Women's+Rights+in+the+19th+Century

toc =Women's Right in the 19th & the Early 20th Century=

1) What historical forces led to the rise of the movement? 2) What methods/tactics were used to lead the movement? 3) What major figures involved in the movement? 4) Was/Is the movement successful in achieving its goals?

Introduction
In the Declaration of Independence it is written that "All men are created equal." But what about women? Don't women have rights as well? Women could not vote, could not get a man's job, and could not own property in the days of the Revolution. However, that was about to change as Industrial Revolution threw women into the workforce, the Civil War brought attention to equality, with Clara Barton and Susan B. Anthony and many others fought for jobs and the right to vote for women. Of course, fighting for equality took time, patience, and determination, but women were eventually able to capture the minds of great men in Congress.

Textile Mills
Soon after the War of 1812, a economic boom swept through the country. Most notably, was the increase in textile mills in New England from 8,000 to 130,000 mills shortly after the innovative power loom was developed by Francis Lowell. This was the first time women could have a test of independence, for with the boom of the factories came the flood of new jobs for women. No longer would women sit on their families farms, cooking and weaving, for now they could go into the cities and stitch together clothes for pay. Many women took up the offer, and with it engaged in study groups for learning, attended church for their pious thirst, and even read books, after their workday was over. This education and piety could not have been achieved on farms, which separated young women from each other. These social gatherings eventually grew into something more as the women realized the terrible conditions in which they lived.

Many mill workers began their day at 5 in the morning and ended their day at 7 P.M. Within this 12, and somtimes 13, hour workdays, women were only given two breaks - for dinner and supper. This meant that they were cramped tightly into the work floor, where some women got their long hair caught in the sewing machines, causing injuries to their hair, and often embarrassment. Those who escaped unharmed were lucky; approximately 1/3 of all mill workers died whiten a decade of their tenure. And of course, this wasn't the only discouraging fact. Many women were paid very little, and they had to buy their own supplies with their own money in order to keep their job. After paying for room and board, clothes, and supplies, many women had very little money at the end of the day. These low wages, especially in comparison to men, made many women reconsider at what cost their new freedoms came at.

Abolition Movement
The Abolition Movement is one of the main reasons that many of the figures you see below were able to get into the Women's Suffrage Movement: from the many meetings people held about the reform for slavery. Many people were able to feel the problems that were hanging in the South, and the reformers all felt they had to do something. At many of the meetings for the Abolition of slavery, people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton was able to meet with others (Lucretia Mott) or her future husband, Henry B. Stanton. The Abolition movement helped to fuel all sorts of reform and it lead many people to share their ideas on Women's Rights and be able to consider heavily what the next reform //needed// to be in America.

Temperance Movement
In the early 1870's, women were becoming concern about alcoholism and its effects on local communities. Women eventually formed a group called the Women's Christian Temperance Union, which fought for better Christian Values throughout the United States, including the prohibition of alcohol. the WCTU's Second President, Frances Willard, believed that to be able to create changes in society, women needed to be involved in the law-making process, for what man would vote against their tradition, Willard reckoned. So, the WCTU, began to focus on and help other organizations in gaining the right to vote and the right to gain political office.

Tactics
In the fight for more equal treatment, women used many tactics the to spread the flame of women's rights to enlighten the world. Such tactics included strikes, conventions, local study groups, and publications.

Bread and Roses
The Bread and Roses strikee occurred in 1912 in Lowell, MA when the state legislature decided to cut the hours that mill workers could work by half. Of course, with this reduction of work time, came an equivalent reduction in pay. This did not bode well for the labor force that worked all day in order to make enough money to live. This affected both men and women, but it was crucial in the women's rights movement since it brought much publicity with it. As it progressed, the state militia was brought out to quiet the picketers. However, the strike only highlighted to a congressional committee the terrible conditions that mill workers, who are mostly women, endure. Congress learned of the low pay, low quality housing, and of the long hours, that many workers are subject to. One worker, Camella Teoli, told her tale of how dangerous the job by stating that her hair was shaved when it got caught in one of the sewing machines. Such harsh conditions were heard by many government officials and notables, including Mrs. Taft. In the end, wages were increased by 25%, but more valuable was the national attention that the strike brought with it, as was the purpose of many strikes. This national attention served to help women as more and more were willing to go on strike in defense of their rights.

Declaration of Sentiments
The Declaration of Sentiments was one of the first documents that established what Women's Rights was really all about; and what the Suffragettes' plans were on how to combat the injustices there were against them. The people that attended the convention were the main figures you can see below. The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments was written in the style of the Declaration of Independence, so as to lend homage to the document that everyone loved and cared for in the nation. The document was one of the first to create fully articulate what the women had wanted-- and that they wanted it to happen soon (which it didn't, sadly).

Unifying Two Major Suffrage Groups
When Lucy Stone founded the AWSA (American Women's Suffrage Association) it was a group almost like the NWSA (National Women's Suffrage Association), except founded by different people (the NWSA was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton). When both noticed they were acting for each others' interests', the two formed and finally made the NAWSA (National American Women's Suffrage Association) with a refueled and larger crowd, the Women's Rights Reform had an even more important following and let an even larger crowd get access to Women's Rights.

[[image:http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar/images/screen/cw092_sc.jpg width="105" height="144" align="right" caption="The Revolution (Newspaper)"]]
These publications are both ways that the Suffragette's had used to circulate their ideas on the various problems that people were having across the nation. Many of the publications were criticized by the local newspapers and they were all about the ways in which one could end the injustices and it tackled all sorts of different controversial topics surrounding women and their role in every day society. These papers were not heavily distrusted, and were discontinued shortly afterward, leaving both of the main Suffragettes to have some monetary troubles (which they easily were able to get the money back from teaching or tutoring jobs).

[[image:http://www.biography.com/bio4kids/images/episode_images/susan-b-anthony-320x240.jpg width="160" height="120" align="left" caption="Susan B. Anthony"]]
Susan B. Anthony was born into a Quaker family and the Quaker viewed that women should be equal to men. With this idea in her head, she spent almost all of her life on the forefront of fighting for women's rights and fighting in the temperance movement, she was also an avid abolitionist and wanted equal rights for labor, equal pay, and equal work rights. She is one of the most recognized names in the reform movements for the 19th century. She and Stanton had started the National Women Suffrage Association, and she was also apart of many different Equal Rights movement groups. She was always at the forefront of equality for women and fought for rights everywhere around the world and in the United States. She had once attempted to vote but had gotten into trouble and was arrested for voting illegally in 1872. Anthony had worked tirelessly to get her views seen and to show the injustices that women are having on a day to day basis. She dabbled in most reform movements of the 19th century (including the temperance and the abolition movement) and has played a major role in making the world equal as it is today.

One may know Clara Barton as the women who founded the Red Cross. However, this was only one of the silent steps she took to help the Women's Suffrage movement. During the Civil War, the Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony came to the conclusion that for the duration of the war, activisim to support women's rights should temporarly cease. Clara Barton is an example of one of the many women who "stopped" fighting for women's rights, which she had been working to get since her days at the Clinton Liberal Institute, but continued to serve her country throughout the war. She worked alone in aiding wounded soldiers on the battlefield, but while doing so she was silently urging thousands of other women that they too can serve our country courageously - through medical aid. In the end, Clara Barton never stopped fighting for womens rights, and helped act as a inspiration for women who wanted to serve in the military in the years to come.

**Elizabeth Cady Stanton**
Elizabeth Cady Stanton is one of the major figures and participators that had heavy influence on Woman's Rights. She held many rallies, and had made a huge impact on Woman's Suffrage. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born into a family of 11 children, and lived in Johnson, New York. Five of her siblings died in early infancy or at a very young age; and only four of her siblings lived to go onto College. When she was born, an older brother had been learning under her father and was a very bright boy. When he passed away, her father then thrust all of the stuff he was putting on his son to her. She took all of this in and tried to prove that she was as good as any other boy. She excelled and had wanted to attend Union College in New York, but she was pushed towards Emma Willard's All-Female seminary in Troy, New York. As a young adult she had met Gerrit Smith, a very pro-abolitionist man. With him she met her future husband (also an abolitionist) Henry B. Stanton. She later was married to Henry B. Stanton and eventually had married him. For their honeymoon they went to the World Slavery Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Here she met Lucretia Scott and they shared their hatred for their inabilities to not have a say in the delegates in the US. They then decided to create the first Woman's Rights Convention in the United States. Eight years passed before they could enact their plan. The first convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, and at the convention they established a Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled after the constitution, to give women rights. After the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth continued to write articles for woman's rights and also wrote for Amelia Bloomer's Temperance papers. In 1863 Stanton and Anthony formed the Women's Loyal National League (WLNL) which was a campaign that petitioned for the abolition of slavery. Both Stanton and Anthony put their worries aside and helped out during the Civil War to abolish slavery. Soon after she met Susan B. Anthony and they spent the next 50 years working on getting Woman's rights. The two complimented each other well and spread their ideas almost nationwide. In 1860 at the New York legislature she tried to pass a stronger married women's property bill, which passed. In 1868 Stanton and Anthony started a weekly right's for women magazine, called the Revolution, in which Stanton wrote about how women should have the right to serve on juries, voting for women, and equal job opportunities. From 1866 and on Stanton and Anthony went around the Nation campaigning and spreading the idea of women's rights.

Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone was a more conservative Suffragette compared to the other Suffragettes, although she probably had the largest help on the abolition movement. She joined many different movements and gave lectures on each of the topics (for example she joined the American Anti-Slavery Association and gave lectures across the country to help inform people of the tragedies of slavery and the injustices it has) and worked very hard throughout her life to make sure that people had equality. She was a vivid supporter of the 13th amendment (which abolished slavery) and was an active woman many of the Women's Rights movements. She was also the very first woman in the U.S. that had not changed her name afterward, and set a precedent for other women who didn't want to change their name, that they didn't have to. This coined the term 'Lucy Stoner' if a woman did not change her name after marriage. She also founded the //Women's Journal// which was considered to be the 'Voice of the Women's Rights Movement'. She also became the chairman of the merged National American Woman Suffrage Association (combination of her own 'American Women's Suffrage Association' and Stanton and Anthony's 'National Women's Suffrage Association').

The Right to Vote
In 1906, Susan B. Anthony died. But as General MacArthur one said, "old soldiers never die, they just fade away." Susan B. Anthony did not die in spirit, but she reengineerized a campaign that drove all the way to the capitol with all her works. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson gave a speech to Congress that heavy influenced the representatives' minds to pass a bill that gave women the right to vote; the measure failed by two votes. This was a sign for things to come. As women lobbied, held marches, and raise awareness they finally won their favored prohibition amendment. Shortly after, they won the right to vote. Since then, there have been numerous more rights that women have fought for such as equal pay and treatment in the workplace.