What Is the Womens Suffrage Movement?
The women’s suffrage movement was the crusade to gain women the same rights as men to vote and run for public office. Some accounts trace origins of the movement back to France during the 18th century. In the United States, women’s dedication to the cause probably began with the birth of the nation. Slow growing at first, the women’s suffrage movement began to build momentum in the mid-1800s but did not achieve its ultimate goal until ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920.
The women’s suffrage movement was the crusade to gain women the same rights as men to vote and run for public office. Some accounts trace origins of the movement back to France during the 18th century. In the United States, women’s dedication to the cause probably began with the birth of the nation. Slow growing at first, the women’s suffrage movement began to build momentum in the mid-1800s but did not achieve its ultimate goal until ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920. After the Declaration of Independence, women of the new nation had limited voting rights. Then states began stripping the rights away, starting with New York in 1777, Massachusetts in 1780, and New Hampshire in 1784. When the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787 gave states the power to set voting standards, all states except New Jersey revoked voting rights for women. New Jersey eventually followed suit in 1807.
