Published August 13, 2020
By ALLIE HASTINGS
NORTH READING — This upcoming Tuesday, August 18, will mark the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote for the first time in 1920.
Passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment finally went on to be ratified on August 18, 1920, officially guaranteeing all American women the right to vote. President Wilson’s Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby, certified the ratification on August 26, securing the milestone that millions of suffragettes worked so tirelessly to obtain.
First Lady Abigail Adams contributed to the fight for equal rights in her own private way, prior to the Founding Fathers’ signing of the Declaration of Independence. In a letter dated March 31, 1776, Adams urged her husband, John Adams, and the members of the Continental Congress to “remember the ladies” when drafting the nation’s laws. Even though the first version of the Declaration did not classify men and women as equals, Abigail Adams is viewed today as one of the movement’s first significant leaders.
Beginning as early as the 1800s, suffrage supporters in America practiced civil disobedience – carrying out lectures, marches and protests to lobby for inclusivity – in order to bring about a change to the Constitution that many at the time considered “radical.” During the 1820s and ‘30s, most states had extended the right to vote to all white men, regardless of how much property they owned or money they made.
In the decades leading up to the Civil War, most American wives and mothers were forced to assume limited roles within the private sphere of society; one could only be a “true” woman if one was pious, submissive and continuously catered to the needs of their husband and family.
The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was held in New York by a group of abolitionist activists and suffragette reformers – most notably Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott – and proved to be a pivotal turning point in the fight for equality. Most of the delegates to the Seneca Falls Convention agreed that American women were autonomous individuals who deserved to have their voices represented in politics.
Written by Stanton herself, the Declaration of Sentiments – which proclaimed that all men and women were created equal – was read aloud to those in attendance at the Convention. This document was signed by 68 women and 32 men, and paved the way for future accomplishments to be made within the women’s suffrage movement.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the fight for women’s rights began to lose its momentum, and later the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments raised more questions than answers with regards to the subjects of suffrage and citizenship. Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment extended the Constitution’s protection to all citizens – then defining citizens as “male” – and the 15th Amendment, which was ratified in 1870, guaranteed black men the right to vote.
Between this same period of time, suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton and abolitionist Susan B. Anthony began editing and publishing their own newspaper for women, entitled “The Revolution.” In 1869, they formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which directed its efforts toward changing federal law, on the basis that it excluded women’s rights in the 15th Amendment.
While the NWSA traveled across the country to promote equality and justice for women everywhere, another faction called the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), formed by Lucy Stone, emerged. Leaders of AWSA viewed Stanton and Anthony’s agenda as racially divisive and focused on securing national reform at the state level. Their differences of opinion and distinguished approaches on the matter at hand continued to polarize the views of Americans and further set back the women’s rights movement for another decade.
A positive turning point arrived in the late 1880s and early 1890s, when most middle-class women felt a strong desire to expand their activities outside the private sphere of the home. Additionally, by 1890, the two wings of the women’s rights movement united to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
Although suffrage supporters in each state were met with varying levels of opposition – and, at times, verbal and physical abuse – almost all the major suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment by 1916. When the 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, changed his position on the matter, agreeing to support the passage of a new amendment, the political balance finally began to shift in favor of the women’s rights movement.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Susan B. Anthony Amendment – now referred to as the 19th Amendment – on May 21, 1919, which was thereafter ratified by the U.S. Senate. By a vote of 50-47, Tennessee became the last state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920.
Today, more than 68 million women vote in elections annually because of the courageous efforts made by extraordinary leaders such as Adams, Mott, Stone, Stanton, Anthony, and countless others before them. As the state primary and general elections draw near, women across the country will be exercising their right and privilege to vote, honoring those suffragettes and the legacy they left behind.