could not own property. Even their clothes and any earnings they made did not legally belong to

them (Monroe, 24).” It was considered to be inappropriate if a woman were to speak in public

and, especially, women did not have the right to vote. However, soon after the beginning of the

1800′s, the idea of equality was instrumental in influencing the Woman’s Suffrage Movement.

After a 72-year struggle, women’s right to vote became one of the most important legacies of the

1920′s.

The Woman’s Suffrage Movement began in 1848 when a group of American women met

in Seneca Falls, New York to negotiate women’s rights in the United States. These women issued

what became known as the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, a document outlining the

demand for equal rights. The convention was convened as planned, and over the two days of

discussion, the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions received agreement endorsement by

the government, granting women a few amendments; however, the government refused to grant

women the right to vote, one of the main resolutions that would grant women equality with men

(www.nara.gov). After this, women all over the United States began having conventions

encouraging others to get involved with the suffrage movement. Conventions were held on a

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regular basis from 1850 until the start of the Civil War. Some drew such crowds that people had

to be turned away for lack of meeting space (www.pbs.org). Other women began having their

voices heard by marching, picketing, and even going on hunger strikes. “Often they were arrested

and jailed (Sullivan, 7).” However, none of this would have been possible without several

outstanding women taking courageous leadership positions and contributing to the movement.

There were some extremely important women involved in the Woman’s Suffrage

Movement. Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and

Sojourner Truth, who were pioneer theorists, traveled the country lecturing and organizing for the

next forty years. Susan B. Anthony was one of the women who founded the National American

Suffrage Association. She also played a major role in getting the first legislation passed giving

married women legal rights over their children, properties and wages. Another woman, Esther

Morris, who was the first woman to hold a judicial position, led the first successful state campaign

for woman’s right to vote in 1869 (www.pbs.org). Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell

became the arrangers of thousands of African-American women who worked for the right to vote

for all women. “Among the new leaders the most outstanding was Carrie Chapman Catt, who

combined executive genius and a talent for organization with the ability to learn from experience

(Smith, 22).” Along with Anna Howard Shaw, Catt became the leader of the National American

Woman Suffrage Association in the early 20th century and got the campaign to its final success.

Even though these women contributed in many different ways, they all used a strategy of

nonviolence to get across to the nation. Most of them, rejected physical violence and believed

that a battle was not won by force but with peaceful resistance (Smith, 48-49). Nevertheless, the

campaign for woman’s right to vote ran across continuous opposition throughout those 72-years

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it took for women and their male supporters to win (Hoffert, 66).

During the suffrage movement, most men opposed immensely to the idea of women

getting the right to vote. Because woman suffrage was closely connected with the temperance

movement, total abstinence from alcoholic liquors, the wealthy liquor interests fought against the

possibility of female enfranchisement since some women would vote for temperance if given the

opportunity to do so (Smith). Many men began putting up signs, giving speeches, and writing

editorials that tried to spread a negative attitude about the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. One

editorial, in particular, printed in the Albany, New York Mechanics Advocate, echoed the feelings

of many males of that era:

We are sorry to see the women in several parts of this state are holding

what they call “Women’s Rights Conventions” and setting forth a

formidable list of those rights in a parody [ridiculous imitation] upon the

Declaration of Independence. Every true hearted female will instantly feel

that this is unwomanly… (Monroe, 28)

Men argued that if women won the right to vote they would try to take over the nation, especially

male positions in society. However, Mary Wollstone Craft contradicted this belief in her essay,

A Vindication of the Rights of Women, “I do not wish [women] to have power over men, but

over themselves (Sullivan, 10).” In 1920, though, despite the antagonism of the male persona,

women won their right to vote by the extreme efforts thousands of women made to change the

female roles for future generations.

Despite being betrayed after the Civil War, defeated in election after election by the male

authority, and forced to fight for their rights against the opposition, with virtually no financial,

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legal, or political power of their own, women still won the right to vote. Women were excluded

for the first 150 years of our nation’s existence; however, this situation changed only after one of

the most remarkable and successful nonviolent efforts the world has ever seen. The suffragists

won their battle using peaceful resistance and being opponents of war and violence. Women were

clear about their goal: not victory over men, but equality with men. “Women won the vote; they

were not given it or granted it (Lunardini, 104).” They won it for women generations and

generations to come. They won it by the slimmest of margins, which only underscores the

difficulty and magnitude of their victory.