The document traces the history of the women's suffrage movement from 1848 to 1920. It provides excerpts from key documents and speeches from that time period that showcase both sides of the debate around women's right to vote. The perspectives expressed range from Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other early suffragists making the case for women's suffrage, to anti-suffrage arguments that claimed it would undermine women's traditional roles and lower them into the world of politics. The document aims to present an even-handed view of the debate through primary sources.

1. Wo m e n 's
S u ffr a g e
(1848-1920)

2. “...We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to
refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its
foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer. while evils
are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off
such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the
patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. The history of
mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman,
having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let
facts be submitted to a candid world...”
From The Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Seneca Falls
Convention, July 19–20, 1848

3. 14th Amendment, 1868: Sec. 1. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall
any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
15th Amendment, 1870: Sec. 1. 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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Enforcement Act, 1870: Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall prevent, hinder, control, or
intimidate, or shall attempt to prevent, hinder, control, or intimidate, any person from exercising or in exercising
the right of suffrage, to whom the right of suffrage is secured or guaranteed by the fifteenth amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, ...such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor....
Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That if at any election for representative or delegate in the Congress of the
United States any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other
person, whether living, dead, or fictitious; or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for
the same office; or vote at a place where he may not be lawfully entitled to vote; or vote without having a lawful
right to vote;...every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to
prosecution in any court of the United States...

4. “During past year’s brave women who pioneered the equal suffrage movement,
and whose perceptions of justice were keen as a Damascus blade, took for their
rallying cry: ”Taxation without representation is tyranny.” But the average woman,
who has nothing to be taxed, declines to go forth to battle on that issue.
Since the Crusade, plain, practical temperance people have begun appealing to
this same average woman, saying, “With your vote we can close the saloons that
tempt your boys to ruin”; and behold! They have transfixed with arrow of conviction
that’s mother’s heart, and she us ready for the fray. Not rights, but duties; not her
need alone, but that of her children and her country; not the “woman,” but the
“human” question is stirring women’s hearts and breaking down their prejudice
today.”
Frances Willard, Women's Christian Temperance League, 1879

5. “EQUAL SUFFRAGE NOT APPROVED.
History does not show a single instance in which woman suffrage has improved society or government; on
the contrary, the municipal affairs of towns in Kansas where women have voted and were elected to office, are
in worse shape than ever before.
After a trial of twenty-four years in Wyoming, it is conceded that it has failed to bring about reforms of any
kind, but has resulted in engaging women in the very laudable work of packing caucuses, primaries and
conventions-in lowering women to the depths of all that low politics imply...
The great cry of our female agitators, “Taxation without representation,” may be a very good argument if
rightly applied, but as the percentage of women paying taxes is much smaller than that of men, and as there
are 100 women who pay no taxes where there is one woman who does, we utterly fail to see how equal
suffrage will increase the representation of tax paying women. In fact the result will be exactly the reverse....
Young man, if you don’t want a female lawyer, doctor or politician for a wife, but would prefer a woman
who will be a good companion, home maker, wife and mother, than vote and induce all your friends to vote
against EQUAL SUFFRAGE.
This is a fight for our homes, for our families and for our personal liberties. We appeal to all fair minded
voters to consider that should this amendment be adopted, only a few notoriety seeking women will be
benefitted, while a great majority of citizens will be injured. The already weakened credit of our State will sink
lower, for capital will not invest a dollar in our commonwealth, if a new element is thrust forward to make or
unmake laws which would affect its security.”
Leaflet from the Denver, CO Brewers Association, 1893

6. “I am in favor of every measure that will give to woman, the opportunity to
develop to the highest possible extent, her moral, intellectual, and physical
nature so that she may make her life as useful to herself and to others as it
is possible to make it. I do not, at the present moment, see that this
involves the privilege or the duty, as you choose to look upon it, of voting.
The influence of woman is already enormous in this country. She exerts,
not merely in the homes, but through the schools and in the press, a
powerful and helpful influence upon affairs. It is not clear to me that she
would exercise any greater or more beneficent influence upon the world
than she now does, if the duty of taking an active part in politics were
imposed upon her.”
Booker T. Washington, N ew Y ork T imes, Dec. 20, 1908

7. “Women's suffrage is a more dangerous leap in the dark than it was
in the 1860s because of … the increased complexity and risk of the
problems which lie before our statesmen - constitutional, legal,
financial, military, international problems - problems of men, only to
be solved by the labour and special knowledge of men, and where
the men who bear the burden ought to be left unhampered by the
political inexperience of women.”
M a r y H u m p h r y W a r d , ( p r e s id e n t , A n t i-S u f f r a g e
S o c i e t y ) , t h e L o n d o n T ime s , F e b r u a r y 19 0 9

8. Anti-Suffrage Postcard, 1908

9. Anti-Suffrage Cartoon, date unknown

10. Political Cartoon, date unknown (c.1810)

11. Women's Suffrage Poster, 1911

12. “All these arguments sound today ancient. If we turn to easily available statistics we find that instead of
the women of this country or of any other country being confined chiefly to childbearing they are as a
matter of fact engaged and engaged successfully in practically every pursuit in which men are engaged.
The actual work of the world today depends more largely upon women than upon men. Consequently
this man-ruled world faces an astonishing dilemma: either Woman the Worker is doing the world's work
successfully or not. If she is not doing it well why do we not take from her the necessity of working? If
she is doing it well why not treat her as a worker with a voice in the direction of work?
...It is inconceivable that any person looking upon the accomplishments of women today in every field of
endeavor, realizing their humiliating handicap and the astonishing prejudices which they face and yet
seeing despite this that in government, in the professions, in sciences, art and literature and the
industries they are leading and dominating forces and growing in power as their emancipation grows,--it
is inconceivable that any fair-minded person could for a moment talk about a "weaker" sex...
To say that men protect women with their votes is to overlook the flat testimony of the facts. In the first
place there are millions of women who have no natural men protectors: the unmarried, the widowed, the
deserted and those who have married failures. To put this whole army incontinently out of court and
leave them unprotected and without voice in political life is more than unjust, it is a crime.
...The meaning of the twentieth century is the freeing of the individual soul; the soul longest in slavery
and still in the most disgusting and indefensible slavery is the soul of womanhood. God give her
increased freedom this November!...”
W.E.B. Du Bois, T he C risis, pp. 29–30, 1915

13. “Many declare that the woman peril is at our door. I have no doubt that it is. Indeed, I suspect that it has already
entered most households. Certainly a great number of men are facing it across the breakfast table. And no matter how
deaf they pretend to be, they cannot help hearing it talk.
Women insist on their "divine rights," "immutable rights," "inalienable rights." These phrases are not so sensible as
one might wish. When one comes to think of it, there are no such things as divine, immutable or inalienable rights.
Rights are things we get when we are strong enough to make good our claim to them. Men spent hundreds of years
and did much hard fighting to get the rights they now call divine, immutable and inalienable. Today women are
demanding rights that tomorrow nobody will be foolhardy enough to question...
When women vote men will no longer be compelled to guess at their desires--and guess wrong. Women will be able
to protect themselves from man-made laws that are antagonistic to their interests. Some persons like to imagine that
man's chivalrous nature will constrain him to act humanely toward woman and protect her rights. Some men do protect
some women. We demand that all women have the right to protect themselves and relieve man of this feudal
responsibility...
The laws made by men rule the minds as well as the bodies of women. The man-managed state so conducts its
schools that the ideals of women are warped to hideous shapes. Governments and schools engender and nourish a
militant public opinion that makes war always possible. Man-written history, fiction and poetry glorify war. Love of
country is turned into patriotism which suggest drums, flags and young men eager to give their lives to the rulers of the
nation. There will continue to be wars so long as our schools make such ideas prevail...
We shall not see the end of capitalism and the triumph of democracy until men and women work together in the
solving of their political, social and economic problems. I realize that the vote is only one of many weapons in our fight
for the freedom of all. But every means is precious and, equipped with the vote, men and women together will hasten
the day when the age-long dream of liberty, equality and brotherhood shall be realized upon earth.”
Helen Keller,“Why Men Need Women’s Suffrage,” N ew Y ork C all,

14. Miller, Alice Duer. A re W omen P eople? A book of rhymes for suffrage times. New York: George

15. Q U E S T IO N S F O R
C O N S ID E R A T IO N
What do you agree with most?
What do you disagree with?
What surprised you?
What historical context contributes to each
viewpoint?
How does this contribute to your understanding of
this event/time period?
Has your perspective of this era or these people
changed?
What ideas are you struggling with? What