The document provides an overview of the women's suffrage movement in the United States from the 1820s to the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment. It discusses key events like the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 that launched the movement, and organizations like the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association that advocated for women's right to vote. The document also notes that while the 19th Amendment granted women's suffrage, not all groups of women were able to fully exercise their right to vote due to ongoing discrimination.

1. Women’s Suffrage
Movement
Civil Rights and Voting Rights Unit
11th Grade US History
Mr. Antonio
This presentation was
adapted from
History.com–
Women's Suffrage.

2. California Content
Standards
United States History and
Geography: Continuity and Change
in the Twentieth Century, Grade 11
• 11.10 Students analyze the
development of federal civil
rights and voting rights.
• Analyze the women’s rights
movement from the era of
Elizabeth Stanton and Susan
Anthony and the passage of
the Nineteenth Amendment
to the movement launched
in the 1960s, including
differing perspectives on the
roles of women.
Lesson Objectives:
• Students will be able to
identify the leaders of the
Women’s Suffrage
Movement.
• Students will state how
women’s suffrage
organizations shifted from
the Civil War to World War I.
• Students will be able to
distinguish the importance of
the 19th amendment.

3. School
House Rock:
Sufferin Till
Suffrage
YouTube Link

4. Beginning of the
Movement
• Women’s Suffrage Movement
began during the 1820s, years
before the US Civil War
• Almost all white men could vote
at this time, with no property or
money requirements.
• New forms of thought emerged
during this period. Women began
rethinking what their role as a
citizen meant.
Women marching in support of the 19th Amendment

5. Roots of the
Movement
• There were a variety of reform
groups within the United States
during this time period.
• For Example: Abolitionist,
Temperance leagues, Moral-
reform societies
• Many of the women in these
groups played a big role in
women’s suffrage.
National American Woman Suffrage Association marching in
New York in 1913

6. Seneca Falls
Convention
• In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Lucretia Mott invited a group
of abolitionist to Seneca Falls,
New York.
• Mostly women attended, though
there were men there.
• Discussed women’s rights and
came to an agreement–women
deserved the right to vote and
ability to engage in politics.
Illustration depicting the Seneca Falls
Convention

7. Declaration of
Sentiments
• Seneca Falls Convention created
the declaration listing their
grievances and demands
regarding women’s rights.
• The Declaration of Sentiments
states that women are
oppressed by the government
and are entitled to the same
rights as men.
• Modeled after the Declaration of
Independence– both men and
women have “certain
unalienable rights…”
A copy of the Declaration of Sentiments

8. Let’s Compare and Contrast!
Together we will read a short excerpt of the Declaration of Sentiments and the Declaration of Independence; this will be
handout out on a piece of paper. Then, break into your groups and note at least one similarity and one difference between the
two.
Declaration of Sentiments excerpt:
• “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.”
• https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm
Declaration of Independence excerpt:
• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 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
shewn, 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 right, 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 these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which
constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history
of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and
usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid
world.”
• https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

9. Women’s Suffrage
Movement loses
Momentum
• The movement lost momentum when the
Civil War began
• 14th Amendment- Granted citizenship to
anyone born in the US, including former
slaves, guaranteed citizens equal
protections under the law.
• 15th Amendment- Granted citizens the
right to vote, regardless of color, race or if
they were previously a slave.
• Citizen meant men, not women
• The Women’s Suffrage movement gained
traction again following the Civil War
Thomas Kelly print of the 15th Amendment from 1870.

10. National Woman
Suffrage Association
• Formed in 1869 by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
• Main goal was the ratification of a
universal-suffrage amendment to the
Constitution. Voting regardless of sex.
• Faced criticism for fighting for black
enfranchisement.
• Enfranchisement- giving the right to vote
• The American Woman Suffrage
Association was created as a response
and focused on individual states rather
than national enfranchisement.
Leaders of the movement

11. Key
Differences
National
Woman
Suffrage
Association
Led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton
Supported a national universal-suffrage,
regardless of gender.
Did not support the 15th Amendment
The
American
Woman
Suffrage
Association
Led by Lucy Stone and her husband, Henry
Browne Blackwell.
Focused their attention on gaining suffrage
state-by-state campaigns.
Supported Black enfranchisement.

12. Now You Try!
Discuss with your group
the following questions:
• which organization do you
believe had the better approach
towards gaining women’s
suffrage?
• Was Susan B. Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton right to
abandon Black enfranchisement
to gain additional support for
their cause?

13. Pushing a Progressive
Agenda
• Eventually in the 1890s, both groups let go
their differences and merged to become the
National American Woman Suffrage
Association
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first
president of the organization.
• Message of the suffrage movement had
shifted–women were not equal to men,
rather, they were different.
• Women were considered pure, and their
motherly values within the home would
apply to how they would vote.
Sheet music from the period displaying the
new message of the movement.

14. World War I Era
• Beginning in 1910, certain states
had granted women the right to
vote.
• World War I helped advance the
suffragette agenda.
• Their contributions to the war
effort and patriotism
demonstrated they were model
American citizens who should be
allowed to vote.
Illustration showing western influence on eastern states who
have yet to grant women the right to vote in early 1910s.

15. 19th Amendment
• The 19th Amendment is ratified on August 18th, 1920.
• On November 2nd of that year, more than eight million voted
across the US.
• However, not all women were granted the right to vote.
Newspaper from 1920, after ratification.

16. Not all Women
Could Vote
YouTube Link

17. Who was left behind?
• Native Americans could be US citizens in 1920, so they were not
allowed to vote.
• African American women were ignored by white Suffragists and
continued to fight for their right to vote.
• Latina women often encountered literacy tests to deter them
from voting. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that
they could not be discriminated against when voting.
• Asian Americans were not granted the right to vote until 1952
under the McCarran-Walter Act.
Black Suffrage Activist, Ida B. Wells

18. Work With
Your Partner!
• Imagine you are living in the 1920s, how
would you have been affected by the 19th
Amendment? Please make at least one
reference to the video!
• On a sheet of paper, please draw about one
thing from the lesson you found meaningful
and relevant to you. Feel free to work with
your partner or on your own.