1932), these upper class Southern women believed that state-level suffrage measures would help maintain white supremacy. One of Gordon's letters, published in Tennessee's The Journal and Tribune , said "I have always maintained that there are no women in

6450-593: The U.S. Constitution that would abolish slavery. After slavery in the U.S. was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, Wendell Phillips was elected president of the Anti-Slavery Society and began to direct its resources toward winning political rights for blacks. He told women's rights activists that he continued to support women's suffrage but thought it best to set aside that demand until voting rights for African American men were assured. The women's movement began to revive when proposals for

6579-496: The UWSA was converted into a reconstituted NWSA with the same name as the original organization and with Anthony as its president. Attitudes toward the Fifteenth Amendment formed a key distinction between the two rival suffrage organizations, but there were other differences as well. The NWSA took a stance of political independence, but the AWSA at least initially maintained close ties with the Republican Party, expecting

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6708-411: The United States who should feel the degradation of disfranchisement so keenly as Southern women, for they have felt a special resentment in witnessing their government make their ignorant slaves the political superiors of the white women of the nation." Gordon first started the ERA (Equal Rights for All) Club in New Orleans, to gain suffrage while appealing to a majority white electorate. Her leadership in

6837-427: The United States, Puerto Rican women were prevented from voting until 1929, and African Americans in southern states were for the most part prevented from voting until 1965, nearly a hundred years after the AERA was formed. National Woman%27s Party The National Woman's Party ( NWP ) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage . After achieving this goal with

6966-454: The activities of the NWP and featured writing from contributors including Crystal Eastman , Zona Gale , Ruth Hale and Inez Haynes Irwin . Josephine Casey appeared on the cover of the publication in April 1931 as a result of her recurring column about the labour conditions of female textile workers in Georgia. The Nineteenth amendment, which prohibits the denial of the right to vote on

7095-690: The allied nations of Europe had enfranchised some women or soon would. After their experience with militant suffrage work in Great Britain, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns reunited in the United States in 1910. The two women originally were appointed to the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In March 1913, the two women organized the first national suffrage parade of 5,000–8,000 women (by differing estimates) in Washington, D.C., on

7224-473: The amendment and, indeed, along with Rep. Martha Griffiths , he was the chief spokesperson for the amendment. For twenty years Smith had sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment—with no linkage to racial issues—in the House because he believed in it. For decades he had been close to the National Woman's Party and especially Paul. She and other activists had worked with Smith since 1945 trying to find

7353-490: The anti-slavery and women's rights movements: Although still relatively small, the women's rights movement had grown in the years before the American Civil War , aided by the introduction of women to social activism through the abolitionist movement. The American Anti-Slavery Society , led by William Lloyd Garrison , was particularly encouraging to those who championed women's rights. The planning committee for

7482-488: The argument of Henry St. George Tucker presented in 1916 before the Law School of Yale University , emphasized in her own presentation in 1919 during a debate with Kentucky suffragist Madeline McDowell Breckinridge that the proposed new federal amendment would overturn the rights protected by the 10th Amendment . Clay argued: Gordon’s unwavering opposition to federal suffrage drove some prominent SSWSA leaders out of

7611-544: The basis of sex, became the law of the land when it was ratified by a sufficient number of states in 1920. Many African American women and men in the Jim Crow South, however, remained disenfranchised after the ratification of this amendment until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, the National Woman's Party exists as a 501c3 educational organization. Its task is now the maintenance and interpretation of

7740-403: The campaign for women's suffrage from former abolitionist allies who viewed it as a hindrance to the immediate goal of winning suffrage for African American men. The Kansas campaign ended in disarray and recrimination, creating divisions between those who worked primarily for the rights of African Americans and those who worked primarily for the rights of women, and also creating divisions within

7869-572: The campaign. They created a storm of controversy by accepting help during the last two and a half weeks of the campaign from George Francis Train , a Democrat , a wealthy businessman and a flamboyant speaker who supported women's rights. Train was a political maverick who had attended the Democratic convention during the presidential election year of 1864 but then campaigned vigorously for the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln . By 1867 he

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7998-409: The cause. In Paul's words: "It is a little difficult to treat with seriousness an equivocating, evasive, childish substitute for the simple and dignified suffrage amendment now before Congress." Women associated with the party staged a very innovative suffrage parade on March 3, 1913 , the day before Wilson's inauguration. During the group's first meeting, Paul clarified that the party would not be

8127-552: The collection and archives of the historic National Woman's Party. The NWP operates out of the Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, DC, where objects from the collection are exhibited. The legacy that this group left behind is mixed. While Alice Paul and the NWP were instrumental in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, the Party failed to include Black women and refused to help Black women gain

8256-475: The competing women's organizations. In 1870 debate about the Fifteenth Amendment was made irrelevant when that amendment was officially ratified. In 1872 disgust with corruption in government led to a mass defection of abolitionists and other social reformers from the Republicans to the short-lived Liberal Republican Party . Despite these events, the rivalry between the two women's groups was so bitter that

8385-443: The conclusions drawn by the wing of the movement associated with Anthony and Stanton: "Our liberal men counseled us to silence during the war, and we were silent on our own wrongs; they counseled us again to silence in Kansas and New York, lest we should defeat 'negro suffrage,' and threatened if we were not, we might fight the battle alone. We chose the latter, and were defeated. But standing alone we learned our power... woman must lead

8514-402: The convention from the viewpoint of one who had to deal with issues faced by both women and black people: "You white women speak here of rights. I speak of wrongs. I, as a colored woman, have had in this country an education which has made me feel as if I were in the situation of Ishmael, my hand against every man, and every man's hand against me." In a variation of the idea proposed earlier to

8643-714: The creation of a similar equal rights organization through a merger of their movement with the American Anti-Slavery Society , but that organization did not accept their proposal. The AERA conducted two major campaigns during 1867. In New York , which was in the process of revising its state constitution, AERA workers collected petitions in support of women's suffrage and the removal of property requirements that discriminated specifically against black voters. In Kansas they campaigned for referendums that would enfranchise African Americans and women. In both places they encountered increasing resistance to

8772-415: The criticisms of this first national suffrage parade was the barrier of women of color from participating side by side with white women. Even though Paul never opposed black women getting the right to vote, she barred them from marching with the white women and forced them to be in the back of the parade with the men to appease southern women. The parade quickly devolved into chaos due to violent reactions from

8901-649: The crowd and a lack of support by the local police. The D.C. police did little to help the suffragists; but the women were assisted by the Massachusetts National Guard, the Pennsylvania National Guard, and boys from the Maryland Agricultural College, who created a human barrier protecting the women from the angry crowd. After this incident, which Paul effectively used to rally public opinion to

9030-507: The day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. This was designed as a political tactic to show the strength of women and to show that they would pursue their goals under Wilson's administration. Leading the parade was Inez Milholland who wore all white and rode on a white horse, which later served as a symbol for the suffrage movement. This placement of Millholland at the start of the parade was strategic because of Mulholland's beauty, Paul knew she would attract media attention and followers. One of

9159-448: The denial of suffrage because of race. In practice it would, theoretically at least, guarantee suffrage for virtually all males. Anthony and Stanton opposed passage of the amendment unless it was accompanied by a Sixteenth Amendment that would guarantee suffrage for women. Otherwise, they said, it would create an "aristocracy of sex" by giving constitutional authority to the belief that men were superior to women. Male power and privilege

9288-538: The difference between a Monarchy and a Republic". Anthony and Stanton also attacked the Republican Party and worked to develop connections with the Democrats. They wrote a letter to the 1868 Democratic National Convention that criticized Republican sponsorship of the Fourteenth Amendment (which granted citizenship to black men but introduced the word "male" into the Constitution), saying, "While

9417-569: The dominant party has with one hand lifted up two million black men and crowned them with the honor and dignity of citizenship, with the other it has dethroned fifteen million white women—their own mothers and sisters, their own wives and daughters—and cast them under the heel of the lowest orders of manhood." They urged liberal Democrats to convince their party, which did not have a clear direction at that point, to embrace universal suffrage. Their attempt to collaborate with Democrats did not go far, however, because their politics were too pro-black for

9546-567: The earliest possible moment, neither being denied for any supposed benefit to the other." Henry Ward Beecher , a prominent minister, said he was in favor of universal suffrage but believed that by demanding the vote for both blacks and women, the movement was likely to achieve at least a partial victory by winning the vote for black men. The state of New York organized a convention in June 1867 to revise its constitution. AERA workers prepared for it by organizing meetings in over 30 locations around

9675-426: The effective demise of the American Equal Rights Association, which held no further annual membership meetings. The split in the women’s movement soon became entrenched through the creation of rival organizations. Two days after the meeting, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the formation of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). In November 1869, Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe and others formed

9804-412: The end of the organization and led to the formation of two competing women's suffrage organizations. The bitter disagreements that led to the demise of the AERA continued to influence the women's movement in subsequent years. The people who played significant roles in the AERA included some of the more prominent reform activists of that time, many of them already acquainted with one another as veterans of

9933-462: The entire party, including pro-suffrage Democrats. Eventually, the boycott of Democrats spearheaded by the NWP lead to a Republican majority in the house. The National Woman's Party continued to focus on suffrage as their main cause. It refused to either support or attack American involvement in the World War, while the rival NAWSA, under Carrie Chapman Catt gave full support to the war effort. As

10062-500: The first National Women's Rights Convention in October 1850 was formed by people who were attending a convention of the Anti-Slavery Society earlier that year. The women's movement was loosely structured during this period, with legislative campaigns and speaking tours organized by a small group of women acting on personal initiative. An informal coordinating committee organized national women's rights conventions, but there were only

10191-652: The floor of the convention that Mrs. Horace Greeley had signed the petition in favor of women's suffrage. The History of Woman Suffrage , whose authors include Stanton and Anthony, said, "This campaign cost us the friendship of Horace Greeley and the support of the New York Tribune , heretofore our most powerful and faithful allies." Two referendums were placed before voters in Kansas in 1867, one that would extend suffrage to black men and one that would extend it to women. Kansas had an anti-slavery heritage and

10320-409: The founding meeting, including a U.S. senator who was seated on the platform. Francis Bird, a leading Massachusetts Republican, said at the meeting, "Negro suffrage, being a paramount question, would have to be settled before woman suffrage could receive the attention it deserved." Julia Ward Howe , who was elected president of the new organization, said she would not demand suffrage for women until it

10449-619: The governing power than even our Saxon rulers are. I desire that we go into the kingdom together". Sojourner Truth , a former slave, said that, "if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before." Others disagreed. Abby Kelley Foster said that suffrage for black men was a more pressing issue than suffrage for women. Stephen Symonds Foster, arguing that ballot rights for one group of citizens should not be contingent on ballot rights for another, said, "The right of each should be accorded at

10578-430: The group. Many SWWSA members preferred state suffrage, but would accept federal change if it meant gaining suffrage. Laura Clay proposed a bill to bridge the two sides: a goal of national suffrage without infringing on state’s rights. She believed she could unite all suffrage groups (NAWSA, SWWSA) under this one bill. After receiving support from the two groups, she took the bill to Congress, but it never left committee. When

10707-465: The information you need. After the amendment for the women's right to vote was passed, the publication was discontinued by the National Woman's Party and succeeded in 1923 by Equal Rights . Published until 1954, Equal Rights began as a weekly newsletter and evolved into a bi-monthly release aimed at keeping NWP members informed about developments related to the ERA and legislative issues. It included field reports, legislation updates and features about

10836-534: The law of nature toward the tropics." Opposition to Train was partly due to the loyalty many reformers felt to the national Republican Party , which had provided political leadership for the elimination of slavery and was still in the difficult process of consolidating that victory. Train harshly attacked the Republican Party, making no secret of his desire to blemish its progressive image and create splits within it by campaigning for women's rights when Kansas Republicans were refusing to do so. The abolitionist movement

10965-490: The lower orders of Chinese, Africans, Germans and Irish, with their low ideas of womanhood to make laws for you and your daughters ... demand that women too shall be represented in government." After first saying in another article, "There is only one safe, sure way to build a government, and that is on the equality of all its citizens, male and female, black and white", Stanton then objected to laws being made for women by "Patrick and Sambo and Hans and Yung Tung who do not know

11094-493: The main tactic employed by the Southern States Women’s Suffrage Association in their “white only” movement. The NWSA and AWSA had their own agendas until 1890, when they decided to reunite and form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). NAWSA worked for state-level amendments, hoping to eventually gain enough momentum for a national amendment. NAWSA was the first group to pioneer

11223-461: The matter is a question of life and death, at least in fifteen States of the Union." Anthony replied, "Mr. Douglass talks about the wrongs of the negro; but with all the outrages that he to-day suffers, he would not exchange his sex and take the place of Elizabeth Cady Stanton." Lucy Stone disagreed with Douglass's assertion that suffrage for blacks should have precedence, saying that "woman suffrage

11352-502: The most prominent figures in the women's movement, circulated a letter in late 1865 calling for petitions against any wording that excluded females. A version of the amendment that referred to "persons" instead of "males" passed the House of Representatives in early 1866 but failed in the Senate . The version that Congress eventually approved and sent to the states for ratification included

11481-408: The organization, and African Americans Frederick Douglass and Frances Harper, voiced their disagreements with Stanton and Anthony but continued to maintain working relationships with them. Particularly in the case of Lucy Stone, however, the disputes of this period led to a personal rift, one that had important consequences for the women's movement. To counter the initiatives of Anthony and Stanton,

11610-517: The party platform. Monetary funds for the organization, which were estimated at $ 6,000 a year, were donated anonymously. Later, it was revealed that these donations came from Alva Belmont (previously a Vanderbilt), who once donated to the CU (Congressional Union). The CU, later named the National Woman’s Party , was the militant, feminist break-off from NAWSA, started by Alice Paul . Its belief in

11739-574: The party's name to the educational non-profit, Alice Paul Institute. The Alice Paul Institute has invited three members of NWP Board of Directors to join their board and in the near future will create a new committee to "advise on a potential expansion of programs to the Washington, DC area and nationally". The papers and artifacts of the NWP, were donated to the Library of Congress and the National Park Service to make them available to

11868-460: The passage of a constitutional amendment ensuring women's suffrage throughout the United States. Alice Paul was closely linked to England's Women's Suffrage Political Union (WSPU), organized by Emmeline Pankhurst . While a college student in England, Paul became involved with the Pankhursts and their English suffrage campaign. During this time Alice Paul met Lucy Burns, who would go on and be

11997-423: The power of the individual states. Clay was “lukewarm” about a separate suffrage group, but joined forces with Kate Gordon in 1916 and became vice president of SSWSC. Initially, Gordon had promised her new group would work alongside, and not against, NAWSA, appealing to more centrist members like Clay. Another leader of the new SSWSC was Ida Porter Boyer , who took the position of Executive Secretary. SSWSA utilized

12126-498: The proposal for women's suffrage. Greeley had earlier clashed with Anthony and Stanton by insisting that their New York campaign should focus on the rights of African Americans rather than also including women's issues. When they refused, he threatened to end his newspaper's support for their work. Soon he began to attack the women's movement. Responding to Greeley's repeated claim that the best women he knew did not want to vote, Stanton and Anthony arranged for it to be announced from

12255-471: The public. The National Woman's Party was an outgrowth of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage , which had been formed in 1913 by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to fight for women's suffrage . The National Woman's Party broke from the much larger National American Woman Suffrage Association , which had focused on attempting to gain women's suffrage at the state level. The NWP prioritized

12384-453: The ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to open the way for a Republican push for women's suffrage. (That did not happen; the high point of Republican support was a non-committal reference to women's suffrage in the 1872 Republican platform.) The NWSA worked on a wider range of women's issues than the AWSA, which criticized its rival for mixing women's suffrage with issues like divorce reform and equal pay for women . Almost all members of

12513-403: The renomination of Stanton and Anthony as officers. He denounced their willingness to associate with Train despite his disparagement of blacks, and he charged them with advocating "Educated Suffrage", thereby repudiating the AERA's principle of universal suffrage. Henry Blackwell responded, "Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton believe in the right of the negro to vote. We are united on that point. There

12642-469: The right ground on this question." ) Most AERA members supported the Fifteenth Amendment. Among prominent African American AERA members, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , Frederick Douglass, George Downing and Dr. Charles Purvis supported the amendment, but Dr. Purvis' father, Robert Purvis , joined Anthony and Stanton in opposition to it. Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment in February 1869, and it

12771-447: The right to vote. The NWP pickets were seen as controversial because they continued during war time and other suffrage groups like NAWSA chose to support the war effort. Known as " Silent Sentinels ", their action lasted from January 10, 1917 until June 1919. The picketers were tolerated at first, but when they continued to picket after the United States declared war in 1917, they were arrested by police for obstructing traffic. Regardless of

12900-502: The right to vote. To keep the support of southern members of the NWP, Paul refused to bring up the issue of race in the south. Her single-minded focus on the ERA caused her to refuse to fight the Jim Crow Laws barring black women the right to vote. Historian Nancy Cott has noted that as the party moved into the 1920s it remained ideologically consistent in the pursuit of a solitary goal for women and it remained an autocratically run,

13029-468: The rights of African Americans and those who worked primarily for the rights of women, and it also created divisions within the women's movement itself. The New York campaign had been financed partly by the Hovey Fund , which was created by a bequest that provided a large sum of money to support abolitionism, women's rights and other reform movements. According to the terms of the bequest, if slavery

13158-472: The same time and worked toward a politically independent women's movement that would no longer be dependent on abolitionists. Stanton and Anthony expressed their views in a newspaper called The Revolution , which began publishing in January 1868 with initial funding from the controversial George Francis Train . Disagreement was especially sharp over the proposed Fifteenth Amendment , which would prohibit

13287-430: The same time stressed the importance of women's rights by saying, "But I thank God for that XV. Amendment, and hope that it will be adopted in every State. I will be thankful in my soul if any body can get out of the terrible pit. But I believe that the safety of the government would be more promoted by the admission of woman as an element of restoration and harmony than the negro." The acrimonious 1869 meeting signaled

13416-465: The state and collecting over 20,000 signatures on petitions that supported women's suffrage and the removal of property requirements that discriminated specifically against black voters. The suffrage committee of the convention was chaired by Horace Greeley , a prominent newspaper editor and abolitionist who had been a supporter of the women's movement. His committee approved the removal of discriminatory property requirements for black voters but rejected

13545-405: The status of the suffrage amendment. The woman who reads our paper will be informed as to happenings in Congress, not only suffrage happenings, although they come first, but all proceedings of special interest to women. Men do not realize how serious are the changes that are taking place in the conduct of Congress. Women will have to inform them. Only in the pages of The Suffragist will you find

13674-443: The strongest laws for the protection of women's rights outside New York. The AERA concentrated its resources on this campaign with high hopes of winning both referendums, which would boost the chances of winning suffrage for both blacks and woman at the national level. Both referendums failed, however, and the AERA campaign ended in disarray and recrimination. The Kansas campaign created divisions between those who worked primarily for

13803-571: The suffrage cause, Paul and Burns founded the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in April 1913, which split off from NAWSA later that year. There were many reasons for the split, but primarily Paul and Burns were frustrated with the National's slower approach of focusing on individual state referendums and wanted to pursue a congressional amendment. Alice Paul had also chafed under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt , as she had very different ideas of how to go about suffrage work, and

13932-523: The votes of Republicans and Southern Democrats. The final law passed with the votes of Republicans and Northern Democrats. Pauli Murray was also instrumental in the inclusion of sex in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits the discrimination based on sex, which has been attributed to the betterment of women as a group. The Suffragist newspaper

14061-547: The way to her own enfranchisement." After the Kansas campaign ended in disarray in November 1867, the AERA increasingly divided into two wings, both advocating universal suffrage but with different approaches. One wing, whose leading figure was Lucy Stone, was willing for black men to achieve suffrage first and wanted to maintain close ties with the Republican Party and the abolitionist movement. The other, whose leading figures were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, insisted that women and black men should be enfranchised at

14190-481: The weather, the women stood outside of the White House holding banners, constantly reminding Wilson of his hypocrisy. When they were first arrested, Lucy Burns claimed that they were political prisoners but were treated as regular prisoners.  As a tribute to their commitment to suffrage, they refused to pay the fines  and accepted prison time. The first night that the Silent Sentinels spent in jail

14319-473: The women's movement itself. The AERA continued to hold annual meetings after the failure of the Kansas campaign, but growing differences made it difficult for its members to work together. Disagreement about the proposed Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , which would prohibit the denial of suffrage because of race, was especially sharp because it did not also prohibit the denial of suffrage because of sex. The acrimonious AERA meeting in 1869 signaled

14448-537: The women’s movement. The leaders of both these organizations angrily opposed Tilton’s project at first. The NWSA eventually decided to cooperate with him, but the AWSA did not. Tilton’s meeting, which included some non-affiliated activists, led to the creation of the Union Woman Suffrage Association (UWSA) with Tilton as president. The NWSA merged into the UWSA, resulting in an organization with structure and policies that mirrored those of

14577-443: The word "male" three times. Stanton and Anthony opposed the amendment, but Stone supported it as a step towards universal suffrage . Frederick Douglass denounced it because it permitted states to disenfranchise blacks if those states were willing to accept reduced representation at the federal level. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. At a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society in January 1866, Stone and Anthony proposed

14706-475: The work of the historic National Woman's Party. Congress passed the ERA Amendment and many states ratified it, but at the last minute in 1982 it was stopped by a coalition of conservatives led by Phyllis Schlafly and never passed. In 1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 , which prohibited wage differentials based on sex. The prohibition on sex discrimination was added by Howard W. Smith ,

14835-428: Was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage , irrespective of race, color or sex." Some of the more prominent reform activists of that time were members, including women and men, blacks and whites. The AERA was created by the Eleventh National Women's Rights Convention , which transformed itself into the new organization. Leaders of the women's movement had earlier suggested

14964-476: Was a compromise of sorts meant to appease racist sentiment in the South . Shafroth–Palmer was to be a constitutional amendment that would require any state with more than 8 percent signing an initiative petition to hold a state referendum on suffrage. This would have kept the law-making out of federal hands, a proposition more attractive to the South. Southern states feared a congressional women's suffrage amendment as

15093-542: Was abolished, the remainder of the money was to go to the other reform movements, which meant that the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment should have freed up a significant stream of money for the women's movement. However, Wendell Phillips, the head of the fund, declared that slavery would not truly be abolished until blacks were enfranchised on the same basis as whites, and he channeled much of fund's money toward that cause. The AERA nonetheless expected

15222-530: Was achieved for blacks. The AERA accomplished little during 1868 except hold its annual meeting on May 14, which was marked by hostilities. At that meeting, Olympia Brown denounced the Kansas Republicans for opposing women's suffrage and stressed the need for a party that would support universal suffrage. Lucy Stone criticized the Republican Party also, but Frederick Douglass defended it as more supportive of suffrage for both blacks and women than

15351-444: Was at the root of society's ills, Stanton argued, and nothing should be done to strengthen it. Anthony and Stanton also warned that black men, who would have voting power under the amendment, were overwhelmingly opposed to women's suffrage. (They were not alone in being unsure of black male support for women's suffrage. Frederick Douglass, a strong supporter of women's suffrage, said, "The race to which I belong have not generally taken

15480-426: Was attempting to improve the bill by broadening it to include women? Smith expected that Republicans, who had included equal rights for women in their party's platform since 1944, would probably vote for the amendment. Historians speculate that Smith was trying to embarrass northern Democrats who opposed civil rights for women because the clause was opposed by labor unions. Smith asserted that he sincerely supported

15609-475: Was directed towards women but also intended to educate men about the benefits of women's suffrage, women's rights and other issues concerning American women. Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. The NWP did not support protective legislation and argued that these laws would continue to depress women's wages and prevent women from gaining access to all types of work and parts of society. But,

15738-446: Was followed by the 15th Amendment (black men could vote) in 1870. The ratification of these two Reconstruction-era amendments divided the woman suffragist movement. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment addressed racial equality but did not protect women's rights. Angered at the specific exclusion of women by expressing the rights of men in the 15th Amendment, former AERA members Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed

15867-419: Was founded by the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in 1913. It was referred to as "the only women's political newspaper in the United States" and was published to promote women's suffrage activities. The Suffragist would follow weekly events and promote different views held by the leaders of the NWP. Its articles had political cartoons, by Nina E. Allender to garner support for the movement and communicate

15996-468: Was known as the Night of Terror : the prisoners were beaten until a few of them were unconscious, starved, and Burns had her hands chained above her head. Due to this unlawful detention, many of the NWP's members went on hunger strikes ; some, including Lucy Burns and Paul, were force-fed by jail personnel as a consequence. Hunger strikes left the women weak and in terrible conditions, but they persisted. After

16125-795: Was promoting himself as an independent candidate for president. Train was also a racist who openly disparaged the integrity and intelligence of African Americans, supporting women's suffrage partly in the belief that the votes of women would help contain the political power of blacks. The usual procedure was for Anthony to speak first, declaring that the ability to vote rightfully belonged to both women and blacks. Train would speak next, declaring that it would be an outrage for blacks to vote but not women also. The willingness of Anthony and Stanton to work with Train alienated many AERA members and other reform activists. Stone said she considered Train to be "a lunatic, wild and ranting". Anthony and Stanton angered Stone by including her name, without her permission, in

16254-496: Was ratified by the states a year later. During the debate over the Fifteenth Amendment, Stanton wrote articles for The Revolution with language that was sometimes elitist and racially condescending. She believed that a long process of education would be needed before what she called the "lower orders" of former slaves and immigrant workers would be able to participate meaningfully as voters. Stanton wrote, "American women of wealth, education, virtue and refinement, if you do not wish

16383-663: Was sensitive to attacks on the Republican Party, with which it collaborated closely, serving in some ways as its left wing. The women's rights movement depended heavily on abolitionist resources, with its articles published in their newspapers and some of its funding provided by abolitionists. After the Kansas debacle, women's suffragists who distanced themselves from abolitionist and Republican leadership found those resources increasingly unavailable. Wendell Phillips worked to prevent discussion of women's suffrage at abolitionist meetings, and abolitionist journals began to downplay those issues as well. The History of Woman Suffrage stated

16512-653: Was the key force in the new organization. Stone, nominally the chair of its executive committee, in practice was involved only peripherally. Women's suffrage, a key goal of the AERA, was achieved in 1920 with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment , popularly known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Despite the passage of the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments, the AERA's goal of securing equal rights for all citizens, especially suffrage, still had not yet been fully achieved. Although Puerto Ricans were by law citizens of

16641-409: Was the most notable gathering of these Southern suffragists. Like Gordon, Laura Clay of Kentucky (1849-1941) had been a prominent member of NAWSA; however, she became distanced from the establishment because she did not fully agree with its goals, specifically its aim of a federal amendment. She saw the federal amendment as a way to gain “publicity,” but would much rather have suffrage centered within

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