Women’s Rights Movement in the United States my assignment essay help English Literature

The difference in how men are treated to how women are treated is not a thing of the past. In fact, its 2011 and women are still not equal to men. In my home, I am “the one who’s responsible for house chores and the kids,” per my husband. Many people still have such frame of mind when thinking about gender responsibilities, and it is important to learn where such thoughts originated from. Women have come a long and exhausting way. Prior to July 20th, 1828, women had it very difficult.

Women were not allowed to vote, have property rights, educate or worse yet; enter professions in the medical or law field, and found themselves with many prohibitions in their lives. Women of 19th and 20th centuries were forced to be totally dependent on men. This made them lack self-respect, self-worth, and self-confidence. Then, on July 19th, 1848, the first women’s rights convention was held. It called for women’s rights to vote. Such convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, lasting two days and marking the beginning of the women’s-rights movement.

After much discussions and debates, “68 women and 32 men signed a Declaration of Sentiments,” (Imbornoni, A. 2007). Such Declaration was authored by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Declaration of Sentiments “outlines grievances and sets the agenda for the women’s rights movement,” (Imbornoni, A. 2007). Such Declaration adopted 12 resolutions which enforced that all men and women deserved equal treatment and women’s right to vote. Moreover, 12 resolutions received agreement endorsement, with a few amendments with the exemption that of women’s right to vote.

However, women’s right to vote was the convention’s main focus. And, so it was for a long 72 years. In 1850, the first National Women’s Rights Convention took place in Worcester, Massachusetts. Over one thousand people participated. During such difficult and trying times, these national conventions took place on a yearly basis through 1860, (Imbornoni, A. 2007). These conventions attracted so many people, that some had to be sent away because of lack of space. Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B.

Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Sojourner Truth, were pioneer theorists who traveled with lectures and organized conventions for nearly forty years. Women’s right to vote was always at the forefront of all efforts and meetings, but also many other topics that aroused from the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Unfortunately, none of these activists got to see their goal of obtaining the right to vote come true. In order to achieve voting rights for women by a Congressional Amendment, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in May of 1869, (Imbornoni, A. 007). Per the National Women’s History Project, “This courageous political campaign, which spanned 72 years, was carried out by tens of thousands of persistent women and men. ” Their efforts in achieving women’s right to vote were obtained not one violent tactic. The National Women’s History Project also states that, “Without firing a shot, throwing a rock, or issuing a personal threat, women won for themselves the kind of political power that revolutionaries elsewhere have launched violent rebellions to achieve. In a more local way, other leaders such as Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell formed the American Woman Suffrage Association in November of 1869. The mission within was to also gain voting rights for women through amendments, but they worked on individual state constitutions. Wyoming was the first state to pass the first women’s suffrage law, and from there on, females began serving on juries in the territory. To better collaborate, the National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association, merged as one in 1890.

They were referred to as NAWSA. The NAWSA continued the work of both associations by becoming the parent organization of hundreds of smaller local and state groups, and by helping to pass woman suffrage legislation at state and local level. They held state-by-state campaigns to illustrate their focus- voting rights for women as an addition to the Constitution. Later, in 1893, Colorado became the first state to adopt an amendment which permitted women to have the right to vote.

It took three years for Utah and Idaho to follow, and even longer for others. For example, Washington State adopted its amendment in 1910, California in 1911, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona in 1912, Alaska and Illinois in 1913, Montana and Nevada in 1914, New York in 1917, Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma in 1918 (Imbornoni, A. 2007). From there on, until 1920, many organizations were formed in order to build on momentums and promote the same message- women should be treated equal as men.

Some associations formed where the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 in Washington, D. C. (NACWC, 2004), which brought more than 100 black women’s clubs. In 1903, The National Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, at the convention of the American Federation of Labor. Per the University of Illinois at Chicago’s inventory collection, WTUL focused its energies on the “economic betterment” of women. It advocated for the improvement of wages and working conditions for women.

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union in 1913 and later renamed the National Women’s Party. The Encyclopedia Britannica explains the Congressional Union to be an “American political party that in the early part of the 20th century employed militant methods to fight for an Equal Rights Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. ” Through this political party, its members where part of a White House picket and practiced other types of civil disobedience.

Although the Congressional Union started off rough around the edges and had to change its name, it continued until 1916. As we can see, women in the United States have gone through a really tough and tiring road since the Seneca Falls convention calling for women’s right to vote and marking the beginning of the women’s rights movement. Although many organizations and associations were formed to gain political power for women and equal rights overall, results were not evident until the 1920. In 1919, “The federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by Susan B.