How We Rise: The Influences That Shaped the American Suffragist Movement
On July 19, 1848, a two-day convention began in Seneca Falls, New York that will forever change the course of American history and politics. From this convention, a feminist revolution was born and the American suffragist movement was created. One speaker at this convention, early suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, said that “…there is none more vitally affects the whole family than that which is technically called Women’s Rights.”[1]. Many scholars believe they can draw the influence of the ideas of this movement from the European movement called the Enlightenment, however, that may not necessarily be the case. In fact, other scholars suggest that other movements during this time, such as the abolitionist movement, could have affected the movement more directly than the Enlightenment. In this article, I will discuss how these influences shaped the American suffragist movement in order for it to gain momentum allowing for the 19th amendment to pass; thus helping women gain the right to vote.
The Enlightenment began in the late 1600s and it ended in the late 1800s, and was one of the major philosophical movements of the era with some of the major ideals being equality for all citizens (which was mostly directed towards white men), liberty, skepticism of the church, and logical thinking[2]. Scholars have suggested that because of these new philosophical ideas, the Enlightenment gave birth to many new social movements and revolutions. One such scholar, British historian Ray Porter, once said that the Enlightenment helped to “…advance by leading intellectuals and propagandists of the day…”[3]. Yet, how did the Enlightenment effect the American Suffragist Movement?
The Enlightenment influenced the American suffragist movement with the ideal of universal citizenship and suffrage. In Colonial America, there were many limitations that limited even men to vote if they did not have property or pay taxes. Many women did own property, and many unmarried women did vote in local elections and played vital roles in campaigns[4]. However, that changed when America gained its freedom from Britain. One Enlightenment writer, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a heavy influence in the suffrage movement, and her works are some of the most influential pieces of feminist literature. In her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she stated that “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves” [5].
The basic ideas of liberty and equal rights may have had its roots buried in the philosophical movement, there were heavier influences on the American suffragist movement than the Enlightenment. In fact, many early suffragists stemmed out of another movement that was around during the time women gathered to demand their rights. That movement was the abolitionist movement.
The abolitionist movement was founded upon ending the African slave trade, slavery all together, and freeing African slaves from their bonds[6]. The abolitionist movement had its origins before the Civil War, and many who supported this movement were women who lived in the Northern states. Women at the time were eager to get their voices behind a movement and to be more involved in politics. The abolitionist movement was a way for women to have a platform, and eventually inspire their own movement[7]. Some of the members of these abolitionist movements became early American suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony who spoke at many abolitionist conventions, Elizabeth Cady Stanton whom both her and her husband were abolitionists, and Lucretia Mott who began the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society[8].
These early suffragists played a key role in the Seneca Falls Convention, and with their activism in the abolitionist movement, it allowed those early suffragists to take their own influences from it. From the abolitionist movement, the early suffragists learned how to organize meetings, hold conferences, and stage political protests. These women followed the ideas of the abolitionist movement to break free from their bonds of male suppression and hoped their radical ideas would help change the social norm of their time[7]. What directly sparked the suffragist movement to spawn from the abolitionist movement came from Elizabeth Cady Stanton. During the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840 in London, Elizabeth Cady Stanton stormed out after being outraged for being denied a delegate position because she was a woman. Because of this, the American suffragist movement was conceived and eight years later the Seneca Falls conference was held[9].
Although the Enlightenment was a great influence in many social movements and revolutions, was not a primary influence in the creation of the suffragist movement. In fact, it has become more like a domino effect: influencing one powerful social movement after the other until it eventually ended at the abolitionist movement to influence the suffragist movement. The founders of the American suffragist movement, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were deeply influenced by the abolitionist movement, and used those influences to organize their own movements. Without the abolitionist movement, the early suffragists would not have the same opportunities such as providing a voice for women in society during that time. The basic ideals of equal rights and universal suffrage stemmed out of the Enlightenment. However these ideals were shaped deeply for each social movement it inspired. For abolitionists, it meant freedom and suffrage for slaves, and for the suffragist movement it meant freedom and suffrage for all women. The Enlightenment is the origin of these ideas, and its patterns of influence that inspired many other social movements traveled all the way down to find its place in the suffrage movement.
On August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified to the US Constitution into law which finally allowed women the right to vote[10]. From this, countries around the world allowed women this right. The suffrage movement uses its momentum and its influences to create such a great change. From this movement, other movements were born such as the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. With these patterns of influence, it poses the simple question: who influences who?
Notes:
[1] Ellen Carol DuBois, Susan B Anthony, and Cady Stanton, The Elizabeth Candy Stanton — Susan B. Anthony Reader: Correspondence, Writings, Speeches (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992), 28.
[2] Hourly History, The Age of Enlightenment: A History From Beginning to End, 2017, 1–2, https://web.archive.org/web/20170308050918/http://publishinghau5.com/The-Age-of-Enlightenment--A-History-From-Beginning-to-End.php.
[3] Roy Porter, “What Was the Enlightenment,” in Studies in European History (London: Palgrave, London, 1990), 1, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-09885-9_1.
[4] Rebecca J Mead, “Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia, American History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2018), http://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-17.
[5] Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication on the Rights of Women, 1792, 43, http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/wollstonecraft1792.pdf.
[6]“Abolitionist Movement,” History Channel, October 27, 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/abolitionist-movement.
[7] Ellen Carol DuBois, Feminism & Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women’s Movement in America, 1848–1869 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), 22.
[8] “Antislavery Connection: Women’s Rights,” Government, National Park Service, 2002, https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/antislavery-connection.htm.
[9] “Abolitionist Elizabeth C. Stanton Born,” African American Registry, 2019, https://aaregistry.org/story/abolitionist-elizabeth-c-stanton-born/
[10] “Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment Granted Women the Right to Vote.” (Our Documents, 1992), https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=63.
