Core Practice: Susan B. Anthony and Women’s Right to Vote
World History Name: ______
E. Napp Date: ______
Pre-Primary Source Activity:
A Thought to Consider:
The American Revolution led to many changes, especially the independence of a new nation conceived in the principles of Eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought. However, after the revolution, only white propertied men had the right to vote. Over time, voting requirements were lowered to allow all white men to vote. Yet it would take a Civil War to lead to the enfranchisement of former male slaves. And it would not be until 1920 that American women gained the right to vote [the Nineteenth Amendment]. In the primary source that will be presented, readers will discover the words of a passionate, American suffragist, Susan B. Anthony.
A Passage from The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History by Richard W. Bulliet:
“The abolition of slavery in the Western Hemisphere did not end racial discrimination or provide full political rights for every citizen. Not only blacks but also women, new immigrants, and native peoples in nearly every Western Hemisphere nation suffered the effects of political and economic discrimination. During the second half of the nineteenth century reformers struggled to remove these limits on citizenship while also addressing the welfare needs of workers and the poor.
In 1848 a group of women angered by their exclusion from an international antislavery meeting issued a call for a meeting to discuss women’s rights. The Women’ Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York issued a statement that said, in part, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are equal.’ While moderates focused on the issues of greater economic independence and full legal rights, increasing numbers of women demanded the right to vote. Others lobbied to provide better conditions for women working outside the home, especially in the textile factories. Sarah Grimké responded to criticism of women’s activism: ‘This has been the language of man since he laid aside the whip as a means to keep women in subjection. He spares her body, but the war he has waged against her mind, her heart, and her soul, has been no less destructive to her as a moral being. How monstrous is the doctrine that woman is dependent of man!’ Progress toward equality between men and women was equally slow in Canada and Latin America.”
General Vocabulary Checklist:
Enfranchisement: To admit to the privileges of a citizen and especially the right to suffrage
Suffrage: The right to vote, especially in a political election
Suffragist: An advocate of the extension of political voting rights, particularly to women
Advocate: One that defends or maintains a cause or proposal
Abolition: The abolishing of slavery
Reformer: One that works for or urges reform or improved change
Pre-Primary Source Questions:
1. State one change that occurred as a result of the American Revolution. ______
2. Explain how the right to vote changed over time in the United States.
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3. Who was Susan B. Anthony?
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4. What did the abolition of slavery not end in the Western Hemisphere?
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5. Which groups suffered discrimination in nearly every Western Hemisphere nation?
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6. What did reformers struggle to address in the second half of the 19th century?
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7. Why were a group of women angered in 1848?
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8. What statement was issued at The Women’ Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York?
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9. How did Sarah Grimké respond to the criticisms of women’s activism?
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Think Point of View:
A person’s point of view is the perspective from which the person understands a historical event. For example, during the Industrial Revolution, the owner of a factory might have a different point of view than a worker in the factory. For the factory owner, the Industrial Revolution was a beneficial change. It allowed more goods to be produced and more profits to be made. However, a worker in the owner’s factory might view the Industrial Revolution negatively. The long hours, low wages, and unsafe working conditions might lead the worker to view the Industrial Revolution as harmful. Ultimately, it is important to determine the person’s point of view in order to understand the person’s reaction to a particular event. The following questions may help the student determine the individual’s point of view:
· Who wrote the primary source?
· What was the social class background of the author?
· How did the author’s experiences influence his/her perspective of the event?
· When was the source written?
· What historical events were occurring when the source was written?
Remember: No two individuals experience the same event exactly the same.
The Primary Source: Excerpt from Susan B. Anthony Speech on Women’s Right to Vote 1873 - http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/anthony.htm
“Friends and fellow citizens: I stand before you tonight under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny.
The preamble of the Federal Constitution says:
"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people - women as well as men. And it is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government - the ballot.
For any state to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the people, is to pass a bill of attainder, or, an ex post facto law, and is therefore a violation of the supreme law of the land. By it the blessings of liberty are forever withheld from women and their female posterity.
Questions:
1- According to Susan B. Anthony, what crime was she accused of committing? ______
2- Explain Susan B. Anthony’s defense of why she did not commit a crime. ______
3- Is her defense logical and rational (of sound judgment)? Explain your answer.
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4- Why does any state that makes sex a qualification for voting in violation of the supreme law of the land? ______
“To them this government has no just powers derived from the consent of the governed. To them this government is not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy of sex; the most hateful aristocracy ever established on the face of the globe; an oligarchy of wealth, where the rich govern the poor. An oligarchy of learning, where the educated govern the ignorant, or even an oligarchy of race, where the Saxon rules the African, might be endured; but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters, of every household - which ordains all men sovereigns, all women subjects, carries dissension, discord, and rebellion into every home of the nation.
Webster, Worcester, and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a person in the United States, entitled to vote and hold office.
The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities. Hence, every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several states is today null and void, precisely as is every one against Negroes.”
Questions:
1: By denying women the right to vote, what kind of government does the U.S. government become? ______
2: Using the document, what do you think an oligarchy is?
______3. According to Susan B. Anthony, why does an “oligarchy of sex” bring rebellion into every household?
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4. According to Susan B. Anthony, what is the only question left to settle?
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5. What does Susan B. Anthony believe is the answer to that question?
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Content Vocabulary Checklist:
Enlightenment: ______
Natural Rights: ______
Enrichment Activities (To Be Completed on a Separate Piece of Paper):
1. Provide a Point of View Analysis for Susan B. Anthony. (Use information from the packet and find an online biography for Susan B. Anthony.)
2. Read the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution [Presented earlier in this packet]. Explain its meaning in your own words.
3. Write a thesis statement either defending or critiquing Susan B. Anthony’s interpretation of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
4. Determine whether you agree or disagree with the following quote by Susan B. Anthony. Explain your position.
"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations... can never effect a reform." ~ Susan B. Anthony
5. Look carefully at the political cartoon on the following page:
Can you figure out how this political cartoon pokes fun at Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony?
Explain your analysis.
This political cartoon shows Susan B. Anthony chasing after President Grover Cleveland in her fight for women's right to vote!