Woman Suffrage

In 2020, celebrations nationwide recognized the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Before it became law, most women in the United States were not allowed to vote, but its wording allowed some women to be excluded for decades longer. Woman suffrage is a movement spanning generations that began before the Civil War.^[1]Ellen Carol Dubois, Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote, Reprint edition (Simon & Schuster, 2020).

The Movement

In 1848, the ideal woman devoted herself to homemaking and motherhood, something only attainable for upper- and middle-class white women. Even those able to stay in the “domestic sphere” wanted more. Legally, women of all races and classes were subject to their husbands, fathers, or brothers. Women had no independent rights and could not, for instance, earn their own money, own their own property, or decide when and how to have children. Some fought for legal independence as a matter of safety, and others as a matter of principle. To change the laws, suffragists believed women needed to participate in choosing lawmakers. Voting was part of the “public sphere,” in direct opposition to entrenched gender roles.^[2]A note on language: Americans used the term suffragists. The term “suffragette” was not developed until well into the movement as a derogatory term for British advocates who were willing … Continue reading

Also in 1848, printer John Dick published the Declaration of Sentiments; this is generally heralded as the start of the woman suffrage movement . It identified suffrage as a right. Suffragists used a variety of tactics to obtain that right, but most often relied on words. Through oration and publication, suffragists sought to win others to their viewpoint; through petitions, they proved the size and influence of their movement.^[3]John Dick is noteworthy for working out of the office of the North Star, edited by Frederick Douglass. Arlene Balkansky, “American Women’s Declaration of Independence: Newspaper Coverage, 1848 | … Continue reading

Men and women both argued for woman suffrage but common prejudices precluded true unity. Some suffragists used racism, classism, and xenophobia to the advantage of white, upper- and middle-class women, who were less threatening to the power of affluent white males. In 1870, the movement split over supporting Black suffrage. Methods of advocacy caused more division.^[4]Dubois, 11 & 175-176.

It was considered improper for women to speak in public in 1848, especially in mixed-sex audiences. Women had men read their words or spoke to woman-only audiences. With time, women delivered their own speeches to mixed audiences. Yet their audiences were still limited since most Americans did not have the time or money to attend events. Progressive and pro-suffrage publications like Woman’s Journal ensured the events were nationally accessible by publishing speeches. This amplified the reach and impact of events.^[5]Dubois, 18 & 21; “The Woman’s Journal and The Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News,” 1870-1917, https://listview.lib.harvard.edu/lists/hollis-002490378.

Only in its final years did some suffragists move from a focus on words to sustained direct action. Marching and picketing began in earnest after 1909. Earlier events like the New England Woman’s Tea Party were much more representative of the suffrage movement.^[6]Dubois, 205 & 211.

The Event

On December 15, 1873, the New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA) held the New England Woman’s Tea Party (NEWTP) at Faneuil Hall. It celebrated the centennial of the Boston Tea Party and linked woman suffrage to the ideals of American Independence. Like the Boston Tea Party, which itself began with a meeting at Faneuil Hall, NEWTP catalyzed continued advocacy. Organizers sent out the call that since most women were unable to vote, “taxation without representation” continued even after the American Revolution. This unifying call was particularly important after the Civil War fractured the attention and goals of a movement that had included many abolitionists.^[7]“New England Woman’s Tea Party,” The Woman’s Journal 4, no. 51 (December 20, 1873): 1, 4–5, 8; Dubois, 92-97.

The speakers were the primary attractions at women’s suffrage events. In Mary A. Livermore’s speech at the New England Women’s Tea Party, she said that she would be surprised at the size of the crowd except for the prominent advertising of Wendell Phillips as a speaker.

Courtesy Boston Athenaeum

The Key Orators

Colonel T. W. Higginson, a committed abolitionist, also co-founded the New England Woman Suffrage Association (NEWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The organizations were headquartered within the “Revolutionary Corridor” at times. Higginson also edited Woman’s Journal, AWSA’s weekly newspaper, for 14 years. He presided over NEWTP.^[8]“Thomas Wentworth Higginson,” History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage, accessed March 21, 2021, http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/higginson.

Wendell Phillips stood out for arguing, on the eve of war, that the Confederate States had the right to secede and the United States was better for it. He took over the American Anti-Slavery Society after William Lloyd Garrison resigned. Phillips prioritized racial justice when he supported Black suffrage first. His suffragist allies were dismayed, but after Black suffrage was secured in 1870, Phillips returned to the woman suffrage fold.^[9]Wendell Phillips, “Wendell Phillips on the Government War Policy,” The Brooklyn Eagle, April 13, 1861; “Wendell Phillips | American Abolitionist,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed March 21, … Continue reading

Mary Livermore, like many other women, developed her organizing prowess in response to the Civil War’s humanitarian crisis. That work convinced her that women were capable and their vote would mitigate many social ills. She led state and national suffrage organizations and edited newspapers that amplified their ideals, including The Agitator and Woman’s Journal.^[10]“Mary Ashton Rice Livermore | American Activist,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed March 21, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Ashton-Rice-Livermore.

A ticket for the New England Woman’s Tea Party Event at Faneuil Hall.

Courtesy Boston Athenaeum

Frederick Douglass self-emancipated from slavery and emerged as one of the most significant abolitionist figures in the United States. At the 1888 annual meeting of NEWSA, he declared himself “a radical woman suffrage man.”^[11]John R. McKivigan, Julie Husband, and Heather L. Kaufman, eds., “‘I Am a Radical Woman Suffrage Man’ (1888),” in The Speeches of Frederick Douglass, A Critical Edition (Yale University Press, … Continue reading

Reverend James Freeman Clarke was a Unitarian minister, public intellectual, and social reformer. He justified public advocacy from a specifically progressive and Christian perspective.^[12]“James Freeman Clarke,” accessed March 22, 2021, https://uudb.org/articles/jamesfreemanclarke.html.

William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent abolitionist. When other men objected to women in leadership roles at the American Anti-Slavery Society, Garrison simply filled their vacated positions with additional women. This work created or grew the organizing skills of Boston’s female suffragists.^[13] Dubois, 27.

Julia Ward Howe, AWSA co-founder and prolific writer, communicated the importance of women’s suffrage in poetry and prose. Later in life, Howe co-edited Representative Women in New England, a biographic encyclopedia celebrating female reformers.^[14] Mary Elvira Elliott Julia Ward Howe, Representative Women of New England (New England Historical Pub. Co., 1904), http://archive.org/details/representativew00elligoog; “Julia Ward Howe,” … Continue reading

Lucy Stone was an energetic activist force in Massachusetts. She and her husband were among the chief organizers of NEWTP. She co-founded the NEWSA, AWSA, and Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. She was also a major force behind Woman’s Journal. Suffrage historian Sally G. McMillen argues that she should be honored at the same level as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.^[15]McMillen, Sally G. Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic Life. Illustrated edition. Oxford ; New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015, ix-xi.

The Massachusetts Woman’s Suffrage Association was the state chapter of the American Woman Suffrage Association. AWSA was co-founded by several of the speakers at the New England Women’s Tea Party.

Courtesy National Park Service

The Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association was the state chapter of the American Woman Suffrage Association. AWSA was co-founded by several of the speakers at the New England Women’s Tea Party. It shared a floor at 585 Boylston Street with the Boston Equal Suffrage for Good Government. BESAGG was seen as the more radical of the two organizations. After the 19th amendment ratified women’s right to vote, it changed its name to the Boston League of Women Voters.

Courtesy Schlesinger Library of the History of Women in America (Harvard University)

The Words

NEWTP organizers and speakers called upon the legacy of the American Revolution in their speeches and used the vocabulary of the revolutionary generation. Woman’s Journal said,

The old Cradle of Liberty needed no adorning, however, for it is always beautiful in the eyes of Bostonians…

They highlighted the Revolutionary-era paintings and the quotations emblazoned on the walls: “Taxation without representation is tyranny” and “Governments derive their just power from the governed.”^[16]“New England Woman’s Tea Party.”

Colonel Higginson, presiding, declared that they,

met to rededicate old Faneuil Hall to another one hundred years more of agitation on the same old platform – “taxation without representation”.

Such a declaration was not an empty one. His grandfather had served in the Continental Congress. Lucy Stone, who spoke later, had a Revolutionary War Captain for a grandfather. At that time, the revolutionary past was recent and calling on it was especially meaningful.^[17]“New England Woman’s Tea Party”; “Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson | Boston Athenæum,” accessed March 22, 2021, … Continue reading

The next speaker, Wendell Phillips, called on the revolutionary spirit of the founders and stated that reformers should heed history by

not putting our feet down actually in their tracks, but doing what they would have done if they stood here today.

He then criticized the unfinished nature of the Revolution, saying that the fruits of the founders’ labor had ignored women and people of color. Yet Phillips believed the root of liberty was pure and would provide further harvest.^[18]“New England Woman’s Tea Party.”

Mary Livermore followed Phillips, again extending the Revolutionary comparison. To undermine “taxation without representation” as a Revolutionary principle, British ministers in the 1700s argued that colonies had “virtual representation” in Parliament. Patriot leaders refuted this notion since they hadn’t chosen their virtual representative. The arguments of anti-suffragists in the 1800s were strikingly similar: men represented the interests of women in their families. Livermore delivered the parallel Patriot response: the woman did not get to choose the voter. Whether 1700s or 1800s, the premise was invalid. She then addressed the political injustices to women, beginning with the lens of motherhood. Given the expectations of the time, this was a powerful place to start. She identified the hypocrisy of the claim that women were responsible for educating children but had no legal parental rights.^[19]“New England Woman’s Tea Party”; “The Stamp Act and the American Colonies 1763-67,” accessed March 22, 2021, … Continue reading

Reverend Clarke rose, asserting the moral basis of the Boston Tea Party, and therefore the Woman’s Tea Party. He asked,

Why do we celebrate [the Boston Tea Party]? It was an illegal proceeding. It was breaking the law. It was plainly a riot. It was an offence against order. Yes. But it was breaking the lower law, and obedience to the higher law.

The purity of purpose, in his view, justified the demonstrations that followed to bring greater liberty to the land.^[20]“New England Woman’s Tea Party.”

A poem by Julia Ward Howe reinforced the righteousness of the Boston Tea Party; reading it at the 1873 event imbued the Woman’s Tea Party with the same. It read, in part,

Ye slaves of the tea-pot,

When liberty calls,

And the need of your country

Your spirit appalls,

Though you’re shackled by custom to limit and ward

Do the brave deed again, throw the tea overboard. ^[21] “New England Woman’s Tea Party”; “The Stamp Act and the American Colonies 1763-67,” accessed March 22, 2021, … Continue reading

Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison argued that women’s suffrage should clearly follow abolition and Black enfranchisement, which was itself framed as completing an aspect of the Revolution. Douglass stated, “from the beginning of my connection with the abolitionists I saw that the principle on which I demanded freedom for the black man applied equally to women.”^[22]“New England Woman’s Tea Party.”

Preeminent political cartoonist Thomas Nast lambasted the idea of woman’s suffrage. His critique relied greatly on Victorian gender norms. The woman in this cartoon has traditionally masculine features, with a square jaw and pointed nose. This was a common way to portray suffragists, suggesting that asking for the right to vote made them less of a woman. The man in the background is dressed as a woman despite his beard and sideburns. This too was common, showing that men would have to take up the womanly tasks vacated by their wives and daughters. After calling attention to the perceived mismatch in gender roles, which made the image comical enough, Nast amplifies it by having them pour hot tea out of teapots rather than dump tea leaves. This suggested that suffragists did not truly understand the Revolutionary past they sought to utilize. Nevertheless, suffragists persisted.

Courtesy HarpWeek

The Wait

The public, concerted push for suffrage had begun 25 years prior to the NEWTP and the suffragists were wearied by constant opposition. Mary Livermore rallied her compatriots during her speech:

Matters always seem to move slowly when there is a great work to be done. The gathering of the forces which are to do it is a slow work. ^[23]“Woman’s Suffrage Timeline,” National Women’s History Museum, accessed March 22, 2021, https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/timeline/womans-suffrage-timeline; Dubois, 21-22.

Suffragists, in the “corridor” and beyond, sustained their energy for nearly another half century. When enfranchisement was no longer limited by sex in 1920, many early suffragists like Lucy Stone had died. Instead, her daughter Alice celebrated. For others, the celebration was delayed for decades as their voting rights were abridged by other factors like Indigenous citizenship or Jim Crow laws. Voting laws that disproportionately exclude marginalized groups like people of color and the working class continue today. ^[24]Dubois, 12.

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Further Reading

Ellen Carol Dubois, Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote, Reprint edition (Simon & Schuster, 2020).

“New England Woman’s Tea Party,” The Woman’s Journal 4, no. 51 (December 20, 1873): 1, 4–5, 8.Woman's Journal coverage of the NEWTP (Web)

“Woman’s Suffrage Timeline,” National Women’s History Museum, accessed March 22, 2021, https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/timeline/womans-suffrage-timeline.

“History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage,” History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage, accessed April 12, 2021, http://www.crusadeforthevote.org.

Mary Elvira Elliott Julia Ward Howe, Representative Women of New England (New England Historical Pub. Co., 1904), http://archive.org/details/representativew00elligoog.