
Why did some people oppose women’s suffrage?
Some people believed that if the government recognize a woman’s right to vote, she would no longer take care of her husband or children. Anti-suffragists also used newspapers and cartoons to demean the efforts of suffragists.
What did anti-suffragists believe about women’s rights?
Many anti-suffragists – or simply, ‘antis’ – vociferously believed that women’s place in society should change.
Why did men participate in anti-suffrage campaigns in America?
Both women and men participated in anti-suffrage campaigns in America. This movement was prompted by the fear that the family unit would break down if women participated in civic life. Some people believed that if the government recognize a woman’s right to vote, she would no longer take care of her husband or children.
What are the similarities between the American and British anti-suffrage movements?
The anti-suffrage movement in the US shared many similarities with its British counterpart. Much of the rhetoric about women’s roles in the domestic sphere and how the vote could threaten society was the same on both sides of the Atlantic, perhaps with a greater emphasis given to how American women having the vote would go against the will of God.

Why did anti suffragists oppose Woman Suffrage quizlet?
Anti suffrage movement: Opposed or went against the suffrage movement in that they believed granting women voting rights would lead to a moral decline with the neglect of children and an increase in divorce. This resistance came from mostly the South and Eastern regions of the U.S.
When did anti suffragists oppose Woman Suffrage?
The Anti-Suffragist, American periodical, from 1908 to 1912 the voice of a movement whose proponents opposed giving women the vote because they believed it contrary to nature. In July 1908 the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage published the first issue of The Anti-Suffragist.
Who opposed women's suffrage the most?
One of the most important anti-suffragist activists was Josephine Jewell Dodge, a founder and president of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. She came from a wealthy and influential New England family; her father, Marshall Jewell, served as a governor of Connecticut and U.S. postmaster general.
What did anti suffragists fight for?
Anti-suffragism was a largely Classical Conservative movement that sought to keep the status quo for women and which opposed the idea of giving women equal suffrage rights. It was closely associated with "domestic feminism," the belief that women had the right to complete freedom within the home.
What obstacles did the women's suffrage face?
August 18, 2020 marked 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. However, obstacles like poll taxes, literacy tests and other discriminatory state voting laws would keep Black women (and men) disenfranchised for a further 45 years.
How did men react to women's suffrage?
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the majority of men opposed the idea of allowing women to vote, and anti-suffrage cartoons depicted suffragists as ugly, scolding shrews set on emasculating mankind.
Who opposed women's voting rights in the 20s?
Southern states were adamantly opposed to the amendment, however, and seven of them—Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia—had already rejected it before Tennessee's vote on August 18, 1920.
Who fought for women's right to vote?
The leaders of this campaign—women like Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone and Ida B. Wells—did not always agree with one another, but each was committed to the enfranchisement of all American women.
What caused the women's suffrage movement?
From the founding of the United States, women were almost universally excluded from voting. Only when women began to chafe at this restriction, however, was their exclusion made explicit. The movement for woman suffrage started in the early 19th century during the agitation against slavery.
Who opposed women's suffrage in Britain?
Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire was home to one of the staunchest opponents of female suffrage, Lord Curzon, Co-president of the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage from 1912 to 1918. He maintained that women lacked the 'balance of mind' to use the vote.
When was the anti-suffrage Party founded?
18701870. The Anti-Suffrage Party is founded. Many people, including prominent women, such as Ellen Sherman, wife of General William Tecumseh Sherman, challenged the notion of suffrage as a “natural right,” and opposed its extension to women.
What were the effects of the women's rights movement?
Voting ensures women's reproductive and economic progress. The 19th Amendment helped millions of women move closer to equality in all aspects of American life. Women advocated for job opportunities, fairer wages, education, sex education, and birth control.
Who was against the 19th Amendment?
Southern states were adamantly opposed to the amendment, however, and seven of them—Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia—had already rejected it before Tennessee's vote on August 18, 1920. It was up to Tennessee to tip the scale for woman suffrage.
Who voted against the 19th Amendment?
Much of the opposition to the amendment came from Southern Democrats; only two former Confederate states (Texas and Arkansas) and three border states voted for ratification, with Kentucky and West Virginia not doing so until 1920. Alabama and Georgia were the first states to defeat ratification.
Why did Southern states oppose the 19th Amendment?
Item Description. This broadside outlines reasons why anti-suffragists opposed the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. They stated that the interests of women and men were generally the same, and that women were not "suffering from any injustice" that having the vote would change.
When did the women's suffrage movement start?
July 1848The first attempt to organize a national movement for women's rights occurred in Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848.
Why did some women oppose the suffrage movement?
Why? To a 21st-century perspective, especially more than 100 years since the process of granting women the vote began, it seems incompatible that women like Ward could oppose the suffrage movement. Regardless, hundreds of thousands signed petitions during the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and not all for reasons as backward as we may imagine.
Who spearheaded the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League?
To counter both the suffragists and Pankhurst’s suffragettes, Ward was persuaded to spearhead the new Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League. She had been approached by two men, Lord Curzon and Randal Cremer, who once refuted being a woman-hater in the House of Commons by saying he had married twice and was “too fond” of women to see them dragged into the political arena. The League first met on 21 July 1908 at the Westminster Palace Hotel.
What did the women of the suffrage movement write about?
Committed to the idea that the physical and emotional differences between the sexes made women wholly unsuitable for politics, they wrote prolifically, led an anti-suffrage organisation and gave speeches on how the woman’s role should be in the “domestic sphere”, while trying to ignore jeers from suffragettes in the audience.
Why is women's suffrage a dangerous leap in the dark?
The writer of a piece in The Times on 27 February 1909 made their position abundantly clear: “Women’s suffrage is a more dangerous leap in the dark because of the vast growth of the Empire, the immense increase of England’s imperial responsibilities, and therewith the increased complexity and risk of the problems which lie before our statesmen.”
How many people signed the petition against the vote in 1909?
By 1909, Ward claimed that 250,000 people (men and women) had signed a petition against the vote, and that the League had 15,000 paying members and more than 100 branches nationwide.
When did women get equal voting rights?
The government passed the Representation of the People Act in February 1918, awarding the vote to women over 30 (with property qualifications). It would take another decade until equal voting rights had been achieved, but some 8.4 million women had the chance to cast their ballot for the first time, and even vote for female candidates. But as the law that made that possible was passed, Ward sat in the House of Commons and burst into tears.
Who was the signatory of the 1889 Appeal?
The articles in Anti-Suffrage Review seemed tired and limp, antis swapped sides (including a signatory of the 1889 Appeal, Louise Creighton ) and the League had no hope of matching the suffragettes for headline-grabbing actions. Even the fact that Ward’s son Arnold was elected MP failed to stoke the fires within Parliament.
What was the role of the anti-suffragists in the campaign?
During their campaign, the responsibility was to uphold the government’s decision that women ought not to vote. But after their movement died, most of the anti-suffragists “did their duty and voted,” she says. “And many of them were proud of it.” The anti-suffragists were “ very, very interested in politics, and had been all along, but not in the same way that suffragists were.”
What were the anti-suffragists interested in?
The anti-suffragists were “ very, very interested in politics , and had been all along, but not in the same way that suffragists were.”. In the years after the 19th Amendment, women on both sides of the fence saw their predictions fall a bit flat.
What did the Massachusetts pamphlet say about women's suffrage?
It declared that granting voting rights to women “would be detrimental to the best interests of the State.”.
What would happen if women were allowed to vote?
Such pursuits would draw women away from their domestic duties, disrupting the balance of a society in which gender essentialism dictated daily operations. Some anti-suffrage campaigners even claimed that granting voting rights to women would cause households to break down.
What would it mean to give women voting rights?
Granting voting rights to all women would mean taking away some of their power. As the New York Times put it in 1894, “to give women the suffrage would only increase the ignorant vote and bring refined women into contact with an element that should not be brought into their lives.”.
What is the cartoon in which a man argues for anti-suffrage?
A cartoon in which a man argues for anti-suffrage, as a means of hoping his wife won’t see him with another woman. (Photo: Library of Congress/LC-USZC2-1202) The prospect of votes for women also posed a threat to the elite ladies who had grown accustomed to using their social status to exert political influence.
What was the anti-suffrage postcard?
(Photo: LSE/Public Domain) Most of the female leaders of the anti-suffrage movement, says Goodier, “were earnest, intelligent, often educated and professional women who sincerely believed that women, and the nation-state, would suffer when women achieved political equality with men.”.
Why did anti-suffragers argue that women did not want to vote?
Anti-suffragists argued that most women did not want the vote. Because they took care of the home and children, they said women did not have time to vote or stay updated on politics . Some argued women lacked the expertise or mental capacity to offer a useful opinion about political issues. Others asserted that women’s votes would simply double the electorate; voting would cost more without adding any new value.
What was the first state to have an anti-suffrage group?
Massachusetts was home to leading suffrage advocates, and it was also one of the first states with an organized anti-suffrage group. In the 1880s, anti-suffrage activists joined together and eventually became known as the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. In 1911, Josephine Dodge, who also led ...
What is the sign in the National Anti-Suffrage Association window?
Photograph shows men looking at material posted in the window of the National Anti-Suffrage Association headquarters; sign in window reads "Headquarters National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage".
Why did women not want to vote?
It contained reasons why women did not need to vote; for example, it suggested women did not want to or care to vote, because it would “mean competitions of women with men instead of co-operation,” and because “you do not need a ballot to clean out your sink.”.
When was the Women's Suffrage petition sent?
Sep 19, 2018. This petition was sent to the United States Senate and includes the names of women opposed to women’s suffrage in 1917. National Archives and Records Administration. Sep 19, 2018.
Who created the cartoon "Suffrage"?
This political cartoon was created in 1912 by Laura Foster and shows her views towards suffrage.
Who said women can't do are to frail to do military duty?
Molly Elliot Seawell 1911. Women can't do are to frail to do military duty, don't have knowledge of shipping, navigation, trainmen, and can't punish or catch a bad guy. Molly Elliot says...
What would happen if women abandoned their duties?
That women will abandon there duty's as a wife and mom like tending child, cooking, cleaning. If they do it will cause for poor health, and lower physique.
Will black women vote for the Democratic Party?
Black women will vote only for the democratic party. Moon say... colored population outnumbers the white, to double the number of ignorant voters by giving the colored woman the right to vote would produce a condition that would be absolutely intolerable. . 1.
