Suffrage

The Epic Struggle for Women's Right to Vote

Susan L. Poulson

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781440867880
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798216151487
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Four generations of women fought for the right to vote. This book shows how their grand reform effort overcame resistance from traditionalists fearing social decay, religious leaders citing scriptural prohibitions, and a stodgy political establishment reluctant to share power.

What was it like to be among the founders of the women's movement in the middle of the nineteenth century, with no script to follow and self-doubt dogging their every move? This book not only reminds us of the laws that conspired against women's equality in the post-Civil War United States, but it also illustrates—through the eyes of the suffragists themselves—the cultural and religious norms that had held women in second-class status for centuries. Early suffragists grappled with isolation and outright hostility as they lectured around the nation, even as they tried to reassure the public that politicized women would still serve the family. Others espoused outrage by organizing public protests.

This book shows how lasting political change comes about through a combination of working from within the system and outside of it, and deftly illustrates the tensions within the movement. Although the vote was finally won in 1920, it was not without tremendous sacrifice. The book lays bare the strategies that led to the single-minded focus on the vote and the consequences of postponing action on so many other issues that remained for later generations to address, including reproductive freedom, labor rights, and equal pay.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 Awakening
• Chapter 2 The Quaker
• Chapter 3 The World Anti-Slavery Convention: June 12-23, 1840
• Chapter 4 Home
• Chapter 5 The Seneca Falls Convention
• Chapter 6 Lucy Stone
• Chapter 7 Worcester
• Chapter 8 Sojourner Truth
• Chapter 9 Susan Β. Anthony
• Chapter 10 The Woman Question
• Chapter 11 Civil War
• Chapter 12 The Negro's Hour
• Chapter 13 The New Departure
• Chapter 14 Wyoming and Utah
• Chapter 15 Scandal
• Chapter 16 Setbacks in the West
• Chapter 17 The New Woman
• Chapter 18 Colorado
• Chapter 19 Transitions
• Chapter 20 Sisterhood
• Chapter 21 Success in the Pacific West
• Chapter 22 Alice Paul
• Chapter 23 The Winning Plan
• Chapter 24 War
• Chapter 25 Ratification
• Chapter 26 Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Selected Bibliography
• Index