Women's Suffrage in the United States

While women lacked the vote for most of the nation's history, they participated in government as workers as far back as the colonial period.

Job opportunities for women in the federal government increased in 1883 when Congress passed the Civil Service Act, making some positions in Washington open to competitive exams.

 
Circa 1918

According to primary sources in SIRS Decades (free trial signups), securing the vote for women was not as easy as winning a government job.

Groups such as the National Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women claimed that women's suffrage would lead to the breakup of the family. These anti-suffrage efforts were countered by the Woman Suffrage Party, which wrote pro-suffrage literature, solicited petitions, and organized parades.

On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote, became law. In this new writing activity from SIRS Decades, learn about the arguments, pro and con, for granting women the right to vote. Also, find out about the strategies used by the suffrage movement in the United States to secure this important right.

Writing Activity

Address the following subject in an essay format by applying your knowledge of the era and by making a direct reference to the accompanying primary source documents: Summarize arguments for and against granting women the right to vote during the 1910s and identify tactics used by suffragists that led to successful passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

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Primary Source Documents  

Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War Letter to U.S. House
National Archives and Records Administration May 1, 1917

Votes for Women!
Library of Congress: Rare Book and Special Collections Division—An American... circa 1912

Women! Use Your Vote
Archive Photos circa 1918

How Suffrage Is Organized
Woman Citizen June 2, 1917

Why Suffrage Parades?
Woman Citizen Oct. 27, 1917 

We Want to Vote
Puck Oct. 30, 1915

Suffragette Rally
Archive Photos circa 1910

Chas. A. Stevens & Bros.—The Official Parade Hat
Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) June 4, 1916

Representative Women of Suffrage Movement
Library of Congress: American Memory—Prints and Photographs Division circa 1870

Official Program of the Woman Suffrage Procession
Library of Congress: American Memory—Prints and Photographs Division circa 1913

House Joint Resolution 1 Proposing the Nineteenth Amendment
National Archives and Records Administration May 19, 1919

Kaiser Wilson
National Archives and Records Administration circa 1918