Alice Paul

Centennial Of 19th Amendment On August 18, 2020: Time For A Woman VP And Eventually President!

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On August 18, 2020, we will be celebrating the centennial of the 19th Amendment, giving all women the right to vote.

The battle for women suffrage was a long, hard fought struggle for 72 years, since the first national call for the right to vote for women occurred at the Seneca Falls, New York Equal Rights Convention in 1848.

It took fifty years after the 15th Amendment, giving African American men the right to vote in 1870, before the battle for women, white and nonwhite, to gain that similar right was accomplished, as it was thought to be too extreme and radical after the Civil War, crazy as that is, when one looks back!

It was the work of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the convention, and over the next 72 years, Stanton continued her activism, and was joined in it by such figures as Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul.

And the final push for the 19th Amendment came from the first woman to serve in Congress, in the House of Representatives, Republican Jeanette Rankin of Montana.

Now, we will have a woman Vice Presidential nominee, to be announced soon by Joe Biden, and a strong chance that whoever is selected will become the first woman Vice President, and possibly, a future President!

Historic Changes In American Currency A Great Movement Forward!

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It is very inspiring to see recognition of race and gender on American currency for the first time in modern American history!

It is appropriate that Harriet Tubman be on the front of the $20 bill, with Andrew Jackson moved to the back.

It is also great that Alexander Hamilton remains on the front of the $10 bill, with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, and Sojourner Truth put on the back as a group, to mark their importance in the women suffrage movement.

And the back of the Abraham Lincoln $5 bill will have Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King. Jr on it.

The only truly controversial part is Jackson being switched from front to back on the $20 bill, but realize that Jackson destroyed the National Bank; condemned abolitionists working against slavery and was a slave owner himself; and forced the removal of five native American tribes to Oklahoma, the infamous “Trail of Tears”, which caused the death of more than 10,000.

So he is not being removed, but instead being placed on the back, with Harriet Truman, the heroic former slave who saved hundreds of slaves, being given recognition that is proper.

It is important that we give tribute to more than just white males on our currency, and show our appreciation of the sacrifices of these heroes and heroines!

95 Years Of Women Suffrage Has Changed The Nation Dramatically!

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On this day in 1920, women finally gained the right to vote on a national level, after a struggle begun as early as 1848 at the Equal Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

The heroines of the women suffrage movement included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Jeanne Rankin, among others, and also included many men.

72 years had passed, and many women had been arrested for marching for the right to vote, including under President Woodrow Wilson, who, ironically, opposed the 19th Amendment, but under whom the amendment was added to the Constitution.

The effect of the right to vote for women took time to sink in, but in the past 25 years, women have become an important factor in the success of the Democratic Party on the Presidential level, with the Democrats winning the national popular vote five of the last six elections, including the two elections of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and Al Gore, who was denied the Presidency by the machinations of the Republicans in the close election in Florida in 2000.

Most of the women who have been political leaders in the last century have been Democrats, but there have been a smattering of Republican women Governors, Senators, and House of Representatives members, as well as Mayors of cities.

The vast majority of women have voted Democratic regularly, due to the fact that the Democrats have dealt with real issues affecting women.

Meanwhile, the Republicans have done everything possible to alienate the majority of women—on issues of reproductive rights, labor rights, the issue of rape, the problems of minority women and single mothers, and so many other issues that affect women.

Additionally, Ann Coulter and others have called for the removal of the 19th Amendment, because of the reality that a majority of women vote for the Democrats, an idea which will never occur in the real world.

This is a massive mistake by the Republicans, as without support of a large percentage of women—including minority, single, young, and educated women—the GOP is destined to continue to lose elections for President over the long haul!

 

 

A New Push For The Equal Rights Amendment: Is It Possible?

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In 1972, the Congress passed the proposed Equal Rights Amendment for women overwhelmingly in both houses, and Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter supported it wholeheartedly over the next decade.

At the same time, Ronald Reagan opposed it, and it finally failed of passage by a shortage of three states in 1982, only gaining 35 of the 38 states required for ratification of an amendment!

90 years ago on July 21, 1923, Alice Paul first proposed the ERA, and it is time to take action on final ratification, with Democrats needing to support the end of the time limitation on the amendment.

So far, Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and also Elizabeth Warren, have not agreed to cosponsor such a change in the amendment process, but they need to.

The question is whether three more states can be convinced to ratify the ERA, if the time limitation is eliminated, since almost all of them are Southern states.

But the hope is that Illinois, Virginia and Nevada might be the states, but no certainty of course, but there is the old saying, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”! The fact that these three states were “Blue” in 2008 and 2012 give hope, and hope springs eternal!

100 Years Ago Sunday, The Woman Suffrage Parade In Washington, DC Took Place, A Day Before The Inauguration Of President Woodrow Wilson!

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The woman suffrage movement, which had begun with the Equal Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, used the occasion of the upcoming Presidential Inauguration of Woodrow Wilson to conduct a massive parade in Washington DC, the day before the inauguration, which is 100 years ago on March 3, with Wilson inaugurated the following day.

Alice Paul led the march of about 8,000 women, who were mobbed by tens of thousands of spectators, majority being men, who injured, shoved, and tripped many of the marchers, and in so doing, created a scandal and motivated the further push toward a constitutional amendment, which came about finally in 1920, despite President Wilson’s opposition, and his order of arrest of suffragettes on Pennsylvania Avenue, who regularly marched and demonstrated for the amendment.

The battle of women for equal protection and equal rights was at fever pitch then, as sadly it is now, as Republicans work at weakening the rights of women in all spheres of public life, including their rights to their own bodies, and to their right to avoid assault that cannot be prosecuted, something that happened too often in American history, and still goes on today!

Ironically, the sponsor of the 19th Amendment for woman suffrage was the first woman to serve in either house of Congress, Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin of Montana, who was a Republican, at a time when former President Theodore Roosevelt was advocating woman suffrage, as he did in his Progressive Party Presidential campaign the previous year, 1912!

92 Years Since 19th Amendment (Woman Suffrage) Was Ratified!

Ronald 16 Comments

Yesterday, August 18, was the 92nd anniversary of the 19th Amendment, the Woman Suffrage amendment.

The thought that it took two thirds of a century (72 years to be precise) to give women the right to vote is astounding in today’s world, but the fight began with the Equal Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, and was a struggle highlighted by the activism of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as well as Alice Paul and others. It finally came to fruition when Tennessee became the 36th state out of 48 to ratify in 1920.

Women had little influence on politics in the early years, but now women play a major role, although their representation comes nowhere near their percentage of the population (about 50.8 percent).

Women have been voting a majority Democratic for a long time, and women again could have a major role in the election, with a majority seeing the Republican Party as attacking women’s rights at work, their safety from abusive men, and control of their reproductive lives.

Many women are running for public office, and this might lead to an increase in Congress, and already, women have proved they can serve on the Supreme Court, in high cabinet positions, and have distinguished careers in Congress and the state legislatures and Governorships.

This anniversary is a moment to celebrate, and to remember the long struggle for the basic right everyone should have in a democracy without question, the right to vote!