Women's Suffrage Dbq Essay

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Draft 5: The Movement of Women’s Suffrage
The campaign for women’s suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. During the early 19th century, most states had extended the franchise to all white men, regardless of how much money or property they had. At the same time during the Progressive era, all sorts of reform groups were growing rapidly across the United States--temperance clubs, religious movements and moral-reform societies, anti-slavery organizations--and in many of these, women played a prominent role (Source: American History, Alan Brinkley). Meanwhile, many American women were beginning to resist against what historians have called the "Cult of True Womanhood": that is, the idea that the only "true" woman was a …show more content…

Evidence stated in Source A gives an insight of an 1872 woman’s point of view and explains why she considers her act of revolt appropriated. Susan Anthony explained, “I not only committed no crime, but simply exercised my citizen’s right…” She used the statement to deliver her thought as a U.S citizen about women’s inability to operate their rights which thus to apply to the rights that come with that label. In addition, Ms. Anthony continued, “The Declaration of Independence, the U.S Constitution, the organic laws, all alike proposed to protect the people in the exercise of their God-given rights. Not one of them pretends to bestow rights.” According to this statement, none of these famous documents deny women their right to vote and it is just for Ms. Anthony to pursue her right to vote. If America’s purpose is to give all citizens the protection to their life, liberty, and property, women should also have their rights protected. America would be a fraud if its government failed to support what has been lawfully listed and expressed in the Constitution. Despite how terrible the consequence for their revolt may be, Women still continuously tried to fight for what they believed …show more content…

Nevertheless, not all women are alike; some grew a desire to contribute to the political world. Two political cartoons from Source F depict a complete paradox of each other as a purpose to explain how much more civilized America would become if women were granted the right to vote aside from their woman’s sphere. The progressive era in the 19th century marks the beginning of an innovated American society, the more advanced technologies for domestic work become, the more women start seeking for activities to participate in other than their house hold duties--racial equality reforms, the Seneca Falls Convention (drafted first women’s Declaration of Sentiments) and the Temperance Movement were all successful movements with women’s contribution. Stated from the caption in Source F, “Woman devotes her time to gossip and clothes because she has nothing else to talk about. Give her broader interest and she will cease to be vain and frivolous.” The statement is the justification for the reason why in the earlier 15th and 16th century women were not beneficial to their communities, because they were only expected to be a loyal house wives and mothers, they were not given much education for skills to do any other tasks. However, several centuries later until the 1800’s and 1900’s when women were given more education to enhance

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