Gaining Women's Suffrage

In class we discussed some reasons why it took so long for women to gain the right to vote. The 19^th Amendment passed in 1920, 50 years after the 15^th Amendment (which granted all African American men the right the vote) and 70 years after the Declaration of Sentiments was signed. I believe one reason it took a long time was because of the Civil War. The Civil War played a large role in delaying women the right to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony decided to keep the Women’s Rights Movement alive during the war. However, during war time, political dissent is viewed as unpatriotic and as a result, many women’s rights advocates decided to redirect their efforts toward support of the war. Many of the advocates did this because they believed their loyalty would be rewarded with suffrage. However, after the war, women still were not compensated for their devotion to their country. As a result of this, Elizabeth Stanton was able to successfully rally an even greater number of supporters for women’s rights.

Another factor affecting the length of time it took for women to gain the vote is that the Seneca Falls Convention did not receive as much recognition in the 19^th century as it does today. The convention was not widely publicized at the time. There were no national representatives at the meeting. The people who attended the convention were all mostly from up-state New York. Most of the three hundred people who showed up to the Seneca Falls Convention were Quaker farmers with no real political influence. Even so, Lucretia Mott told Elizabeth Stanton at the time, “The convention will not be so large as it otherwise might be, owing to the busy time with the farmers, but it will be a beginning”