Women's Suffrage

The Constitution of the United States left decisions about voting qualifications to be decided by the states.
The women's suffrage movement started out working with the abolitionist and temperance movements.

The first women's rights convention met at a Wesleyan church in Seneca Falls, New York. (1848)
--They decided to work for the right to vote.
--They faced harassment in their efforts in the form of name calling and physical violence.
--Their meetings were often disrupted by street bullies.

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took away race as a qualification for voting. (1870)

Susan B. Anthony went to the polls in Rochester, New York, in 1872 and persuaded the election inspectors to let her and some other women register to vote. Two weeks after the election she, her friends, and 3 of the election inspectors were arrested. Susan B. Anthony received a very unfair trial. The judge was sexist. In the middle of the trial, when it looked like the jury would decide in her favor, he dismissed the jury and imposed a $100 fine on her. She refused to pay, but he decided to let her go because he was afraid she might appeal to higher courts. None of the others were brought to trial. The election inspectors were charged high fines, which were paid by sympathetic supporters.
Other important leaders- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Julia Ward Howe, Clara Barton, Jane Addams, Carrie Catt.

Part of the suffrage movement began working state by state for suffrage(right to vote).
The First state to give women suffrage was Wyoming in 1890. Colorado in 1893. Kansas in 1912. (p. 611)

After WWI Congress approved the 19th Amendment that was ratified into law on August 18, 1920.
It said "The right of citizens in the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

British Suffrage Movement- Paralleled the U.S. movement but used more violent tactics.
-Women carried bricks under their dresses to Oxford Street, the ritzy shopping area. Then at the same time, when one blew a whistle, they threw their bricks and broke the shop windows.
-They put jam in people's mailboxes & burned mailboxes.
-They tried to bomb the Prime Minister's house, David Lloyd George.
- 1909 hunger strikes in jail. They were force fed through tubes in their noses, which caused bad nasal infections. In 1913 the 'Cat & Mouse Act' was passed, which would release them from prison when they were weak and bring them back when they regained their strength.
-1913 Emily Davison walked in front of the King's horse at the derby at Epsom Downs.
-1914 when World War I broke out the British suffragettes stopped their activities to focus on the war effort.
-1918 Parliament gave the vote to most women in Britain. (Over 30, university graduates, householders)
-1928 The voting age for women was lowered to 21, the same as men.
1979-1990 the first female prime minister in Britain- Margaret Thatcher.

Worldwide voting for women
1st -New Zealand in 1893 . . . 2nd - Australia in 1902
Canada 1918, France 1944
Italy, Japan 1946
China 1947
Switzerland 1971
By the 1980s almost all countries, except some Muslim countries, had given women the right to vote.

Temperance
Carry Nation- she lectured first in Kansas, then in other states, about the evils of "demon rum." She sang hymns outside saloons. Sometimes she went inside and broke bottles and kegs with an ax.