Women's Right to Vote

Women’s Right to Vote

SS10 Exploring the 1960’s

Event Four: U.S. constitutional amendment granting women to vote

(Imbornoni, 2007)

Event Three: Colorado is the first state to pass an amendment to allow women to vote (Imbornoni, 2007)

Event Two: National Woman Suffrage Association (Imbornoni, 2007)

Event One : Declaration of Sentiments (Imbornoni, 2007)

1820 | 1840 | 1860 | 1880 | 1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 |

Women’s Right to Vote

In 1848, in Seneca Falls, NY, two American activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, brought together the first conference to address women’s rights issues. They wrote the Declaration of Sentiments that would put forward the idea that men and women are created equal. This declaration was laid out similar to the Declaration of Independence and stated that the rights of women should be acknowledged and respected by society. Many supporters of women’s rights thought that an endorsement of the Declaration would actually hinder the women’s rights movement.

When the Civil War came to a close, there was a proposed 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This would give black men the right to vote. Leaders of the Women’s Rights Movement refused to support the 15th Amendment because it did not give women the right to vote. Due to this, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). They would work to lobby congress for more changes that would benefit women such as granting property rights to married women (SWHP, 2013). The NWSA also helped to unionize women workers.

In the 19th century, there were 480 campaigns to put women’s right to vote on the ballot in various states. Only 17 of those campaigns reached the ballot and of those, only two were successful. The suffragists of Colorado had to convince the majority of men in the state to support a woman’s right to vote. They tried to do this in 1877 but it did not pass until 1893. In 1877, Susan B. Anthony of the NWSA...