1776 – 1848 -1920

Women’s Rights &The Women’s Suffrage Movement

Why these three dates?

What do we know?

What do we teach?

What is the overarching narrative/big story?

What is the difference between the Women’s Rights Movement and the Women’s Suffrage Movement?

A Simplification of the Standard View (?)

No mention of women’s rights until 1848

Suddenly women demand the right to vote at Seneca Falls in 1848

Naturally all women want the vote but sexist men stand in their way

Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony led the movement; these two women were ahead of their time

Women working for suffrage agreed on their goals and tactics

After decades of struggle and a number of gradual “baby steps,” women were given the right to vote in 1920, primarily because of the efforts of Stanton & Anthony

This movement = first-wave feminism

Instead I would argue that . . .

We need to understand the development of a women’s movement in the United States between 1776 and 1848 and the context for Seneca Falls

We need to recognize that women were asking for a wide range of rights, far more than just the vote

That Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were important pioneers, but they did not get women the vote, and Anthony was not at the Seneca Falls meeting (though Frederick Douglass was)

That most 19th century women in the U.S. didn’t care much about getting the vote, and actually cared more about other social issues, and that women suffragists often did not agree

That “first wave feminism” actually consisted of at least two waves, the original, 19th-century wave, and a second wave (with new leaders) in the early 20th century – the movement that actually achieved the vote

And that most progress toward the vote was made in the decade between 1910 and 1920

So who were the women responsible for getting women the vote in the United States?

Assisted by other Women’s Rights Activists

So how to we get from 1776 to 1920?

From no new rights to voting rights?

What were U.S. women’s rights at the time of the American Revolution?

Could they own property? Run businesses? Hold jobs?Control their own money?Could they marry freely?

Travel without a male escort?

Trick questions!

First of all, women’s legal rights depended on race, age, and marital status

Enslaved women had almost no legal rights – they and their children could be

sold, they were forced to work as dictated with no profit to themselves, they

could be forbidden to marry the men they loved, forced into relationships with

enslaved men they did not like, forced to reproduce against their will, and

they could be legally raped by their owners; in theory, they could not be killed

for no reason, but in practice they could be physically punished to the point of

death, and it was illegal for them to defend themselves or their children

However, the legal rights of female slaves were not different from the legal rights of male slaves

Native American women

Lost power after the European settlement

In some Native American tribes, as in the Iroquois Confederacy, society was matrilineal and matrilocal, and women had a political voice

Native American women of the Eastern Woodland tribes were often the farmers, and controlled the stored food (corn). Iroquois women had to agree for the tribe to go to war

However, European influence began to change gender roles within Native American society

And, in any case, Native Americans were being pushed out of the Eastern United States at the time of the Revolution

But, if we consider white women of European descent

Yes, women in the United States could own property, control their own money, and run a business in their own name – if they were single or widowed

There was no limit on the jobs women could do or hold – if they could find them and be hired

Adult women (except enslaved women) could marry freely, making their own choices; younger women had to have their parents’ consent and were sometimes pressured, but could not be legally forced and were not victims of arranged marriages

And there were no rules that women could not travel freely or inherit and control property

However, married women . . .

Under English common law were considered “feme covert” – no longer independent, but covered by their husband’s legal identity; this is called “couverture”

Except in rare cases of prenuptial agreements, husbands controlled all of their wives’ money, property, and possessions, including their children; married women could not sign contracts, or keep their own wages – even her mobility was limited by her husband’s permission

This was not true of French, Dutch, or Spanish law, which had been based on Roman law and allowed women more legal rights over their own property and the property they inherited or earned while married

Which brings us to our first documentin the struggle for Women’s Rights in the United

States

Let’s go back to 1776

This woman is sometimes hailed as the first feminist in U.S. history on the basis of a letter she wrote to her husband, one of the Founding Fathers, asking him to “Remember the Ladies”

I long to hear that you have declared an independancy—and by the way in the new

Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you

would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than

your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.

Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention

is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not

hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

Who was she, what was she asking for, and was she a feminist?

If Abigail Adams doesn’t qualify as the first American feminist, who does?

Judith Sargent Murray

1751-1820 Born Judith Sargent in Gloucester, Mass.

Resented her lack of education (compared with her brothers)

Married John Stevens in 1769 (at age 18) In 1786, Stevens (a merchant, now bankrupt) died

In 1788, she married John Murray, a Universalist Minister

In 1790 she published an essay titled “On the Equality of the Sexes” in a magazine under the name Constantia

She advocated for greater respect for women, better education, and better employment opportunities

Judith Sargent Murray = excellent example of the ideal of Republican

Motherhood

A devoted wife and mother

Argued primarily for women’s educational opportunities

"Are we deficient in reason? We can only reason from what we know, and if

opportunity of acquiring knowledge hath been denied us, the inferiority of our sex

cannot fairly be deduced from thence ... I would calmly ask, is it reasonable, that a

candidate for immortality, for the joys of heaven, an intelligent being, who is to spend

an eternity in contemplating the works of Deity, should at present be so degraded, as

to be allowed no other ideas, than those suggested by the mechanism of a pudding, or

the sewing [of] the seams of a garment?"

On the Equality of the Sexes, 1790

Republican Motherhood

Is what women gained from the RevolutionRespect as mothers of future citizensTherefore, needing a better education

But this idea was not isolated to the United StatesRelated to social/economic change when men

began leaving home to go out to work (business versus farming or home-based craft)

Respect for women and their responsibilities risesA new stress on female education throughout

Western Europe and the United States

A Republican Mother: Mary Gibson Tilghman & SonsPortrait by Charles Wilson Peale, 1789

First wave feminism: a (limited) cast of characters

Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)

Lucy Stone (1818-1893)

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

What do we know about them? What do our students know? What, if anything, did they have in common?

Lucretia Coffin Mott

Lucretia Coffin Mott

From a Quaker family in NantucketAttended Quaker boarding school in Millbrook, NYBecame a teacher and discovered male teachers

made three times as much!Moved to Philadelphia with her family and there

married James Mott, another Quaker teacherBecame Quaker minister and anti-slavery activistTraveled, spoke, and boycotted slave-produced goodsFounded (with others) the Philadelphia Female

Anti-slavery SocietyFought against racism as well as slavery

Portraits of Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth

Born enslaved as Isabella Baumfree in Ulster County, NY (Rifton?)

Native language Dutch, remained illiterateSold at age 9 to a man who beat her for not

understanding EnglishSold to again, and soon after to John DumontBlocked from marriage with a slave on a

neighboring farm, she was pressured to have children with one of Dumont’s own slaves, Thomas

She had five children

How she changed her life

A good worker, she was promised freedom a year before the general New York emancipation in 1827

When Dumont refused because she had injured herself and done less work, she walked away to freedom with her infant

She was taken in by the Van Wagener family

Learning that her son had been sold south, she walked to the courthouse in Kingston, found a lawyer, and gained his freedom

The rest of her children were indentured to her former owners – she left them and moved to NYC

How she became an activist

After working as a domestic servant in NYC, and even joining a cult, Isabella Van Wagener (at the age of 46) decided to change her name to Sojourner Truth and become an itinerant preacher

She walked from NYC to Long Island to Massachusetts and eventually became a member of the Northampton Association

She spoke against slavery from her personal experience, and sang hymns

She dictated her life story to Olive Gilbert; it was published as a slave narrative in 1850

Portraits of Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Born in Johnstown to Judge Daniel Cady and Margaret Livingston

All her brothers died

She observed as a child how the law discriminated against women, especially married women

Well educated, attended the Emma Willard school in Troy

Met Henry Stanton at the home of her cousin, Gerrit Smith, an abolitionist

Married Stanton in 1840 Eventually had seven children

Lucy Stone portraits

Lucy Stone

Born on a farm in Massachusetts

Resented the way her father ruled the family

Family included an aunt who had been abandoned by her husband

Lucy decided never to marry, to gain an education, and to make her own living She taught school, then attended Mount Holyoke She had to pay her own way, and promise her father she would repay him for her lost

income!

Eventually she left Mount Holyoke to care for family members, and went back to teaching She then saved money and enrolled in Oberlin College

She supported herself there through teaching lower grades, but resigned when the administration refused to pay her at the same rate as male teachers. Eventually she was rehired at the same pay as men

In 1846, she decided to become a lecturer on women’s rights In 1847, she received a B.A.

Portraits of Anthony

Susan B. Anthony

Born in Adams, Mass., to a Quaker family

Family moved to New York State where her father took an interest in her education

She enrolled in a Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia, but her father lost his money in the Panic of 1837

She started work as a school teacher, and eventually became headmistress of the Female Department of Canajoharie Academy

She protested because male teachers made four times as much as women

At age 29, quit teaching and moved to her family’s home in Rochester

Became involved in temperance, women’s rights, and abolition movements

What does each of these women contribute to the Women’s Rights Movement?

Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organize the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848

They write the Resolutions and Declaration of Sentiments

Sojourner Truth becomes a speaker for Women’s Rights, famous for her speech in Akron, Ohio in 1851

Lucy Stone becomes a noted orator, and influences Anthony to embrace the cause of women’s rights; she insists on keeping her maiden name after marriage to Henry Blackwell, and their marriage ceremony included a “Marriage Protest” (handout)

Susan B. Anthony meets Stanton in Seneca Falls in 1851 and becomes her unofficial partner in promoting a women’s rights agenda

Seneca Falls

Background of Mott, Stanton, and Seneca Falls Meeting

Brief discussion of Declaration of Sentiments & Resolutions (handout)

Was this the first time women publicly asked for the vote?

No!

The women of Jefferson County, New York, had petitioned for the vote in 1846, at the time of a New York State Constitutional Convention

They asked for the vote on the basis of citizenship and democracy (handout)

Why do historians believe that these demands emerged in the 1840s?

After Seneca Falls

Women’s Rights Conventions began taking place across the Northeast and Midwest

The most famous speech to be recorded was that given by Sojourner Truth in 1851 – but what did she say?

The famous “Ain’t I a woman” version was published in 1863, and is different from the version recorded at the time (handouts)

1851 - 1869

Women’s first victories were in “Married Women’s Property Rights” acts, state by state

Stanton, Anthony, and Stone spoke before state legislatures and published articles

Truth preached, sang, and spoke against slavery and for women’s rights

All these activists supported the Civil War except Mott, a committed Quaker pacifist

1869 – Women’s Rights Movement Splits

Clip from “Not for Ourselves Alone”

1869-1910

Susan B. Anthony votes and is tried (1871)Minor v. Happersett (1875)Clip from “Not for Ourselves Alone”

Stanton and Stone disagree on issue of divorceWomen’s rights advocates continue to work for

the vote at the state levelWestern territories and states grant vote firstBut there are setbacks, as in Colorado in 1877See timeline

Pro- and Anti-Suffrage Arguments

Pro-suffrage Humanity, citizenship, natural rights, democracy, fairness

Women’s superior morality and special concerns (children) Protection against predatory/unscrupulous men Ability to clean-up politics To advance temperance cause

Anti-suffrage Mocking un-feminine women Women don’t want to vote Protect the women and the home; politics is dirty business Women = naturally dependent, represented by husbands Women should use private influence

Some typical anti-suffrage cartoons

Common in both U.S. and England

What is the message?

An Anti-anti-suffrage cartoon

The New Woman

Phrase introduced in the 1890s in British literature

A new role for women, a new idealThe “New Woman” was

Independent versus dependent Educated, even college educated Self-supporting Single, married, or in a same-sex relationship Ideal bridged class, race, and ethnicity in the U.S.

20th Century Women’s Rights Leadersand “New Women”

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)

Jane Addams (1860-1935)

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)

Lucy Burns (1879-1966)

Alice Paul (1885-1977)

What do we know about them? What do we teach about them? What did they have in common?

Carrie Chapman Catt

Born Carrie Lane in Wisconsin

Shocked to discover her mother could not vote

Attended Iowa State College – valedictorian and only woman in her class

Became a teacher, then superintendant of schools

Married newspaper editor Leo Chapman; they ran a paper together until he died suddenly

Tried to make a living speaking and writing

Married George Catt, an engineer, who agreed to let her spend significant time each year campaigning for women’s rights

Catt continued . . .

Selected by Susan B. Anthony to head NAWASA The National American Woman Suffrage Association Headed NAWSA 1900-1904 & 1915-1920 Between 1904 and 1906 both her husband and Anthony died Depressed and encouraged to travel, Catt worked on international

women’s suffrage between 1906-1915

1916: Announces “Winning Plan” to get vote1917: New York passes referendum approving women’s

suffrage1918: President Wilson supports constitutional amendment

After women gain vote, founds the League of Women Voters

Jane Addams

Born in Illinois, father a wealthy businessman and Republican Senator

Hoped to become a doctor

Graduated from Rockville Female Seminary

Inherited wealth when her father died

Attempted medical school in Philadelphia but left because of poor health (physical and mental)

Looked for something to do with her life

In 1887, traveled to England with school friend Ellen Gates Starr to see Toynbee Hall, a settlement House

Addams continued . . .

In 1889, co-founded Hull House with Starr

First settlement house in the United States

Involved in multiple social, economic, and political movements

Published “Twenty Years at Hull House”

Became the most admired woman in the United States

Close marriage-like relationship with Mary Rozet Smith

In 1912, nominated and campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party run for president

Early member of NAACP, supported women’s rights as well as end to racial discrimination

Ida B.Wells

Born in Mississippi to enslaved parents who were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War

When her parents died in a yellow fever epidemic, the 16-year old Wells decided to keep her family (six brother and sisters) together

She left school and worked as a teacher to support her family

Moved to Memphis, Tennessee for better opportunities

1884: refused to give up her seat in the ladies’ car of a railroad train and thrown off the train

Took railroad to court and won in lower court, but lost in Tennessee Supreme Court

Wells continued . . .

Continued to teach school but objected to racial discrimination

Began writing articles for local black papers

Became an editor and co-owner of the Free Speech and Headlight

In 1892, three of her friends running a small grocery store were attacked, then lynched, by a white mob

She began to investigate and publish articles against lynching

While speaking in Philadelphia, the offices of her paper were attacked and destroyed

She moved to Chicago and continued an international campaign against lynching

Always argued for women’s rights as well as civil rights and racial justice; co-founder of NAACP

Lucy Burns

Born in Brooklyn; family Irish Catholic

Attended Packer Collegiate Institute, Columbia, Vassar, and Yale

Became a high school English teacher

Supported by her father, she traveled to study in Europe

Met the Pankhursts and committed herself to women’s rights

1910-12 became salaried organized for women’s rights in Britain

Met Alice Paul in a police station after they had both been arrested for demonstrating

Formed a partnership similar to Stanton and Anthony

Burns continued . . .

Returned with Paul to United States

Tried to work within NAWASA but disagreed over tactics

In 1914, split off Congressional Union from NAWSA

In 1916, formed their own National Women’s Party (NWP), committed to direct action to gain the vote

During World War I, picketed the White House and arrested several times

Targeted during the “Night of Terror”, engaged in hunger strikes

Lucy Burns in workhouse

Alice Paul

Born in New Jersey to a Quaker Family

Father was a successful businessman

Graduated from Swarthmore with a degree in Biology

Went to London to study social work

Met Emmeline Pankhurst and became a militant suffragist (“Deeds not Words”)

Broke windows, arrested, went on hunger strikes

Returned to U.S. in 1910

Paul continued . . .

Disagreed with Catt on strategy to win vote Wanted to confront Democrats, not work with them Determined to hold the party in power responsible

Working with Lucy Burns, organized National Women’s Party

Picketed the White House during World War IArrested, hunger struck, force fedEventually released

After women win vote, introduces ERA (Equal Rights Amendment)

Alice Paul

Quotes: Carrie Chapman Catt

This world taught woman nothing skillful and then said her work was valueless. It permitted her no opinions and said she did not know how to think. It forbade her to speak in public, and said the sex had no orators.

Government by "the people" is expedient or it is not. If it is expedient, then obviously all the people must be included.

When a just cause reaches its flood-tide, as ours has

done in that country, whatever stands in the way must fall before its overwhelming power.

Quotes: Alice Paul

"It is better, as far as getting the vote is concerned I believe, to have a small, united group than an immense debating society." 

"We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote.“

"I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality."

Possible film clips:

From “One Woman, One Vote”: Carrie Chapman Catt’s Winning Plan The Suffrage Women and World War I Jailed for Freedom Passage of the Amendment in Congress Final ratification in Tennessee

Lots of internet resources for bothprimary and secondary sources

PBS: many resources, including Teacher’s Guides and Lesson Plans

Websites for individual women leaders

Original documents posted by colleges and universities

Youtube films, including NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE

Timelines for Women’s Suffrage: National Women’s History Museum

http://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/history/woman-suffrage-timeline  National American Woman Suffrage Association http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/naw/nawstime.html

The Women’s History Project of Lexington Area National Organization for Women http://dpsinfo.com/women/history/timeline.html

Feel free to check sources with me: lewiss@newpaltz.edu