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Summary Women's Suffrage in America
Revision notes on Women's Suffrage in America during the Civil Rights movement
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The position of Women in 1865-Background-
Before the American Civil War (1861-1865), women had become more involved in public life
The USA had become more democratic since the American Revolution in the 1770s, but
political activity was confined to men in terms of voting and being elected to office
Nevertheless, women had become more active outside the home
Women were often enthusiastic supporters of the abolition of slavery
Famously, the former slave, Harriet Tubman, had helped to rescue slaves
Women also took an active part in the movement against alcohol and drunkenness, and
promoted temperance
These campaigns of abolition and temperance were often linked to women’s roles in church
organisations, education, and charities
Women were often effective campaigners for social improvement, and this led them into
more political roles
The major turning point in the position of women was the first convention to discuss female
suffrage in Seneca Falls in 1848
The first female Anti-slavery Convention had taken place in 1847
A campaigner against slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe, had written a hugely influential book,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which exposed its evils
Though most of the social reformers and campaigners were white middle-class women who
had the time and money to devote to causes, an African American women, Sojourner Truth,
became a famous abolitionist speaker
The Civil War-
The Civil War had important effects on women
Both sides relied on their home fronts to support the troops by running farms and
plantations and working in some factories
Women found themselves taking charge of the households in the absence of the men
Women raised funds, tended the wounded and, in what became a total war, suffered from
the economic devastation caused by the Northern invasion of the South
The war brought greater political rights for African Americans, albeit not permanently, so
there was hope that it would also bring more opportunities for women
There were, however, considerable problems to overcome
Most men did not support a greater political role or social equality for women
As industry expanded, there was a tendency for paid work to outside the home, in factories
and workshops
This increased the divide between the men who worked and the women who stayed at
home and were concerned with purely domestic affairs
When women worked it was often in lower paid, causal employment or domestic service, or
in unskilled and poorly rewarded manufacturing jobs
Where they worked alongside men in farms or in Southern sharecropping smallholdings,
they were expected to bear the burden of domestic chores as well as helping with
agricultural work
Women also suffered from limited birth control
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