Winning the vote: Seneca Falls to the 19th Amendment

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to E. Card A, Susan B. Anthony, address of 1873 (primary source; printed 1874, p. 153), to voters in Monroe and Ontario counties, New York, before her trial: "It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people — women as well as men. And it is downright mockery [a cruel joke] to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government — the ballot." Card B, Woodrow Wilson, address to the Senate in person, September 30, 1918 (primary source; printed 1924, p. 529): "We have made partners of the women in this war; shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?" Card C, Wilson, the same address (p. 530): "The tasks of the women lie at the very heart of the war, and I know how much stronger that heart will beat if you do this just thing and show our women that you trust them as much as you in fact and of necessity depend upon them." Card D, Chief Justice Morrison Waite for a unanimous Supreme Court, Minor v. Happersett, 1875 (primary source; casebook printing, 1913, p. 143): "Being unanimously of the opinion that the Constitution of the United States does not confer [give] the right of suffrage upon any one, and that the Constitutions and laws of the several States which commit that important trust to men alone are not necessarily void [of no force], we affirm the judgment." Card E, a summary in our words, written today: Virginia Minor argued that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the privileges of citizens, and that voting is one of them. The Court agreed that women were citizens, entitled to all the privileges of citizenship. But it held that voting was not one of those privileges.

2. 1.

   A critic says Wilson's wartime ground (cards B and C) leaves out women who did no war work. Ari asks how card A bears on the critic's point.

   • Anthony's ground is the war-service one, so card A leaves out those women as well
   • Wilson's appeal won the amendment, so rights arguments like Anthony's played no part
   • Anthony's rights ground covers every woman, so it answers the critic where Wilson's alone might not
   • Wilson's ground covers every woman as well, since the tasks of the women lie at the heart of the war
3. 2.

   Card D says the Constitution gives no one the vote. Card B asks the Senate to admit women to 'a partnership of privilege and right.' Esme asks how the two fit.

   • The Court said that Congress alone could extend the vote, and Wilson was following that ruling
   • Wilson's address replaced the ruling as law, since a later statement by a president outranks a Court
   • They answer different questions: what the Constitution required, and what Congress should do
   • Wilson's words show the Court had misread the Constitution in 1875, since he called the vote a right

4. Use this

   Cards J to M. Reading X, written for this sheet, not a quotation from any historian: The amendment passed mainly because the war made women's work visible and gave Congress and the president a reason to act in 1918 and 1919. Reading Y, written for this sheet, not a quotation from any historian: The amendment passed mainly because decades of state campaigns and organized pressure had already changed the politics, so the war only sped up what was coming. Card J, Woodrow Wilson, address to the Senate, September 30, 1918 (primary source; printed 1924, p. 527): "I regard the concurrence [agreement] of the Senate in the constitutional amendment proposing the extension of the suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution [carrying on] of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged." Card K, a summary in our words, written today: By 1919 women in fifteen states had full voting rights. The amendment was first introduced in the Senate in 1878 and defeated there in 1887. NAWSA's plan of 1916 used the state path and the federal path at once. Card L, a summary in our words, written today: From January 1917 members of the National Woman's Party picketed outside the White House, and from June 1917 police arrested more than 500 of them. Card M, a summary in our words, written today: In January 1918 the House passed the amendment, 274 to 136, and that year it failed in the Senate by 2 votes. The House passed it again on May 21, 1919, by 304 to 90, and the Senate on June 4, 1919, by 56 to 25. Congress may propose an amendment when two-thirds of those voting in each house agree. In 1919 the Senate had 96 members, and 81 of them voted on June 4.

5. 3.

   What evidence would help Kira decide between readings X and Y?

   • The dates when states ratified in 1919 and 1920, to show how support spread
   • More of Wilson's speeches on women's war work, to show what moved the Senate
   • Senators' own recorded reasons, and who changed a vote between 1918 and 1919
   • A year-by-year count of states giving women the vote, to show how far the state path had gone
6. 4.

   A student says cards J to M settle the dispute. Luz asks which view of what the cards can do is best supported.

   • They fit both readings: they show what happened and when, but give no weights
   • They favor X, since a president's stated reason counts for more than a total of states
   • They favor Y, since cards K and L give two efforts against one speech in J
   • They favor Y, since fifteen states and decades of campaigning outweigh one wartime year

7. Use this

   Cards F to I. Card F, a summary in our words, written today: The 19th Amendment barred denying the vote on account of sex, but many women still could not vote. Native American women were not counted as US citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of June 24, 1924, and even then states decided who voted; Utah was the last state to let Native Americans vote, in 1962. Chinese immigrant women could not become citizens, and so could not vote, until the Magnuson Act of 1943; other Asian immigrants waited until 1952. In much of the South, poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation kept Black women, like Black men, from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 removed many of these barriers. Card G, a summary in our words, written today: On March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson became president, suffragists marched through Washington, D.C., in a procession Alice Paul organized. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a Black suffragist who led the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, was asked to march at the rear rather than with the white delegation from Chicago. She refused. As the Chicago group passed, she stepped into its line and marched with it. Card H, the joint resolution of Congress, June 4, 1919 (primary source; Statutes at Large, vol. 41, p. 362): "That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States." Card I, a summary in our words, written today: On November 5, 1912, male voters in Arizona approved woman suffrage by 13,442 to 6,202. Arizona was the tenth state where women won full voting rights. Women could not vote in that election.

8. 5.

   A student claims the 19th Amendment gave all women the vote in 1920. A friend replies that card F's barriers were not about sex, so the claim holds. How should Milo answer?

   • The barriers may not be about sex, yet card F shows many women still could not vote
   • The friend is wrong, since poll taxes and tests were barriers aimed at women
   • The friend is right, since the amendment removed the sex barrier it was written to remove
   • The friend is wrong, since card F shows some states defied the amendment
9. 6.

   A student claims suffrage leaders always put women of every race first. Noah weighs card G with card F. Which view is best supported?

   • G supports the claim, since Wells-Barnett ended up marching with her delegation
   • G disproves the claim for every leader, since one clear episode is enough to settle it
   • G counts against 'always' once; F shows barriers of law, not leaders' choices
   • G and F together show the leaders chose to exclude Native and Chinese immigrant women

10. Use this

    Cards J to M. Reading X, written for this sheet, not a quotation from any historian: The amendment passed mainly because the war made women's work visible and gave Congress and the president a reason to act in 1918 and 1919. Reading Y, written for this sheet, not a quotation from any historian: The amendment passed mainly because decades of state campaigns and organized pressure had already changed the politics, so the war only sped up what was coming. Card J, Woodrow Wilson, address to the Senate, September 30, 1918 (primary source; printed 1924, p. 527): "I regard the concurrence [agreement] of the Senate in the constitutional amendment proposing the extension of the suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution [carrying on] of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged." Card K, a summary in our words, written today: By 1919 women in fifteen states had full voting rights. The amendment was first introduced in the Senate in 1878 and defeated there in 1887. NAWSA's plan of 1916 used the state path and the federal path at once. Card L, a summary in our words, written today: From January 1917 members of the National Woman's Party picketed outside the White House, and from June 1917 police arrested more than 500 of them. Card M, a summary in our words, written today: In January 1918 the House passed the amendment, 274 to 136, and that year it failed in the Senate by 2 votes. The House passed it again on May 21, 1919, by 304 to 90, and the Senate on June 4, 1919, by 56 to 25. Congress may propose an amendment when two-thirds of those voting in each house agree. In 1919 the Senate had 96 members, and 81 of them voted on June 4.

11. 7.

    A student says the 56-to-25 Senate vote in card M shows the amendment was popular with ordinary Americans. What do cards K to M allow Pia to say?

    • The claim fails the other way: the 1918 miss by 2 votes shows the public was nearly evenly split
    • The claim holds: 56 of the 81 senators voting is about two-thirds, so the public was about two-thirds in favor
    • The claim goes too far: the vote records what senators did, not what ordinary Americans thought
    • The claim holds, since senators voted that way out of fear of the pickets in card L

12. Use this

    Cards F to I. Card F, a summary in our words, written today: The 19th Amendment barred denying the vote on account of sex, but many women still could not vote. Native American women were not counted as US citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of June 24, 1924, and even then states decided who voted; Utah was the last state to let Native Americans vote, in 1962. Chinese immigrant women could not become citizens, and so could not vote, until the Magnuson Act of 1943; other Asian immigrants waited until 1952. In much of the South, poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation kept Black women, like Black men, from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 removed many of these barriers. Card G, a summary in our words, written today: On March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson became president, suffragists marched through Washington, D.C., in a procession Alice Paul organized. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a Black suffragist who led the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, was asked to march at the rear rather than with the white delegation from Chicago. She refused. As the Chicago group passed, she stepped into its line and marched with it. Card H, the joint resolution of Congress, June 4, 1919 (primary source; Statutes at Large, vol. 41, p. 362): "That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States." Card I, a summary in our words, written today: On November 5, 1912, male voters in Arizona approved woman suffrage by 13,442 to 6,202. Arizona was the tenth state where women won full voting rights. Women could not vote in that election.

13. 8.

    Card I: Arizona's 1912 measure made it the tenth state where women won full voting rights. Card F: Native American women were not counted as citizens until 1924. What can Ren say?

    • It is doubtful the measure reached every woman, since some were not citizens
    • Card F cannot apply, since it speaks of the nation after 1920 and not of Arizona in 1912
    • It reached every woman in Arizona, since card I says women won full voting rights
    • It reached no woman until the 19th Amendment, since only men voted on the measure
14. 9.

    A student says Native American women could vote everywhere once the Indian Citizenship Act passed in 1924. Which correction fits card F, Tala asks?

    • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the law that first let Native American women vote
    • Citizenship in 1924 let them vote in each state, with Utah the last to apply it in 1962
    • The Magnuson Act of 1943 was what opened voting to Native American women
    • States still decided who voted, and Utah did not let Native Americans vote until 1962
15. 10.

    Card F gives later dates for different groups: 1943, 1952, 1962 and 1965. A student says they show the 19th Amendment did little. What does the card allow, Zee asks?

    • It ended denial on account of sex; the later dates mark other kinds of barrier
    • The amendment did little, since the last barrier fell forty-five years after 1920
    • Each later law repaired a flaw in the amendment's wording, which is why they followed it
    • One barrier, race, explains each later date, so the dates show a single failure