The voices raised in dispute. The resolution appeared to be on the brink of rejection.
“We will never be taken serious!”
“Men will laugh and scorn!”
Still, the speaker persisted in her logic.
The 1848 July meeting was a first of its kind—a meeting for the rights of women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposed a Declaration of Sentiments modeled after the Declaration of Independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”
It continued with grievances against a government that denied women rights in their homes, society, and workplaces. Stanton followed it with 11 Resolutions. The audience readily agreed until she read, “Resolved, that it is the duty of women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” Franchise meaning suffrage—the right to vote. Hence, the debate.
Finally, Frederick Douglass stood persuading the women the right to vote was the path to power in accomplishing their goals. Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the resolution again and it was passed by a narrow margin.
Thus, the Women’s Rights Movement began with the Seneca Falls Convention and the contested resolution became the cornerstone.
The Suffragists would continue to pursue the right to the elective franchise until the Civil War when all energies moved to the abolition of slavery. The 13th Amendment made slavery illegal and the 14th Amendment gave freed slaves their citizenship. It would use the “male” pronoun granting all male citizens over the age of 21 the ability to vote. The 15th Amendment guaranteed that the right to vote in all states “shall not be denied…on the account of race.” Women Suffragists struggled within their ranks on whether to support the 15th amendment because it did not include women’s right to vote.
The division caused a split in the movement in 1869. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) which sought to achieve the right to vote through a Constitutional amendment. Because they were also seeking other rights and reforms such as equal pay and rights to divorce, the organization was considered radical. Lucy Stone, her husband Henry Brown Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe founded the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) which sought to achieve the right to vote through amending State Constitutions. Because this was their only focus, not pursuing any other rights for women, they were considered conservative. These two competing organizations finally united after 20 years in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
It would take another 30 years before 24-year-old State Representative Harry Burns switched his previous negative vote to “Aye” thereby breaking the tie and launching him into history. On August 19, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. Burns said a letter in his pocket from his mother influenced him to vote for the suffrage amendment. In a response to his colleagues he wrote, “I know that a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”
The road from Seneca Falls to Tennessee State House for Women’s Right to Vote comprised 72 years. The events of these years fill volumes of books, collections in archives, and pages on websites for the perusing. The roll call of names that made this possible is too long to list, too many to forget, and too honored to treat lightly.
As related, the Women’s Suffrage Movement itself contains years of disagreement upon specifics and strategies but not on the overall focus—women having the sacred right to vote.
Let us not forget the battle or the memory of those who fought and never put a ballot in a box.
Let us not look at the woman behind or in front and judge her for whom she votes—let us praise that she votes.
Let us carry a name on November 3rd of a sister Suffragist who could not vote.
Let us celebrate 100 years of voting.
100 years of women voting.
100 years.
About the Author
Since 1995, Janiece Robinson has trained a countless number of public speakers which include executives of Fortune 500 companies, national sales directors, presidents, and vice presidents of regional advertising firms, CEOs of non-profit organizations, small business owners, religious leaders, and customer service representatives.
Janiece and her husband, Ross, co-founded Bold Move International in 2014, a leadership development firm. In 2018 they began facilitating four-month leadership training cohorts called Leading Well – a cohort designed for women to develop their leadership skills.
She is a licensed Business Etiquette and Protocol Specialist through the Protocol School of Washington.
In 2019, she earned the Certified Communications Professional from the Association of Women in Communications.
Janiece began studying the speeches of Susan B. Anthony during her graduate work in 1988. She travels in person or delivers a webinar presentation entitled THE VOTE: A Woman’s Ballot that Changed the World. It is the riveting story regarding Susan B. Anthony’s federal court trial in 1873 for voting. www.janiecerobinson.com
AWC members can view Janiece’s Know to Grow Webinar: THE VOTE: A Woman’s Ballot that Changed the World, here.
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