Dawn Langan Teele
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691180267
- eISBN:
- 9780691184272
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691180267.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter presents a case study of women's enfranchisement in the United States. It argues that the formation of a broad coalition of women, symbolized by growing membership in a large ...
More
This chapter presents a case study of women's enfranchisement in the United States. It argues that the formation of a broad coalition of women, symbolized by growing membership in a large non-partisan suffrage organization, in combination with competitive conditions in state legislatures, was crucial to securing politicians' support for women's suffrage in the states. The chapter first gives a broad overview of the phases of the US suffrage movement, arguing that the salience of political cleavages related to race, ethnicity, nativity, and class influenced the type of movement suffragists sought to build. It then describes the political geography of the Gilded Age, showing how the diversity of political competition and party organization that characterized the several regions mirrors the pattern of women's enfranchisement across the states.Less
This chapter presents a case study of women's enfranchisement in the United States. It argues that the formation of a broad coalition of women, symbolized by growing membership in a large non-partisan suffrage organization, in combination with competitive conditions in state legislatures, was crucial to securing politicians' support for women's suffrage in the states. The chapter first gives a broad overview of the phases of the US suffrage movement, arguing that the salience of political cleavages related to race, ethnicity, nativity, and class influenced the type of movement suffragists sought to build. It then describes the political geography of the Gilded Age, showing how the diversity of political competition and party organization that characterized the several regions mirrors the pattern of women's enfranchisement across the states.
Julia Bush
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199248773
- eISBN:
- 9780191714689
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248773.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Anti-suffrage women believed that their particular virtues and capacities would be needed more than ever during the First World War. Political campaigns were suspended, but an undercurrent of ...
More
Anti-suffrage women believed that their particular virtues and capacities would be needed more than ever during the First World War. Political campaigns were suspended, but an undercurrent of suffrage debate flowed through the war relief efforts of suffragists and anti-suffragists alike. Anti-suffrage women were keen to demonstrate their superior patriotism, and to carry forward their gender beliefs into the new wartime debates over such issues as female employment, maternity, and childcare. In 1916, it became clear that franchise reform was inevitable, and supporters and opponents of votes for women resumed subdued levels of activism. The NLOWS was a much-weakened organization, but far from entirely quiescent as women's suffrage inexorably neared the statute book. Women continued to play a significant opposition role beyond Parliament, and were outraged by Lord Curzon's final capitulation. The NLOWS wake in April 1918 was a mainly female affair, emphasizing commitment to the future political education of women voters.Less
Anti-suffrage women believed that their particular virtues and capacities would be needed more than ever during the First World War. Political campaigns were suspended, but an undercurrent of suffrage debate flowed through the war relief efforts of suffragists and anti-suffragists alike. Anti-suffrage women were keen to demonstrate their superior patriotism, and to carry forward their gender beliefs into the new wartime debates over such issues as female employment, maternity, and childcare. In 1916, it became clear that franchise reform was inevitable, and supporters and opponents of votes for women resumed subdued levels of activism. The NLOWS was a much-weakened organization, but far from entirely quiescent as women's suffrage inexorably neared the statute book. Women continued to play a significant opposition role beyond Parliament, and were outraged by Lord Curzon's final capitulation. The NLOWS wake in April 1918 was a mainly female affair, emphasizing commitment to the future political education of women voters.
Allison L. Sneider
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195321166
- eISBN:
- 9780199869725
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321166.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
During the 1910s suffragists followed closely the congressional debates over political independence for men in the Philippines and Puerto Rico and were intent on juxtaposing national legislation that ...
More
During the 1910s suffragists followed closely the congressional debates over political independence for men in the Philippines and Puerto Rico and were intent on juxtaposing national legislation that expanded political autonomy for men in these U.S. island possessions against Congress's failure to pass a woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. constitution. By 1916 it seemed, ironically, that the U.S. colonial possessions might be the next site for woman suffrage victories. The revival of the push for the federal woman suffrage amendment, the Nineteenth Amendment (1920), took place in the context of U.S. efforts to resolve the political status of Puerto Rico and the Philippines.Less
During the 1910s suffragists followed closely the congressional debates over political independence for men in the Philippines and Puerto Rico and were intent on juxtaposing national legislation that expanded political autonomy for men in these U.S. island possessions against Congress's failure to pass a woman suffrage amendment to the U.S. constitution. By 1916 it seemed, ironically, that the U.S. colonial possessions might be the next site for woman suffrage victories. The revival of the push for the federal woman suffrage amendment, the Nineteenth Amendment (1920), took place in the context of U.S. efforts to resolve the political status of Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Allison L. Sneider
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195321166
- eISBN:
- 9780199869725
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321166.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
By 1929, when the U.S. congress pushed the colonial legislature of Puerto Rico to adopt woman suffrage, votes for women had become a benchmark for measuring the expansion of democratic values ...
More
By 1929, when the U.S. congress pushed the colonial legislature of Puerto Rico to adopt woman suffrage, votes for women had become a benchmark for measuring the expansion of democratic values overseas. Conversely, woman suffrage was also part and parcel of U.S. colonial rule. Into the 20th century, votes for women and women's rights are part of the negotiation of imperial power relations across the globe.Less
By 1929, when the U.S. congress pushed the colonial legislature of Puerto Rico to adopt woman suffrage, votes for women had become a benchmark for measuring the expansion of democratic values overseas. Conversely, woman suffrage was also part and parcel of U.S. colonial rule. Into the 20th century, votes for women and women's rights are part of the negotiation of imperial power relations across the globe.
Julia Bush
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199248773
- eISBN:
- 9780191714689
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248773.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Despite its considerable achievements, the WNASL was handicapped by limited funding and lack of direct parliamentary influence. Meanwhile, the Men's League for Opposing Woman Suffrage, founded in ...
More
Despite its considerable achievements, the WNASL was handicapped by limited funding and lack of direct parliamentary influence. Meanwhile, the Men's League for Opposing Woman Suffrage, founded in December 1908, suffered from weak organization and political complacency. In 1910, the way was prepared for a full-scale merger of the two organizations. This proved an unexpectedly difficult process as male and female leaders vied for influence over procedures and policies. The WNASL commitment to promoting women's public service in local government was a major stumbling block. There were also conflicts over the name, constitution, and administrative arrangements of the new National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage, finally launched in December 1910. The chapter provides a detailed analysis of the formation and development of the NLOWS, focusing particularly upon gender relations, but also investigating propaganda methods and local branch-building across Britain. Despite some setbacks, female activism remained vital to organized anti-suffragism.Less
Despite its considerable achievements, the WNASL was handicapped by limited funding and lack of direct parliamentary influence. Meanwhile, the Men's League for Opposing Woman Suffrage, founded in December 1908, suffered from weak organization and political complacency. In 1910, the way was prepared for a full-scale merger of the two organizations. This proved an unexpectedly difficult process as male and female leaders vied for influence over procedures and policies. The WNASL commitment to promoting women's public service in local government was a major stumbling block. There were also conflicts over the name, constitution, and administrative arrangements of the new National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage, finally launched in December 1910. The chapter provides a detailed analysis of the formation and development of the NLOWS, focusing particularly upon gender relations, but also investigating propaganda methods and local branch-building across Britain. Despite some setbacks, female activism remained vital to organized anti-suffragism.
Elizabeth E. Prevost
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199570744
- eISBN:
- 9780191722097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570744.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter links mission Christianity to the more radical strains of the feminist movement in Britain, by showing how overseas evangelism worked to justify and to mobilize support for women's ...
More
This chapter links mission Christianity to the more radical strains of the feminist movement in Britain, by showing how overseas evangelism worked to justify and to mobilize support for women's suffrage and women's ordination. Through the work of Dr Helen Hanson and the League of the Church Militant, Anglican feminists were able to use the missionary movement as a framework for arguing that women's political and religious authority was necessary to meet the domestic and international challenges of the day. The Anglican suffrage movement set the stage for subsequent activism around women's preaching and ordination by drawing on the professionalization of women's missionary labour and mobilizing transnational and trans‐colonial church and feminist networks. Both phases of the movement also struggled with how to construe the essential sameness versus difference of women and men.Less
This chapter links mission Christianity to the more radical strains of the feminist movement in Britain, by showing how overseas evangelism worked to justify and to mobilize support for women's suffrage and women's ordination. Through the work of Dr Helen Hanson and the League of the Church Militant, Anglican feminists were able to use the missionary movement as a framework for arguing that women's political and religious authority was necessary to meet the domestic and international challenges of the day. The Anglican suffrage movement set the stage for subsequent activism around women's preaching and ordination by drawing on the professionalization of women's missionary labour and mobilizing transnational and trans‐colonial church and feminist networks. Both phases of the movement also struggled with how to construe the essential sameness versus difference of women and men.
Allison L. Sneider
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195321166
- eISBN:
- 9780199869725
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321166.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
In 1899, Carrie Chapman Catt, who succeeded Susan B. Anthony as head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, argued that it was the “duty” of U.S. women to help lift the inhabitants of ...
More
In 1899, Carrie Chapman Catt, who succeeded Susan B. Anthony as head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, argued that it was the “duty” of U.S. women to help lift the inhabitants of new island possessions in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii up from “barbarism” to “civilization,” a project that would presumably demonstrate the capacity of U.S. women for full citizenship and political rights. Catt, like many suffragists in her day, was well versed in the language of empire and infused the cause of suffrage with imperialist zeal in public debate. Unlike their predecessors, who were working for votes for women within the context of slavery and abolition, the next generation of suffragists argued their case against the backdrop of U.S. expansionism in Indian and Mormon territory at home as well as overseas in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. This book examines these simultaneous political movements—woman suffrage and American imperialism—as inextricably intertwined phenomena, instructively complicating the histories of both.Less
In 1899, Carrie Chapman Catt, who succeeded Susan B. Anthony as head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, argued that it was the “duty” of U.S. women to help lift the inhabitants of new island possessions in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii up from “barbarism” to “civilization,” a project that would presumably demonstrate the capacity of U.S. women for full citizenship and political rights. Catt, like many suffragists in her day, was well versed in the language of empire and infused the cause of suffrage with imperialist zeal in public debate. Unlike their predecessors, who were working for votes for women within the context of slavery and abolition, the next generation of suffragists argued their case against the backdrop of U.S. expansionism in Indian and Mormon territory at home as well as overseas in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. This book examines these simultaneous political movements—woman suffrage and American imperialism—as inextricably intertwined phenomena, instructively complicating the histories of both.
Allison L. Sneider
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195321166
- eISBN:
- 9780199869725
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321166.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, American History: 20th Century
This introductory chapter lays out the precise ways that U.S. expansion and empire raised the question of political rights for potential new citizens to the level of congressional debate. The ...
More
This introductory chapter lays out the precise ways that U.S. expansion and empire raised the question of political rights for potential new citizens to the level of congressional debate. The discussion of voting rights for potential new citizens (Dominicans, Indians, Mormons, Hawaiians, Filipinos, Puerto Ricans) created a political context for a national discussion of woman suffrage in an age of states' rights. Had the United States not been such an expansive nation after the Civil War, suffragists would have had a much harder time raising their question in Congress.Less
This introductory chapter lays out the precise ways that U.S. expansion and empire raised the question of political rights for potential new citizens to the level of congressional debate. The discussion of voting rights for potential new citizens (Dominicans, Indians, Mormons, Hawaiians, Filipinos, Puerto Ricans) created a political context for a national discussion of woman suffrage in an age of states' rights. Had the United States not been such an expansive nation after the Civil War, suffragists would have had a much harder time raising their question in Congress.
Elizabeth Hayes Turner
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195086881
- eISBN:
- 9780199854578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195086881.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter discusses the woman suffrage movement in the South from a local perspective. Suffragists comprised the first Progressive Era group to promote the rights of women for the sake of their ...
More
This chapter discusses the woman suffrage movement in the South from a local perspective. Suffragists comprised the first Progressive Era group to promote the rights of women for the sake of their own equality. The Galveston Equal Suffrage Association should be credited with steering the momentum of women's public activism in two directions: suffragists sought to make permanent the gains made by women civic activists and voting rights would allow them to directly elect public officials whom they would hold accountable for sanitation and civic movement. The Galveston Equal Suffrage Association sharpened their focus on the progressive women's community. They sought gains for women in equal pay for equal work, in property rights for married women and equal opportunity in the workplace. For many, these ideas were too abstract, too unconnected. But suffragists provided a radicalizing influence for the women of Galveston.Less
This chapter discusses the woman suffrage movement in the South from a local perspective. Suffragists comprised the first Progressive Era group to promote the rights of women for the sake of their own equality. The Galveston Equal Suffrage Association should be credited with steering the momentum of women's public activism in two directions: suffragists sought to make permanent the gains made by women civic activists and voting rights would allow them to directly elect public officials whom they would hold accountable for sanitation and civic movement. The Galveston Equal Suffrage Association sharpened their focus on the progressive women's community. They sought gains for women in equal pay for equal work, in property rights for married women and equal opportunity in the workplace. For many, these ideas were too abstract, too unconnected. But suffragists provided a radicalizing influence for the women of Galveston.
Judith N. McArthur and Harold L. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195304862
- eISBN:
- 9780199871537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304862.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter argues that Minnie Fisher Cunningham's four terms as president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association were central to its becoming one of the largest and most politically effective in ...
More
This chapter argues that Minnie Fisher Cunningham's four terms as president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association were central to its becoming one of the largest and most politically effective in the South. Cooperating closely with the leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she built an effective lobbying “machine” for woman suffrage, and attracted favorable publicity by committing the TESA membership to patriotic work during World War I. In a region implacably opposed to voting rights for women, Cunningham was one of the few Southern suffragists who got results: in 1918 the Texas legislature conceded women the right to vote in primary elections. Although Cunningham astutely portrayed suffragists as “above” politics, the chapter presents evidence that she exploited a rift in the Democratic Party over the prohibition issue and a bitter gubernatorial primary fight between William Hobby and James Ferguson, promising to deliver the female vote to the incumbent, Hobby, in return for a primary suffrage bill.Less
This chapter argues that Minnie Fisher Cunningham's four terms as president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association were central to its becoming one of the largest and most politically effective in the South. Cooperating closely with the leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she built an effective lobbying “machine” for woman suffrage, and attracted favorable publicity by committing the TESA membership to patriotic work during World War I. In a region implacably opposed to voting rights for women, Cunningham was one of the few Southern suffragists who got results: in 1918 the Texas legislature conceded women the right to vote in primary elections. Although Cunningham astutely portrayed suffragists as “above” politics, the chapter presents evidence that she exploited a rift in the Democratic Party over the prohibition issue and a bitter gubernatorial primary fight between William Hobby and James Ferguson, promising to deliver the female vote to the incumbent, Hobby, in return for a primary suffrage bill.
Judith N. McArthur and Harold L. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195304862
- eISBN:
- 9780199871537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304862.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter situates Minnie Fisher Cunningham in the voluntary association culture of the Progressive Era, and traces her emergence as an activist and social reformer in Galveston in the 1910s. ...
More
This chapter situates Minnie Fisher Cunningham in the voluntary association culture of the Progressive Era, and traces her emergence as an activist and social reformer in Galveston in the 1910s. Through voluntary associations such as women's clubs and civic organizations, Cunningham and other urban middle-class women invented new roles for themselves as child welfare advocates and municipal housekeepers. Defining the city as an extension of the home and using maternalist rhetoric to deflect male criticism, they shaped a female public culture that was the precondition for the emergence of a broad-based woman suffrage movement. Cunningham followed the path from clubwoman and civic activist to suffragist, serving as president of the Galveston Equal Suffrage Association, and as a travelling organizer for the state suffrage association, which elected her as president in 1915.Less
This chapter situates Minnie Fisher Cunningham in the voluntary association culture of the Progressive Era, and traces her emergence as an activist and social reformer in Galveston in the 1910s. Through voluntary associations such as women's clubs and civic organizations, Cunningham and other urban middle-class women invented new roles for themselves as child welfare advocates and municipal housekeepers. Defining the city as an extension of the home and using maternalist rhetoric to deflect male criticism, they shaped a female public culture that was the precondition for the emergence of a broad-based woman suffrage movement. Cunningham followed the path from clubwoman and civic activist to suffragist, serving as president of the Galveston Equal Suffrage Association, and as a travelling organizer for the state suffrage association, which elected her as president in 1915.
Melissa R. Klapper
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814748947
- eISBN:
- 9780814749463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814748947.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter traces Jewish women's suffrage activism from the creation of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890 through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and ...
More
This chapter traces Jewish women's suffrage activism from the creation of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890 through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and its aftermath. Jewish women primarily worked for suffrage as individuals, though intense debate flourished among Jewish women's groups. The American Jewish press also devoted time and space to suffrage, and rabbis aired the issue within the community. Once the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in August 1920, Jewish women moved to apply their new rights to their sense of Jewish communal status as well as American citizenship. Indeed, immediately after winning the vote, the members of the sisterhood of The Temple in Atlanta successfully demanded representation on the synagogue board.Less
This chapter traces Jewish women's suffrage activism from the creation of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890 through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and its aftermath. Jewish women primarily worked for suffrage as individuals, though intense debate flourished among Jewish women's groups. The American Jewish press also devoted time and space to suffrage, and rabbis aired the issue within the community. Once the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in August 1920, Jewish women moved to apply their new rights to their sense of Jewish communal status as well as American citizenship. Indeed, immediately after winning the vote, the members of the sisterhood of The Temple in Atlanta successfully demanded representation on the synagogue board.
Terence Ball
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279952
- eISBN:
- 9780191598753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279957.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Here, I re‐examine the sources of John Stuart Mill's feminist sympathies. After looking closely at two oft‐touted candidates—Jeremy Bentham and Harriet Taylor Mill—I conclude that neither played the ...
More
Here, I re‐examine the sources of John Stuart Mill's feminist sympathies. After looking closely at two oft‐touted candidates—Jeremy Bentham and Harriet Taylor Mill—I conclude that neither played the role attributed to them by some modern feminists. A third and heretofore unsuspected thinker—namely his own father, James Mill—proves to be a much more plausible and probable source of the younger Mill's feminist views.Less
Here, I re‐examine the sources of John Stuart Mill's feminist sympathies. After looking closely at two oft‐touted candidates—Jeremy Bentham and Harriet Taylor Mill—I conclude that neither played the role attributed to them by some modern feminists. A third and heretofore unsuspected thinker—namely his own father, James Mill—proves to be a much more plausible and probable source of the younger Mill's feminist views.
Judith N. McArthur and Harold L. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195304862
- eISBN:
- 9780199871537
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304862.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Minnie Fisher Cunningham was Texas's most important 20th-century political activist. Best known for directing Texas's successful woman suffrage campaign, she played an important role in the national ...
More
Minnie Fisher Cunningham was Texas's most important 20th-century political activist. Best known for directing Texas's successful woman suffrage campaign, she played an important role in the national suffrage movement, helped to establish the League of Women Voters, and served as its first executive secretary. One of the first American women to pursue a career in party politics, she was a founder and resident director of the Woman's National Democratic Club, and in 1927 became acting head of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee. Cunningham ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Senate from Texas in 1928, and in the late 1930s returned to Washington, D.C. to work for the New Deal. She was so successful in presenting its policies to women's groups that the Democratic National Committee considered her the South's best political organizer. From 1944, when she ran for governor as a pro-New Deal candidate, until the end of her life, she was a leader of the Texas liberal movement and helped build an electoral coalition of women, minorities and male reformers within the Texas Democratic Party. An advocate for farmers and labor unions, and an opponent of gender, class, and racial discrimination in a conservative state, she helped to develop a Left Feminism allied with left-liberal organizations to press for expanded democracy and fundamental social change. Her forty years of activism helps fill in the still-emerging narrative of female political activism between the demise of the first women's movement after 1920 and the rebirth of feminism in the 1960s.Less
Minnie Fisher Cunningham was Texas's most important 20th-century political activist. Best known for directing Texas's successful woman suffrage campaign, she played an important role in the national suffrage movement, helped to establish the League of Women Voters, and served as its first executive secretary. One of the first American women to pursue a career in party politics, she was a founder and resident director of the Woman's National Democratic Club, and in 1927 became acting head of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee. Cunningham ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Senate from Texas in 1928, and in the late 1930s returned to Washington, D.C. to work for the New Deal. She was so successful in presenting its policies to women's groups that the Democratic National Committee considered her the South's best political organizer. From 1944, when she ran for governor as a pro-New Deal candidate, until the end of her life, she was a leader of the Texas liberal movement and helped build an electoral coalition of women, minorities and male reformers within the Texas Democratic Party. An advocate for farmers and labor unions, and an opponent of gender, class, and racial discrimination in a conservative state, she helped to develop a Left Feminism allied with left-liberal organizations to press for expanded democracy and fundamental social change. Her forty years of activism helps fill in the still-emerging narrative of female political activism between the demise of the first women's movement after 1920 and the rebirth of feminism in the 1960s.
Iain McLean
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295297
- eISBN:
- 9780191599873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295294.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
A case study of the great Victorian electoral realignment. Corrects existing claims about landslide elections, and tabulates the bias and responsiveness of the UK electoral system from 1868 to 1918. ...
More
A case study of the great Victorian electoral realignment. Corrects existing claims about landslide elections, and tabulates the bias and responsiveness of the UK electoral system from 1868 to 1918. Examines the opportunities and problems for politicians in two‐dimensional space. A new account of the reasons for Gladstone's failure to achieve Home Rule for Ireland in 1886 and 1893 is offered, as is a solution to the puzzle of why politicians whose interest lay in widening the franchise after 1900, especially by introducing women's suffrage, failed to do so.Less
A case study of the great Victorian electoral realignment. Corrects existing claims about landslide elections, and tabulates the bias and responsiveness of the UK electoral system from 1868 to 1918. Examines the opportunities and problems for politicians in two‐dimensional space. A new account of the reasons for Gladstone's failure to achieve Home Rule for Ireland in 1886 and 1893 is offered, as is a solution to the puzzle of why politicians whose interest lay in widening the franchise after 1900, especially by introducing women's suffrage, failed to do so.
Melba Porter Hay
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813125329
- eISBN:
- 9780813135236
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813125329.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Preeminent Kentucky reformer and women's rights advocate Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1872–1920) was at the forefront of social change during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ...
More
Preeminent Kentucky reformer and women's rights advocate Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1872–1920) was at the forefront of social change during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Breckinridge had a remarkably varied activist career that included roles in the promotion of public health, education, women's rights, and charity. Founder of the Lexington Civic League and Associated Charities, she successfully lobbied to create parks and playgrounds and to establish a juvenile court system in Kentucky. Breckinridge also became president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, served as vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and even campaigned across the country for the League of Nations. This book draws on newly discovered correspondence and rich personal interviews with her female associates to illuminate the fascinating life of this important Kentucky activist. Balancing Breckinridge's public reform efforts with her private concerns, it tells the story of her marriage to Desha Breckinridge, editor of the Lexington Herald, and how she used the match to her advantage by promoting social causes in the newspaper. The book also chronicles her ordeals with tuberculosis and amputation, and emotionally trying episodes of family betrayal and sex scandals. It describes how Breckinridge's physical struggles and personal losses transformed her from a privileged socialite into a selfless advocate for the disadvantaged. Later, as vice president of the National American Women Suffrage Association, she lobbied for Kentucky's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920. While devoting much of her life to the woman suffrage movement on the local and national levels, Breckinridge also supported the antituberculosis movement, social programs for the poor, compulsory school attendance, and laws regulating child labor.Less
Preeminent Kentucky reformer and women's rights advocate Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1872–1920) was at the forefront of social change during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Breckinridge had a remarkably varied activist career that included roles in the promotion of public health, education, women's rights, and charity. Founder of the Lexington Civic League and Associated Charities, she successfully lobbied to create parks and playgrounds and to establish a juvenile court system in Kentucky. Breckinridge also became president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, served as vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and even campaigned across the country for the League of Nations. This book draws on newly discovered correspondence and rich personal interviews with her female associates to illuminate the fascinating life of this important Kentucky activist. Balancing Breckinridge's public reform efforts with her private concerns, it tells the story of her marriage to Desha Breckinridge, editor of the Lexington Herald, and how she used the match to her advantage by promoting social causes in the newspaper. The book also chronicles her ordeals with tuberculosis and amputation, and emotionally trying episodes of family betrayal and sex scandals. It describes how Breckinridge's physical struggles and personal losses transformed her from a privileged socialite into a selfless advocate for the disadvantaged. Later, as vice president of the National American Women Suffrage Association, she lobbied for Kentucky's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920. While devoting much of her life to the woman suffrage movement on the local and national levels, Breckinridge also supported the antituberculosis movement, social programs for the poor, compulsory school attendance, and laws regulating child labor.
Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501705557
- eISBN:
- 9781501713200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501705557.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on men, the only empowered contingent of the suffrage movement. While some men had always voiced support for woman suffrage, no sustained men's organization existed in the state ...
More
This chapter focuses on men, the only empowered contingent of the suffrage movement. While some men had always voiced support for woman suffrage, no sustained men's organization existed in the state until 1908. That year, Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, encouraged the founding of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage, which then served as an affiliate of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. These elite white men, often raised or living in suffrage households, risked embarrassment and censure by publicly displaying their support for woman suffrage. As their participation became routine, the novelty of it wore off. These privileged male champions of woman suffrage inspired men of other classes—including urban immigrants and rural, upstate men—to reconsider their suffrage stance. This unique aspect of the suffrage coalition thereby played a lesser but crucial role in winning the vote for women.Less
This chapter focuses on men, the only empowered contingent of the suffrage movement. While some men had always voiced support for woman suffrage, no sustained men's organization existed in the state until 1908. That year, Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, encouraged the founding of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage, which then served as an affiliate of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. These elite white men, often raised or living in suffrage households, risked embarrassment and censure by publicly displaying their support for woman suffrage. As their participation became routine, the novelty of it wore off. These privileged male champions of woman suffrage inspired men of other classes—including urban immigrants and rural, upstate men—to reconsider their suffrage stance. This unique aspect of the suffrage coalition thereby played a lesser but crucial role in winning the vote for women.
Susan Goodier
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037474
- eISBN:
- 9780252094675
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037474.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Activities of the anti-suffrage movement ebbed and flowed with those of the suffrage movement, suggesting the responsive nature of both movements. This chapter focuses on this process. The leadership ...
More
Activities of the anti-suffrage movement ebbed and flowed with those of the suffrage movement, suggesting the responsive nature of both movements. This chapter focuses on this process. The leadership of Alice Hill Chittenden, elected in the fall of 1912 to serve as president of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, accounts for the increased politicization of the anti-suffrage movement. Anti-suffragists won this battle, apparent in the results of the November 1915 referendum. However, it is also apparent by 1915 that anti-suffrage leaders faced serious challenges to their campaign to prevent enfranchisement, leading to a far different campaign for the 1917 referendum.Less
Activities of the anti-suffrage movement ebbed and flowed with those of the suffrage movement, suggesting the responsive nature of both movements. This chapter focuses on this process. The leadership of Alice Hill Chittenden, elected in the fall of 1912 to serve as president of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, accounts for the increased politicization of the anti-suffrage movement. Anti-suffragists won this battle, apparent in the results of the November 1915 referendum. However, it is also apparent by 1915 that anti-suffrage leaders faced serious challenges to their campaign to prevent enfranchisement, leading to a far different campaign for the 1917 referendum.
Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501705557
- eISBN:
- 9781501713200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501705557.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter recounts how, following a period of deliberate self-assessment and revision between 1908 and 1910, a new generation of woman suffrage activists revitalized their cause, demonstrating the ...
More
This chapter recounts how, following a period of deliberate self-assessment and revision between 1908 and 1910, a new generation of woman suffrage activists revitalized their cause, demonstrating the fluidity and responsiveness of the movement to modernity. As they challenged traditional notions of womanhood, “new woman” suffragists appropriated modern technology, harnessing the power of beauty and imagery to elevate the notion of woman suffrage. They redirected public opinion by making suffrage modern, fashionable, and commonplace. In effect, when radical women enhanced and transformed the popular perception of woman suffrage in the early twentieth century, they coalesced some of the distinctly different suffrage groups as they made the cause both exciting and impossible to ignore.Less
This chapter recounts how, following a period of deliberate self-assessment and revision between 1908 and 1910, a new generation of woman suffrage activists revitalized their cause, demonstrating the fluidity and responsiveness of the movement to modernity. As they challenged traditional notions of womanhood, “new woman” suffragists appropriated modern technology, harnessing the power of beauty and imagery to elevate the notion of woman suffrage. They redirected public opinion by making suffrage modern, fashionable, and commonplace. In effect, when radical women enhanced and transformed the popular perception of woman suffrage in the early twentieth century, they coalesced some of the distinctly different suffrage groups as they made the cause both exciting and impossible to ignore.
Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501705557
- eISBN:
- 9781501713200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501705557.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter discusses how women suffragists engaged in legislative and political maneuvering in the crucial years between 1915 and 1917. Rural, immigrant, and black women rarely had the ability to ...
More
This chapter discusses how women suffragists engaged in legislative and political maneuvering in the crucial years between 1915 and 1917. Rural, immigrant, and black women rarely had the ability to lobby the state legislature directly. Mainstream suffragists, however—eventually fortified by male supporters—maintained their legislative lobbying efforts throughout the entire movement. Although the suffrage referendum failed in 1915, ever-resilient suffrage activists immediately rallied to analyze their shortcomings, draw on extensive experience, and systematically target male politicians and voters. After decades of disappointment on the part of suffragists, New York men finally acknowledged women's inherent right to the franchise with their own votes. Thus, the chapter challenges the prevalent idea that the right of women to vote came as a consequence of their war work, arguing instead that almost seventy years of women's tenacious efforts culminated in 1917 with the New York suffrage campaign victory.Less
This chapter discusses how women suffragists engaged in legislative and political maneuvering in the crucial years between 1915 and 1917. Rural, immigrant, and black women rarely had the ability to lobby the state legislature directly. Mainstream suffragists, however—eventually fortified by male supporters—maintained their legislative lobbying efforts throughout the entire movement. Although the suffrage referendum failed in 1915, ever-resilient suffrage activists immediately rallied to analyze their shortcomings, draw on extensive experience, and systematically target male politicians and voters. After decades of disappointment on the part of suffragists, New York men finally acknowledged women's inherent right to the franchise with their own votes. Thus, the chapter challenges the prevalent idea that the right of women to vote came as a consequence of their war work, arguing instead that almost seventy years of women's tenacious efforts culminated in 1917 with the New York suffrage campaign victory.
