-The Declaration of Independence
asserts the self-evident
and universal truth that all men
are created equal and have
essential inalienable rights.
Even though neither the government
nor a fellow citizen
can take away one's natural rights,
there are other rights granted
by the government
deemed political rights.
-One of the most important
political rights is the right
to vote, also known as suffrage.
Equal citizens have suffrage
and thus get consent to make
laws in a republican form
of government.
However, this wasn't always
the case.
-For a long portion
of America's history men had
the right to vote
while women did not.
-How did women achieve
equal voting rights?
Today, we look at the women's
suffrage movement.
[music]
-When the women's suffrage
movement began, women had
almost no legal rights.
They couldn't vote
or even serve on juries.
They also lacked access
to higher education
and most professions.
In fact, married women
at the time were considered
covered by the husband's authority,
a doctrine known as curvature.
Since women were seen
as dependent on men,
they were refused the right to vote.
-Yet despite this,
many women became powerful voices
for equality
and American principles.
Evoking the spirit
of revolutionary figures
such as Hannah Griffiths
and Abigail Adams before them,
many women in the 1820s and 30s
continued their fight for equality.
-In order to do this,
women pushed back
against the boundaries
of the domestic sphere
in which they were supposed
to be contained.
Brave women stepped out of the home
to lead or participate
in the reform movement
in a wide range of areas
from education and abolitionism
to temperance and prison reform.
-For example, Sarah
and Angelina Grimke, the daughters
of a southern slaveholder,
became America's leading
female advocates of the abolition
of slavery.
Another abolitionist, Abby Kelley,
was a prominent member
of the American
Anti-Slavery Society.
-In 1840, abolitionist Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
attended the World Anti-Slavery
Convention in London.
Unfortunately, they faced
discrimination and weren't
even allowed to participate.
This only intensified Stanton's
desire to fight for equality.
After eight years of organizing,
Stanton was one of 300 women
who met at the Wesleyan Chapel
in Seneca Falls, New York
to assert their equality.
-Before the convention,
Stanton drafted the Declaration
of Sentiments which opens
with the famous line,
"We hold these truths
to be self-evident that all men
and women are created equal."
A list of grievances
demanded equal education
and professional opportunities,
equal civil rights,
the right to hold property,
as well as the right to vote.
In total, 68 women and 32 men,
including Frederick Douglass,
signed the declaration
in their cause for equality.
-The convention at Seneca Falls
resulted in additional conventions
for women's suffrage.
It also led to the alliance
between Stanton
and one Susan B.Anthony.
Together and alongside hundreds
of other women across the country,
they lead a decades-long struggle
for women's suffrage and equality,
well into the late 1800s.
-This struggle, however,
wasn't without roadblocks.
When the 14th Amendment was passed,
Anthony decided to test it
by forcing the courts
to decide whether it had
implicitly enfranchised women.
Along with two dozen of her peers,
she boldly tested it
by voting in Rochester, New York,
which led to her arrest
and conviction.
During her trial,
Anthony reprimanded the court,
stating, "You have trampled
underfoot every vital principle
of our government."
-Then in 1875,
the Supreme Court unanimously
ruled in the Minor
versus Happersett case
that The 14th amendment
did not enfranchise women.
This coupled with the ratification
of the 15th Amendment,
which granted African American men
the right to vote, left women
in the suffrage movement dejected,
with many feelings that
educated white women should have
attained voting rights first.
These frustrations led
some suffragists to make
disparaging remarks
about the recently
enfranchised African American men.
-A major divide within the movement
was imminent.
This, along with pushback
from detractors, would create
many obstacles on the path
to equal voting rights.
-How would these suffragists
overcome this?
We'll get to that in part two,
so stay tuned.
-Thanks for joining us
on our journey
through women's suffrage.
-Well, that was only part one.
Make sure you subscribe
so you don't miss part two.
-Remember to like and comment.
