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Stanton revised America’s founding documents. Titled the Declaration of Sentiments, the amended Declaration of Independence stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal.”
The convention’s 300 delegates considered each of the Declaration of Sentiments’ 16 articles. It may surprise some today that the only article that didn’t receive unanimous approval was the one that provided women’s suffrage.
Two years later, the first national women’s rights convention was organized by Lucy Stone in Worcester, Mass., attracting more than 1,000 people from almost a dozen states. Later, at the Ohio’s Women’s Conference in 1851, former slave Sojourner Truth energized the audience with her fiery, “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech, concluding, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again. And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them!”
In 1878, Susan B. Anthony presented a petition with 10,000 signatures to the U.S. Senate asking for an amendment to the Constitution that would allow women to vote in any election. It was defeated. The same petition would be introduced and defeated repeatedly for the next 40 years. Meanwhile, the suffrage movement limped along, sidetracked by other pressing social concerns, disagreements in approach, and simple lethargy.
The movement came back to life on March 3, 1913, when Alice Paul orchestrated a massive parade in Washington, D.C. A breathtaking
sea of 5,000 women dressed in white made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, followed by marching bands and lavishly decorated floats. Showing their support for the movement despite being generally relegated to the sidelines, black women marched, too. Organizers wanted to take advantage of the attention already focused on Woodrow Wilson’s second inauguration, which was scheduled for the next day. And though some men threw garbage as they passed, the brilliantly orchestrated event showed the world what women were capable of.
In 1917, Paul grew frustrated with the plodding pace of the suffrage movement and began organized picketing of the White House. She and her followers, dubbed “silent sentinels” by the press, held signs that implored, “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” Police began arresting the picketers for “obstructing traffic,” fining them $25 plus costs. When the women refused to pay the fine, the police sent them to the horrid Occoquan Workhouse, where they were beaten and fed maggot-infested food.
Authorities made an example of Paul, sentencing her to seven months in jail. She staged a hunger strike, and the gruesome pictures of jailers force-feeding her and others went viral (in today’s vernacular). An outraged American public finally began to show sympathy for the movement. Bowing to that pressure, police released the women.
Soon enough, there was a surge of support on the federal level.
On June 4, 1919, Congress passed the Suffrage Amendment, with the requirement that three quarters of the 48 states had to ratify it. Ten months later, 35 had complied, and the suffragists needed the support of just one more state. They descended on Delaware, thinking they could easily convince its legislators to vote in their favor. In the end,
“The centennial commemorates the culmination
of persistence, sacrifice and courage from
women of diverse backgrounds.”
—Gilletta Gigi McGraw, Philadelphia artist and playwright
Delaware demurred, and suffragists descended on Tennessee, which complied on Aug. 18, 1920. Eight days later, 72 years after the Seneca Falls convention, the 19th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. That November, over 26 million American women voted in a national election for the first time.
It’s no coincidence that the 2017 Women’s March on Washington harkens back to its 1913 counterpart. This time, though, women, men and children filled major thoroughfares and side streets wearing the pink knitted caps made especially for the event. Today, 131 women are serving in Congress, one holds the gavel as speaker of the House, and several are running for our nation’s highest office.
Abigail—and, most likely, John—would be impressed. o
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