Women’s Suffrage
Progressive Era
From: Understanding American Citizenship
History Standards: 11.5.4
Analyze the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and the changing role of women in society.
CCSS Standards: Reading, Grades 11-12
1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources,
connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing
how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how
Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
5. Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences,
paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
6. Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing
the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.
8. Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them
with other information.
Writing, Grades 11-12
2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific
procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter
time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes,
and audiences.
Guiding Question:
How did women’s position in society shift between the 1800s and early 1900s?
Overview of Lesson:
Materials:
Source: From Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Why Women Should Not Seek
the Vote,” 1869. Reprinted in Women and the National Experience, pp.100-101 2nd Edition,
Ellen Skinner, Copyright 2003 by Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers
Source: From Alice Paul “Why the Suffrage Struggle Must Continue,” The Suffragist, April 21,
1917 Reprinted in Women and the National Experience, pp.168 2nd Edition, Ellen Skinner,
Copyright 2003 by Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers
Two Day Sequence:
1. Warm Up: Have students individually write their responses to the following in a
paragraph.
a. Why does the right to vote matter?
b. How do we prove that all people are treated equally in this nation?
c. Do you believe men and women are treated equally in America today?
A SHORT class discussion may ensue as students share out their answers. If
discussion lingers, save the third question and have student revisit it after the
lesson is complete, and discuss it then.
2. Show students a short PowerPoint presentation disclosing the basic facts surrounding
women’s suffrage. Students should take notes on the presentation in whatever format
you usually encourage. Make sure to define key vocabulary (suffrage, etc) as you go.
3. If time permits, watch a clip of Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage by Soomo Publishing
at the end of the lecture.
4. At the beginning of Day 2, have students do a quick warm –up that will require them to
review their notes. Ask about the meaning of suffrage, who the key players were, why
women asked for the vote, and when/where the movement started.
5. Pass out primary source texts to students, along with worksheets. Read “Why Women
Should Not Seek the Vote” as a class, with appropriate step asides for vocabulary and
clarifying questions (included on the reading). Ask the students what the document’s
goal is. Go through the worksheet questions and have students confer with a partner for
a few minutes, then ask the whole class for answers (this is a good time for random
calls). After the first document and worksheet are completed, have students work in
pairs to complete the second.
6. After students complete their primary source analysis (or for homework), have them
address the following question in paragraph form:
a. Describe the transitioning role of women from the 1800s through the early
1900s. Ask them to be specific in their summaries.
Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Why Women Should Not Seek the Vote” (1869)
Questions
Text
1. Who are intelligent
and benevolent
persons that
Catherine Beecher
and Harriet Beecher
Stowe refer to?
2. What is the grand
remedy that these
intelligent and
benevolent people
want?
3. Why do Catherine
Beecher and Harriet
Beecher Stowe think
it is dangerous to
bring women into the
political sphere?
4. What is the first
argument that
Catherine Beecher
and Harriet Beecher
Stowe make against
women needing the
right to vote?
5. What solution do
Catherine Beecher
and Harriet Beecher
Stowe offer?
6. How does Catherine
Beecher and Harriet
Beecher Stowe
describe men? What
does that make
women?
7. What do women
have to gain with the
right to vote?
8. According to
Catherine Beecher
and Harriet Beecher
Stowe when will
women get the right
to vote?
Many intelligent and benevolent persons imagine
that the grand remedy for the heavy evils that
oppress our sex is to introduce woman to political
power and office, to make her a party in primary
political meetings, in political caucuses, and in the
scramble and fight for political offices; thus bringing
into this dangerous melee the distinctive tempting
power of her sex. Who can look at this new danger
without dismay?...
Glossary
benevolent- well
meaning
caucuses- a
meeting of the
members of a
legislative body who
are members or a
particular political
party, to select
candidates or
decide policy.
melee - a confused
fight, skirmish,
scuffle
Let us suppose that our friends have gained the
ballot and the powers of office: are there any real
beneficent measures for our sex, which they would
enforce by law and penalties, that fathers, brothers,
and husbands would not grant to a united petition of
our sex, or even to a majority of the wise and good?
Would these not confer what the wives, mothers,
and sisters deemed best for themselves and their
children they are to train, very much sooner than
they would give power and office to our sex to
enforce these advantages by law? Would it not be
wiser thing to ask for what we need, before trying to
so circuitous and dangerous method? God has
given to man the physical power, so that all that
woman may gain, either by petitions or by ballot, will
be the gift of love or of duty; and the ballot never will
be accorded till benevolent and conscientious men
are the majority - a millennial point far beyond our
present ken.
beneficent- good
confer- grant or
bestow
circuitous- longer
than the most direct
way
conscientiouswishing to do what
is right, to do one’s
work well and
thoroughly
millennial- a period
of righteousness
and happiness
ken- one’s range of
knowledge or sight
Alice Paul, Why the Suffrage Struggle Must Continue (1917)
Questions
Text
Glossary
1. What was decided
at the national
convention?
2. What is the
“highest interest of
the country” that
the Nation
Women’s party is
serving?
3. As democracy is
increasing in the
face of war, what
are women facing
at home (in the
U.S.)?
4. Within the
Democratic
caucus what are
willing to discuss?
5. According to Paul,
what war measure
will create the
greatest sense of
unity?
6. What does Paul
mean, “It will
always be difficult
to wage a war for
democracy abroad
while democracy
is denied at
home.”?
7. Do you find Paul’s
linking suffrage to
the U.S.
involvement in
World War I
persuasive?
In our national convention in March, our members,
though differing widely on the duty of the individual in
war, were unanimous in voting that in event of war
the Nation Women’s party, as an organization, should
continue to work for political liberty for women and for
that alone, believing, as the convention resolution
stated, that in so doing the organization “serves the
highest interest of the country.”...
unanimous- two or
more people fully in
agreement
Never was there greater need of work for internal
freedom in this country. At the very moment when
democracy is increasing among nations in the throes
of war, women in the United States are told that
attempts at electoral reforms are out of place until
war is over. The Democrats have decided in caucus
that only war measures shall be included in their
legislative program, and have announced that they
will take up no new subjects, unless the President
considers them of value for war purposes. Suffrage
has not yet been included under his head...No “war
measure” that has been suggested would contribute
more toward establishing unity in the country, than
would the giving of suffrage to all the people. It will
always be difficult to wage a war for democracy
abroad while democracy is denied at home.
throes- intense or
violent pain and
struggle
electoral reformschange in systems
to improve public
desires
caucus- A closed
meeting of party
members within a
legislative body to
decide on questions
of policy
Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Why Women Should Not Seek the Vote” (1869)
1. Who are intelligent and benevolent persons that Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe
refer to?
2. What is the grand remedy that these intelligent and benevolent people want?
3. Why do Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe think it is dangerous to bring women into
the political sphere?
4. What is the first argument that Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe make against
women needing the right to vote?
5. What solution do Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe offer?
6. How does Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe describe men? What does that make
women?
7. What do women have to gain with the right to vote?
8. According to Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe when will women get the right to
vote?
9. Do you find Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s argument compelling? Cite
specifics from the text to defend your position.
Alice Paul, Why the Suffrage Struggle Must Continue (1917)
1. What was decided at the national convention?
2. What is the “highest interest of the country” that the Nation Women’s party is serving?
3. As democracy is increasing in the face of war, what are women facing at home (in the
U.S.)?
4. Within the Democratic caucus what are willing to discuss?
5. According to Paul, what war measure will create the greatest sense of unity?
6. What does Paul mean, “It will always be difficult to wage a war for democracy abroad while
democracy is denied at home.”?
7. Do you find Paul’s linking suffrage to the U.S. involvement in World War I persuasive? Why
or why not? Cite specifics from the text.