Essay On Susan B Anthony

It wasn’t until election day in 1920 that American women finally got their right to vote. It was because of women like Susan B. Anthony that it was possible for women to finally get this fundamental right. Anthony ended up spending time in jail because she voted illegally. The 19th Amendment was ratified because of the women’s suffrage movement. Finally giving women the same equal rights as men had, and also by allowing them to finally cast their own votes. Although there were many different campaigns for suffrages, there were also anti-suffrage campaigns. Some women believed that women were not smart enough to be able to make a valid and smart decision when they were voting. Women in D.C. were arrested and jailed for their protests. Women

in jails also started hunger strikes. While in jail, they were also prone to getting beat up during the night, and some being force fed.
Susan B.

Anthony played a major part in helping women get the right to vote. She got arrested trying to vote on November 18, 1868, Before the 19th Amendment was passed. Even though women were allowed to vote in federal elections because of the 14th Amendment, it was still illegal for them to vote locally. Anthony demanded that she be allowed to vote, and was registered. She did cast her vote ballot on November 5, 1868. When Anthony had her trial, her jury consisted on 12 men and no women. Her case consisted around women’s suffrage. “Although United States v. Susan B. Anthony is viewed primarily as a case about women’s suffrage, it actually touched on many issues, including the laws that supported Reconstruction, the competing authority of federal and state governments and courts, criminal proceedings in federal courts, the right to trial by jury and the lack of provisions to appeal criminal convictions.”

(Ross)
Many different organizations were formed during the suffrage movement. Including the one started by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton, who created the American Women Suffrage Association which was based in Boston. Of course while there were strong support for women’s suffrage, and creating campaigns, anti-suffrage movements were doing the opposite. They created their own campaigns, including ones in New York and Massachusetts. “Anti-suffrage women responded by forming the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, and many other state organizations. The ‘antis,’ were called, testified before legislatures, published articles and newsletters, held public meetings and eventually debated the suffragists. (Miller, 438)
While many women were advocating for women’s voting rights in the early to mid- 1800s, some women believed that women should not have the right to vote.

The anti-suffragist thought that women didn’t know enough information about politics to be able to make a justified vote, and that women had enough pull in politics if they are in the upper class. “Andrea Dodge said that Mrs. Dodge was concerned that women were generally uninformed about politics, and not yet ready for the vote. Polly Brown said that even without the vote, upper-class women had significant power to influence lawmakers, and Mrs.Dodge was concerned that they would lose that power if they entered partisan politics. These two reasons- ‘women were not ready,’ and ‘more power without the vote.’”

(Miller)
Many anti-suffrage women and some men believe that women should be the someones who stay at home and focus on the family. Having women in politics and in political roles can feel demeaning to males, who are considered to be the breadwinners, with higher education levels and have the most rights. “As part of the larger movement for equal rights, this feminist mobilization focused on a broad spectrum of economic, political, and cultural dimensions of the distribution of power that entailed the discrimination of women. Political struggles targeted the stigmatization of women as caregivers and the devalorization of this role in relation to that of the male breadwinner, a mainstream culture of sexism permeating all spheres of life and cutting across income and educational levels, as well as women’s unequal access to and unequal positioning within the labor market.” (Azmanova, 751)
The 19th Amendment in the Constitution was ratified because of the American women’s protest for their equal rights to vote. The 19th Amendment states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The 19th Amendment adds that women have the same equal rights as men do. “On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.” (History)
When President Woodrow Wilson was first elected, many thought that he would be the one who passed women’s suffrage. During 1916, women’s suffrage had been brought to both platforms, but congress did not pass an amendment allowing women to vote. “Finally, in 1916, Woman Suffrage made it into the platforms of both national political parties, giving the women hope that the newly re-elected President Wilson would act quickly to have congress pass a federal amendment so millions of women would have a voice in their government at last. Earlier that year, the amendment had been killed before it made it to the floor of the House of Representatives, because, in part, to the efforts of Tennessee Rep. Thetus Sims.” (Sobieski, 13) When Wilson met with women who wanted approval for the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment,” he claimed that he couldn’t commit to woman suffrage. He believed that everyone had their own opinions, and suffragist no longer had any hope that they had anytime of backing from a political figure.
While there were many anti-suffragist, many of them men, there were men who supported women wanting to have their own vote. The night before President Wilson was to be inaugurated, protesters threw a huge parade, which ended with women getting hurt. “On the eve of the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, protesters thronged a massive suffrage parade in the nations capital, and hundreds of women were injured.” Although at first, President Woodrow Wilson didn’t support the women’s moment, he changed his mind a few years later, adding his support. “In 1918, President Wilson switched his stand on women’s voting rights from objection to support.” (“19th Amendment”) He voted for the 19th Amendment, made a speech stating that it is essential that women get the extension of voting. “When the amendment came up for vote, Wilson addressed the Senate in favor of suffrage. As reported in The New York Times on October 1, 1918, Wilson said, ‘I regard the extension of suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged.’ However, despite Wilson’s newfound support, the amendment proposal failed