Women Struggle for Freedom
In 1995, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary. The Nineteenth Amendment, passed in 1920, gave women the right to vote. The struggle for suffrage in America took many years. It began in the 1800's with leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Martha Thomas, Carrie Chapman Clark, and Stanton's daughter, Harriot E. Blatch, carried it into the 1900's. The struggle officially started in 1848, at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York. The struggled began brewing way before that in 1783, when the America gained independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence says, "all men are created equal," there is no mention of women. It also says that all people have a right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This is exactly what the women of the 1800's wanted, and the right to vote. This essay's topic is "What Price Freedom," and my essay will deal with the struggle and the price paid by women for equal rights and the right to vote during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The view of the nineteenth century society was for women to stay at home, clean, raise children, and help with the family farm. America had its freedom, but
"I revolted in spirit against the customs of society and the laws of the state that crush my aspiration and debarred me from the pursuit of almost every object worthy of an intelligent rational mind." This quote by Emily Collins sums up the feelings of a number of women in the early 1800's who protested oppression. The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "stated the injustices suffered by women." There a declaration was drawn up, based on the Declaration of Independence. It quotes, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal." The injustices were caused by "absolute tyranny" of men over women. Women were not able to vote, and women had to submit to laws they had no say in. Men took all property from women, even the money they earned. A married woman was controlled by her husband. If a divorced occurred, the children were rewarded to the father. Colleges were only open to men, and women did not have to same chance for education. This was only some of the oppression women faced. Susan B. Anthony did not attend the Seneca Falls Convention, but became good friends with Stanton. They met in 1851, and in 1869 formed the NWSA or the National Woman Suffrage Association. The chief goal of this organization was an amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote. They also demanded equal education and equal employment opportunities for women. Anthony was the "Napoleon" of the suffragist movement, while Stanton was the writer and thinker. They worked for divorce reform, birth control, and legal rights for women. In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in an election. She refused bail. At her trial she made a stunning speech ending with, "Resistance to Tyr
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1185
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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