Woman’s Right To Vote
By: Chelsey Brooke Stewart
Women’s Suffrage
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.
Definition of Women’s Rights
Rights that promote a position of legal and social equality of women with men.
Photos
Fictional Story
Imagine life not being able to vote. Imagine having no rights at all and not being able to choose your president. Well… Sarah Adams knows exactly how that feels. Back in the early 1900’s she was a loyal housewife to Sam Adams, and mother to their three kids. She always felt trapped because her husband was able to express himself publicly and she always had to keep her opinions to herself. One day Sarah was at the local market and was talking to a group of housewives who were also doing their weekly shopping. She expressed her opinion on how she felt about women's rights to vote hoping to persuade them to join her in a protest. That backfired on Sarah because one of the women was the mayor’s wife. This resulted in Sarah being publicly humiliated and shamed in town.
1848
The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. After 2 days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which outlines grievances and sets the agenda for the women's rights movement. A set of 12 resolutions was adopted calling for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women.
1850
The first National Woman's Rights Convention takes place in Worcester, Mass., attracting more than 1,000 participants. National conventions are held yearly (except for 1857) through 1860.
On Election Day in 1920, millions of American women exercised their right to vote for the first time. For almost 100 years, women (and men) had been fighting to win that right: They had made speeches, signed petitions, marched in parades and argued over and over again that women, like men, deserved all of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The leaders of this campaign did not always agree with one another–in fact, sometimes their disagreements threatened to derail their movement–but each was committed to the enfranchisement of all, American women.
Questions
What does suffrage mean? How many years did women fight to vote?
A)The right of an injured to get first aid. A)100
B)The right to vote in political elections. B)75
C)The right to carry a weapon. C)50
D)None of the above. D)25
What year was the final victory for women being allowed to vote?
A)1900�B)1910�C)1920�D)1930