March 12, 1776 – Beginning of Women’s Suffrage in America

In Baltimore, Maryland, newspapers made recognition of the fairer sex, which would be much needed as the troubles with the mother country became increasingly violent. A blurb noted, "The necessity of taking all imaginable care of those who may happen to be wounded in the country's cause, urges us to address our humane ladies, to lend us their kind assistance in furnishing us with linen rags and old sheeting, for bandages." As the newspapers came out early, posted bills appeared that evening reading, “Our country’s cause for liberty includes us all”, reiterating the need for women to help as well as noting that men would need to share their liberty when granted. The appeal for aid would be crucial to the American war effort as well as to the quick pace of suffrage for women in the soon-to-be independent colonies.

Over the course of the Revolutionary War, women did aid in many ways such as tending to farms and businesses while men were gone to war, collecting supplies, tending to the wounded, and even participating in battle. Molly Pitcher, the nickname for who is believed to be Mary Hays, aided her husband during the darkest days of Valley Forge and even assisted in firing the cannon when he collapsed at the Battle of Monmouth. Thomas Paine (whom many began to suspect was merely making his name and fortune by writing fiery notions) produced a companion to his popular The Crisis entitled The Warm Hearth to encourage the home front as he had the soldiers. He wrote, “These are the times that try women's souls: The harvest wife and sunshine sweetheart will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but she that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” He was much criticized for holding women in an esteem that would not be seen commonly in England until the late Victorian Era, but the bold voice was echoed by women throughout the Revolution, notably Abigail Adams as she wrote to her husband.

It would be the words of Abigail Adams that would finally assure a permanent political voice for American women. She had written her husband during the Continental Congress that she longed for a declaration of independence and, “…by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.” The words would seemingly fall under blind eyes in 1776, but in 1787, at the Constitutional Convention, they would be reiterated along with the demands of thousands of women for the vote. Interestingly, the reason Mr. Adams attended was that he had been passed over for Minister to Britain in favor of Thomas Paine, whose growing fame among the womenfolk had made him irksome to many in Congress and wanted him more distant.

Men at the Congress were not so certain. Along with the cries for recognition were the knowing nods of conservatism, fearing what pure democracy could do to a country legally torn apart by the mob (as would be seen some years later in the French Revolution). Finally, however, Abigail would write to John about the issue of the three-fifth compromise with the struggles for the South to get representation for their population while having slaves unable to vote. Women were allowed to vote in some of the states; for example, Lydia Taft of Massachusetts had won her vote in a town all meeting after the deaths of her husband and son left her the head of the family, and New Jersey listed the only restriction on general suffrage to be possessing only £50 in cash or property. Mrs. Adams noted that if voting rights were expanded in the North with its largely Federalist leaning, they would gain an advantage on popular referenda.

Adams skillfully weaved the point into the discussion in the convention and later Constitution when the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights provided for universal suffrage dependent upon property. Many local laws had already changed to be more welcoming of women, and the national consensus finally included the voice of women. Many famous ladies would speak up for rights, such as Representatives Frances Wright in 1840. The first female United States Senator, Elizabeth Caddy Stanton, would be instrumental in legislation that would solve the slavery question by gradual emancipation with reimbursement to masters after instilling legal requirements for humane treatment. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, many women in the federal government would be praised for their works of social reform, though they would also be criticized for limiting America’s potential in expansionism, particularly in the cases of independence retained to new territories in the Philippines, Hawaii, Cuba, and Nicaragua.


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In reality, women’s suffrage was an unheard matter in the Revolution, despite examples of general suffrage such as in New Jersey (which illegally amended its laws to be limited to men in 1809). The struggle would continue over a century through lectures and conferences such as the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Finally, in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment stated, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote are not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

August 28, 1917 - Suffragette Killed while Protesting President

Suffrage for women in the United States was an uphill struggle. Despite even the reminder from the earliest days of the Revolution with Abigail Adams writing to her husband, "Don't forget the Ladies," the right to vote had been kept from women for over a century. While many abolitionists worked with the suffrage movement, once the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments provided rights for African Americans, women's suffrage seemed forgotten. Leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Caddy Stanton continued the fight, but great political ground was made until well into the twentieth century.

America had joined World War I in April of 1917 amid a fair amount of protest of the involvement in Europe's war. President Woodrow Wilson used propaganda machines to keep the war popular, showing films of troops in training, "minute-men" giving public speeches over the importance of making the world safe for democracy, and upholding ideals of everything American. Meanwhile, the National Woman's Party, the renamed union of many women's suffrage organizations, used negative publicity against the President. He was routinely questioned why women weren't in his agenda of support for all humankind. Women picketed the White House with placards demanding the right to vote. Other placards displayed anti-war slogans, which was growing among the movement.

The protesters, nicknamed the "Silent Sentinels", had gradually ended their silence days before. As the President drove by, tipping his hat as he usually did, the women shouted at him. Outraged bystanders began to clash with the protesters, and eventually the police were brought in to calm the situation by arresting many of the women on charges of obstructing traffic. In the altercation, one of the leaders of the suffragettes, Alice Paul of New Jersey, violently slipped out of a policeman's grasp and fell, hitting her head on the pavement. Police and protesters alike attempted medical help, but Alice died in a matter of minutes. The women rose up in what many called a "riot", but police quickly arrested whoever they could catch to be placed in the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia.

As the media and the remainders of the NWP spread word about the death, Wilson faced a public relations disaster. In a change from his usual quiet on the subject, he approached Congress with a speech requesting women's suffrage, noting that they "were willing to die, just as any man in the Revolution had been." Meanwhile, the negative press only grew as the arrested women entered hunger strikes. Potential bills flew around the Congress, drowning out suggestions for a temperance amendment controlling alcohol. Opposition to suffrage repeated pseudo-scientific evidence that women had smaller brains, and it was on a demand that women could think just as well as men that a solution was found. Common throughout the South, poll tests would be established to prove literacy and basic knowledge of citizenship for a voter. The Eighteenth Amendment, establishing the National Poll Test, would be ratified January 6, 1919. Any citizen of the United States, male or female, black or white, and even of any age, could vote after passing the test and proving merit.

As the Test went into use around the United States, it became steadily obvious that, statistically, the poor would be the first to be turned away from voting. Only a few who recognized this matter took it seriously, and of those, there were ones who used it to their advantage. Workers' rights were a question of the unskilled laborers, but the increasing difficulty of the Test kept them from voting. As the economy sank into the Great Depression, social leaders spoke out against the Test. Facing his own public relations issues, President Franklin Roosevelt urged Congress to repeal the amendment with a new amendment continuing the guarantee the vote for all adults, men and women. The Nineteenth Amendment would repeal the Eighteenth in 1933, the first of many political shifts for the nation.

Although ignored in 1917, the idea of the prohibition of alcohol would arise again in 1937 along with the control of marijuana. After two decades of facing an explosion in organized crime, these measures, too, would be repealed under the presidency of Stuart Symington in 1963 shortly before his assassination in Dallas, Texas.


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In reality, no one was seriously injured at the NWP protest, though many were arrested, including leaders Lucy Burns and Alice Paul. While in Occoquan Workhouse, they would begin hunger strikes that would lead to them being force-fed while under psychiatric watch. The resulting negative press would push the government for an amendment to give women the vote, but not until after the Eighteenth Amendment began the Great Experiment of prohibition.