Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul : woman suffrage and gender
      bias in the American ideal

LaCoss, Joan Harkin.

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bias in the American ideal

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LaCoss, Joan Harkin.

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Thesis (M.A.L.S.)--Georgetown University, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. The woman suffrage movement in the United States was a reaction to gender bias in the American ideal. This protracted struggle started in Seneca Falls, New York, with the Women's Rights Convention of 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. The suffragists encountered many obstacles both outside and inside the movement. Outside tensions grew out of the inherent masculinity of a society that subscribed to the sentiment that women should be excluded from the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the equal rights of American democracy and citizenship. Inside tensions reflected differences in ideology, philosophy, and methodology among various suffrage factions. The years of the woman suffrage movement saw many social and political events and technological advancements. However, the development that led to perhaps the greatest challenge to the cultural tradition of female inferiority was the rise of radical feminist suffragists, particularly Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul. These women were true agents of change who rebelled against gender-based injustice to demand a political voice for women. Using the work of these three women as a basis, this thesis will consider two questions: 1. Why was the fight for suffrage so prolonged? and 2. Why was suffrage achieved in 1920 and not any other time?; This examination of the American Woman Suffrage Movement will begin with a review of the status of women in American society in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the establishment and evolution of the major suffrage organizations: the National Woman's Suffrage Association, the American Woman Suffrage Association, The National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the National Woman's Party. These events will be investigated in the context of the rise of radical feminist suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul; the impact of social, political, cultural developments and seemingly inexorable gender bias; the push for inclusion in the American ideal, and the work that ultimately resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution insuring the right to vote for all citizens.