American society has undergone a number of major changes since its founding, perhaps none more striking than the transformation of the role of women from a position of subservience and obedience to men, to one of far greater independence in nearly all spheres of life.
While Thomas Jefferson’s famous phrase “All men are created equal” is generally interpreted as a universal declaration of human rights and a belief in the inherent equality of all people, in a practical sense the new nation did not extend equality to all people: women, African-Americans, and Native Americans were excluded.
Only white men who owned property could vote, not women; this was a right women did not acquire until the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, some 144 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Even then it was not given to them, as though everyone woke up one day from a long dream and said: “Oh my god, we forgot to give the women the right to vote!” Quite the contrary–an intense struggle for the vote despite vigorous opposition began as early as 1850. In other words, a woman’s right to vote was granted by Congress only after an intense seventy-year struggle by women to achieve it!
In 1848 the call went out for the first women’s rights convention. Among the new leaders, no others stand out more than Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott. These three women were determined to bring about a revolution in social values and the legal rights of women–and they succeeded to a remarkable degree. But Susan B. Anthony, her friends and co-workers, soon found they were hemmed in on every side no matter which way they turned; it appeared they did not have enough room to even begin the struggle!
However, these very determined women were not about to be stopped. There were several key reforms they hoped to bring about for women, including suffrage (the right to vote), the right to own property, and changes to the divorce laws. Moreover, they demanded greater opportunities for women in education and the workplace, while at the same time they actively supported abolitionism and temperance.
As they began to organize, they often found their proposals being defeated in state legislatures controlled by men. It was Susan B. Anthony’s genius to realize that all of these various goals should not be given the same weight—one reform above all others was needed first: the right to vote. Why? Because women could not hope to bring about laws favorable to improving their own condition if they had no opportunity to vote—and so began the seventy-year struggle for the right of suffrage: ultimately successful in the year 1920 when Congress passed a new amendment to the Constitution:
“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.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.” (Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution)
This was a great day for women but this was not the end of the movement started by the suffragists. To the contrary, this was an accomplishment that meant women could start pushing for their equal rights even harder! Now, with the vote, they could start pushing open the door to full social and legal equality with men.
Gaining the right to vote already had proved something quite valuable: women had the capacity to define their own needs and goals. They also learned that by working together, along with enlightened male allies, there was no longer any reform that was out of reach. However much opposition they would encounter from narrow-minded men, they had gained strong new confidence in their own abilities and sense of purpose.
The difficulties the early pioneers of the women’s rights movement faced in organizing had been overcome; they had created a movement that was picking up steam rapidly and which, in truth, could no longer be stopped. Women had proved to themselves that their time had come. The struggle for equality with men did not end with the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution; rather, it had only just begun!
Gaining the vote raised new questions for women concerning which candidates and legislation to support. The vote of women working together could now make the decisive difference in the passage or defeat of proposed new laws.
Soon women would run for office and were being elected to local offices in cities and counties, then state offices, and finally Congress itself–the House first, then the Senate. Three women have been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court: the most recent being Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Senator Hilary Clinton ran for president in 2008 and, although the Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama instead, it is becoming increasingly clear that the election of the first woman president of the United States is drawing ever closer.
Way back in 1850 Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott were beginning to talk about something needing to be done. They could not see all the outcomes of their struggle but they understood that women had to begin this fight for equality. They would face ridicule and scorn; efforts were made to prevent them from speaking in public; Susan B. Anthony and others were arrested when they tried to vote.
Female demonstrators faced hostile crowds and even physical danger; when on hunger strikes while in jail they were force-fed in a most painful manner. They were treated as social outcasts and trouble-makers, as radicals and non-conformists who threatened the “peaceful social order”–meaning the “status quo” as defined by men, of course!
Through it all, through all the storms, through all the highs and lows of a very long struggle, they persisted–and from each new generation stepped forward more brave women to carry the struggle forward. They had the momentum of history, of progressive change on their side, and they had the language of the Declaration of Independence on their side. These pioneers in the women’s movement believed that the American people are committed to fairness and justice and that, through simple moral persuasion, ordinary people can and will be convinced that justice and the law must be equal for all.
These earliest champions fighting for women’s rights expressed a burning desire to bring about meaningful change in the lives of American women—and I believe we can agree that we have all benefited, as Americans, from their courage and determination.
They did it well, making it possible for women today to enjoy freedoms they themselves never knew. We are their American children grown of age, pledged to honor their struggle and sacrifice!
It is up to us to keep alive the story of the courage and determination they showed in the face of great opposition and the limiting inequalities of the past. It is our turn to share, and pass on to others, this heroic story of their fiery commitment to the American promise of justice and equality for all people everywhere!
IN HONOR OF
SUSAN B. ANTHONY
ELZABETH CADY STANTION
LUCRETIA MOTT
AND ALL THE OTHER BRAVE WOMEN
IN THE NEVER-ENDING STRUGGLE
FOR WOMEN’S EQUALITY
