ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND SUSAN B. ANTHONY, TWO PIONEERS IN THE CAUSE
OF WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE
[Sidenote: =Women play an important part in early progress=]
=215. The Women of Our Nation.= Women have had a large part in the
progress of our nation. In colonial days women often had to defend
their homes against Indians. They endured the hardships of the first
settlements as bravely as did the men. They had larger rights and
greater freedom than in England at that time, because their help was so
plainly necessary in this new country.
By 1850 nearly one-fourth of the nation's manufacturing was done by
women, but otherwise until that time women's lives were spent almost
entirely in their homes. Though no colleges were open to women until
1833, many mothers knew enough of books to prepare their sons for
college at home.
[Sidenote: =Women's service in war=]
During the Revolution women formed a society called "Daughters of
Liberty," to spin and sew for their soldiers. They gave their treasured
pewter spoons and dishes to be melted up for bullets. As women have
always done, they cared for the sick and wounded after battles.
In the great Civil War, women were needed still more to nurse the
wounded, for even then there was no Red Cross or large body of women
who were nurses by profession to call upon. Women took the place of the
men called to war in many ways, and especially in teaching schools. On
both sides women worked in the fields, and sometimes acted as spies,
or served, disguised, in the ranks. Southern women also entered the
factories in large numbers. They had to meet even greater hardship than
women in the North, and were often face to face with starvation.
On the frontier women had always worked in the fields when necessary,
and often helped to build the houses they lived in. The fearless
pioneering spirit and fine, sturdy character of these women won them
the highest respect. This was one reason why western states were the
first to grant women the right to vote.
[Sidenote: =Women's equality with men=]
Long before the Civil War great leaders in the cause of woman's
advancement had appeared. These leaders saw that in many ways women
had proved their equality with men. This encouraged them to appeal for
wider opportunities for women, who then had almost no legal rights. The
leaders now demanded the privileges enjoyed only by men. We should all
know the stories of these women of wise and fearless vision.
[Illustration: ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Born, 1815=]
=216. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.= Elizabeth Cady was born in New York, in
1815. Her girlhood was a happy one, spent with her brother and sisters.
She was a healthy, rosy-cheeked girl, full of life and fun, who
believed girls were the equals of boys and had just as much intellect.
[Sidenote: =Studies hard=]
When Elizabeth was eleven years old her brother died. Her father
grieved deeply over the loss of his only son, and Elizabeth determined
to try to be to her father all that her brother might have been. She
therefore applied herself diligently to study and self-improvement.
[Sidenote: =Finds woman's position unequal=]
Her father was a lawyer. He had been a member of Congress. Many hours
out of school Elizabeth spent in his office, listening while his
clients stated their cases. She gradually became indignant at what she
found to be the unequal position of women in almost every walk of life.
She determined to devote her life to securing for women the same rights
and privileges that men had.
[Sidenote: =Marries Henry B. Stanton=]
While studying she did not neglect the arts of housekeeping. She
regarded these as occupations of the highest dignity and importance.
When twenty-five years old she married Henry B. Stanton, a lawyer and
journalist who since his student days had talked and written against
slavery. But she did not forget her old resolve to struggle for the
rights of women, even when occupied with the duties of home and
children.
[Sidenote: =Calls woman's rights convention=]
=217. The First Woman's Rights Convention.= In 1848 Mrs. Stanton called
a woman's rights convention--the first ever held. Its purpose was "to
discuss the social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of
women."
[Sidenote: ="Declaration of Sentiments"=]
[Sidenote: =Women demand the right to vote=]
Mrs. Stanton read to the convention a set of twelve resolutions, the
now famous "Declaration of Sentiments." It demanded for women equality
with men and "all the rights and privileges which belong to them as
citizens of the United States," including the right to vote. This was
the first public demand for woman's suffrage. The resolutions were
passed. A storm of ridicule followed the convention, but Mrs. Stanton's
position remained unchanged.
[Sidenote: =Susan B. Anthony, 1820=]
=218. Susan B. Anthony.= A few years after this historic convention,
Mrs. Stanton met Susan B. Anthony. Miss Anthony was the daughter of
Friends, or Quakers as they are often called. She was born at South
Adams, Massachusetts, in 1820. Her father maintained a school at
Battenville, New York, and here Susan received her early education.
[Illustration: SUSAN B. ANTHONY
_From a photograph by Veeder, Albany, N.Y._]
[Sidenote: =Teaches school=]
[Sidenote: =Won to the cause of woman's rights=]
From her seventeenth birthday until she met Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony
had been engaged in teaching school. But now the great national
questions of anti-slavery and temperance were drawing her away from her
work as a teacher. At first Miss Anthony had not been in sympathy with
the Declaration of Sentiments, but when she met Mrs. Stanton the cause
of woman's rights won an able, enthusiastic, and untiring friend.
[Sidenote: =National Woman's Suffrage Association=]
From this time on these two fought side by side for the cause of
women. They traveled and lectured in all parts of the country. In 1868
they started a weekly paper, which they called _The Revolution_. Miss
Anthony was the business manager and Mrs. Stanton was the editor. Its
motto was, "The True Republic--men, their rights and nothing more;
women, their rights and nothing less."
[Sidenote: =Miss Anthony casts vote for President=]
In 1869 they organized the National Woman's Suffrage Association. In
many states the question of woman suffrage became an important one at
election. Wherever they were needed, in California, in New York, or
in any other state, these two women could be found. Every year from
1869 until her death, in 1906, Miss Anthony addressed committees of
Congress. In 1872 she cast a vote for President. She declared it to be
her right under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. For this
act she was arrested and fined, but the fine was never collected.
[Sidenote: =Women win suffrage=]
Mrs. Stanton died in 1902. The great movement she had started was on
its way to certain victory. Congress passed the suffrage amendment in
1919, and in August, 1920, it became law. Over twenty-five million
women were entitled to vote in the presidential elections that year.
JULIA WARD HOWE, AUTHOR OF THE "BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC," AND
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE WHO WROTE "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN"
=219. Julia Ward Howe.= All the great wars in which our country has
engaged have brought heavy burdens and sorrow to women. They could not
march away to fight side by side with the men. Their duty was to cheer
their loved ones as they went away to danger and perhaps to death.
[Sidenote: =Women in the Civil War=]
At the outbreak of the Civil War, from thousands and thousands of homes
father, husband, son, or brother went away, in many instances never
to return. Women were left behind, praying for their loved ones and
working untiringly night and day to provide food and clothing and to
keep up their homes.
[Sidenote: =Born 1819=]
But there were other women who could not serve their country in this
way. Many had no one to send away to fight. Among these was Julia Ward
Howe. She was born in New York in 1819, of wealthy and distinguished
parents. She was carefully reared, but she knew little of the work that
girls are usually taught to do. Practically everything was done for her
by servants. However, Julia dearly loved to read and study, and very
early she began to write poetry.
[Sidenote: =Marries Doctor Howe=]
[Sidenote: =Desires to be of service to the Union=]
In 1841 she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, a noted teacher and
reformer. While visiting in Washington in 1861 she saw women nursing
the wounded soldiers brought in from the battle field of Bull Run. She
was deeply stirred by the sights around her. What service could she do
for her country? Her husband was too old to enter the army, her son
too young. She knew that there were thousands making clothes for the
soldiers in the field. But she could not sew for the soldiers or care
for the wounded, for she had never been taught to work with her hands.
She could only write poetry. Of what use was that now?
[Sidenote: =Writes "Battle Hymn of the Republic"=]
One day her minister suggested that she write words for the popular
army tune, "John Brown's Body Lies A-mouldering in the Grave." She did
so, and the poem was published in a magazine under the name of "The
Battle Hymn of the Republic."
[Sidenote: =It helps to bring victory=]
Soon the song was being sung through all the camps of the northern
troops. The soldiers sang it on the march, in wild charges, or at night
beside the camp fire. Everywhere its challenge roused the northern
soldiers to a more determined fight for victory. In writing this poem
Mrs. Howe had done a great service for the Union.
[Sidenote: =Founds clubs for women=]
=220. The Woman's Club.= After the war Mrs. Howe wished to continue
serving her country in some way, and she took up the cause of woman's
rights. Women had had little or no chance to educate themselves and
broaden their minds by discussing with each other subjects outside
their homes. She thought woman's clubs would work to free women
from the narrowness of mind that comes from thinking only of dress,
hired help, and housekeeping. From then on, she devoted herself to
establishing clubs for women. She traveled over the country and wrote
and lectured on this subject. She urged that the members of these clubs
should seek not only for self-improvement but for means of serving
others; and through their efforts hospitals for women and children,
lodging houses, and labor schools were established.
Mrs. Howe had found a means of serving her country even greater and
more effective than the writing of her "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
[Illustration: JULIA WARD HOWE
_From a photograph by the Notman Photo. Co., Boston_]
[Sidenote: =Born, 1811=]
=221. Harriet Beecher Stowe.= Another woman who did great service for
her country with her pen was Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was born in
1811. Her father was a Connecticut minister, and she was brought up
in a deeply religious home. At school she was apt at writing and she
dreamed of becoming a great author.
[Sidenote: =Marries Calvin E. Stowe=]
She married Calvin E. Stowe, a student of theology, and thereafter
devoted herself to her home and her children. During the years just
before the Civil War there was much discussion of the slavery question.
Mrs. Stowe had traveled in the South and had seen how the negroes were
kept in ignorance, and how cruelly they were sometimes treated. She was
aroused by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and by some of the
things that happened as a result of it. She resolved to use her talent
for writing to help the slaves.
[Sidenote: =Writes "Uncle Tom's Cabin"=]
In 1851 she began the story, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. It was first
published in serial form in an abolition paper in Washington. It was
later published in book form. From the first, the sale of the book was
enormous. It was translated into many languages and was very popular
abroad as well as at home.
Mrs. Stowe became famous. It is said that the book converted more than
two million people to the cause of freedom for slaves. It helped to
unite the North and to give it strength to stand firm in the great
conflict.
[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
_From a photograph by Sarony, New York_]
Mrs. Stowe continued writing in behalf of the slaves. She gave her
son to the cause of freedom. He was wounded at Gettysburg and never
regained his health. She aided in establishing schools for the negroes
in the South, and worked among them earnestly until her death in 1896.
FRANCES E. WILLARD, THE GREAT TEMPERANCE CRUSADER; CLARA BARTON, WHO
FOUNDED THE RED CROSS SOCIETY IN AMERICA; AND JANE ADDAMS, THE FOUNDER
OF HULL HOUSE SOCIAL SETTLEMENT IN CHICAGO
[Sidenote: =Frances E. Willard, 1839=]
[Sidenote: =Family moves to Wisconsin=]
=222. Frances E. Willard.= In 1839, when Frances Elizabeth Willard
was born, thousands were leaving the eastern states for the new West.
Her father and mother were successful teachers in New York, but when
Frances was two years old they decided to move with the westward
current. After living five years at Oberlin, Ohio, the family went
on to Janesville, Wisconsin, settling on a farm in the midst of
picturesque hills and woods. There Frances and her brother and sister
grew up healthy, happy children, playing together in the forest and
fields. The parents were religious and were total abstainers, and the
children never forgot their teachings.
[Sidenote: =Stands at head of her class=]
At fifteen years of age Frances went to school in Janesville, and at
eighteen to a Milwaukee college for girls. The following year she
entered the Northwestern Female College at Evanston, Illinois. At
graduation she stood at the head of her class.
[Sidenote: =Death breaks up the home=]
Miss Willard began teaching. Then the death of her sister Mary, and
shortly afterward, of her father, broke up her home. That home had been
an ideal one. There the father and mother were equal in all things,
and discussed together the affairs of the household. It was a perfect
home, orderly and temperate. Frances Willard made up her mind to spend
her life in spreading abroad a knowledge of such homes, and in helping
women to become equal with men before the law.
[Sidenote: =President of W.C.T.U.=]
In 1874 came the anti-saloon crusade. Miss Willard saw that this
movement was part of the fight for better and happier homes, and threw
herself ardently into the work. When the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union was organized in Chicago, Miss Willard became its president.
In 1879 she became the president of the National Union. Her work was
never-ending. She wrote books; she lectured all over the country. For
twelve years she held an average of one meeting a day.
[Illustration: FRANCES E. WILLARD
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Favors woman suffrage=]
Miss Willard had seen that unless women had the right to assist in
making laws, their cause was hopeless. Accordingly she declared herself
in favor of woman suffrage. A few years later the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union followed their leader into politics in an effort to
encourage temperance legislation.
[Sidenote: =Women united for the protection of the home=]
Miss Willard's work constantly became wider. The organization of which
she was the head became international in its influence, and the World's
Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized in 1883, with Miss
Willard as president. She had united the women of the world in a great
league for the protection of the home. Miss Willard remained to the
end of her life president of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance
Union. She died in 1898.
[Sidenote: =Clara Barton, 1821=]
=223. Clara Barton.= Clara Barton was born in 1821, near Oxford,
Massachusetts. She was educated to be a school teacher, and for many
years followed that profession. In 1861 she visited Washington, and
there felt the impulse that led to her great life work.
[Illustration: CLARA BARTON
_From a photograph by Charles E. Smith, Evanston, Illinois_]
[Sidenote: =Nurses the wounded=]
The injured soldiers from the first battles of the Civil War were being
brought to Washington. Miss Barton at once felt it her duty to help in
caring for them. She not only nursed the wounded, but she encouraged
those who were on the way to the line of battle.
=224. Goes to the Battle Field.= The men that were being taken to the
hospitals received no care until they arrived there. Miss Barton saw
that her place was on the battle field.
[Sidenote: =Constantly in danger=]
[Sidenote: =Received no pay=]
She secured a pass to the firing line, and for four years she followed
the Union soldiers. She was constantly in danger; her clothing
was pierced by bullets, her face blackened by powder. But she was
undaunted. The soldiers needed her, and she must be there to help them.
When she could, she nursed wounded Confederate as well as Federal
soldiers. She received no pay for her work.
[Sidenote: =Red Cross Society in Europe=]
When the war was over Miss Barton went to Europe. There she learned
of the Red Cross Society, founded in Geneva in 1863. The purpose of
the society was to care for the wounded of any nation on the field of
battle. A treaty among the nations agreed that the Red Cross nurses
should be safe from capture. Miss Barton was asked to organize a branch
of the Red Cross in the United States.
[Sidenote: =American Red Cross=]
In 1882 President Arthur signed the treaty, and the American Red Cross,
with Miss Barton as its first president, was established. She continued
as president until 1904, when she resigned.
[Sidenote: =Goes to Armenia=]
In 1896 Miss Barton went to Armenia at the head of her Red Cross to
relieve the suffering caused by the massacres. She saved thousands from
starvation and disease.
Again she nobly responded to the call of President McKinley to go to
the help of Cuba in the Spanish-American War.
Miss Barton lived to see the Red Cross a world-wide society carrying
comfort and cheer to all nations. In the World War after every great
battle the Red Cross nurses worked on the field or in the hospital to
lighten the awful sufferings of the wounded.
[Sidenote: =Work of the society in times of peace=]
=225. The Red Cross Society in Times of Peace.= It was Miss Barton's
firm belief that the world needed the services of the Red Cross in
times of peace as well as in times of war. Accordingly an amendment was
made to the Geneva treaty. Local Red Cross societies sprang up in every
part of the country. The suffering which followed the great Charleston
earthquake, the Galveston flood, forest fires, mine explosions, and
all similar accidents found the Red Cross Society on hand with aid and
supplies.
The greatest calamity that has befallen our country since the Red Cross
was well organized was the burning of San Francisco following the great
earthquake of 1906. Five hundred millions in property was destroyed,
and two hundred and fifty thousand people were left homeless and
without food. The Red Cross alone spent three million dollars in giving
aid to the sufferers.
[Sidenote: =Rural work of the Red Cross=]
An important new undertaking is the rural work of the Red Cross. This
is not limited to health questions, though a nurse is the first person
sent into a country. But also if possible another worker is sent to
help the country people with their social problems, their amusements,
and the building up of a spirit of neighborhood coöperation.
[Sidenote: =Jane Addams and the cause of the poor=]
=226. Jane Addams.= There was still another great and vital field of
service waiting for a leader. This was the cause of a better chance in
life for the very poor. A better understanding among all people, rich
and poor, and a knowledge of the interests which all have in common are
aiding in this. Education, reform of unjust working conditions, and
social service--the help or relief of poor or unfortunate people--are
all means of progress through which people like Jane Addams have worked.
In 1883 while traveling in Europe, Jane Addams, a daughter of wealthy
and distinguished parents, was deeply touched by the terrible poverty
and misery she saw everywhere around her. She herself had never known
want or hunger. Indeed she had more wealth than she knew how to spend
for things she herself needed or cared for.
[Illustration: JANE ADDAMS
_From a recent photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Devotes herself to social service=]
She determined to devote herself and her fortune to a fairer
distribution of the world's goods and pleasures among those who were
always hungry and in want. It was a vast undertaking, but Miss Addams
was not dismayed. She hoped that some day the rich and the educated
would see that all men are equal and would unite with the unfortunate
in one great brotherhood.
[Sidenote: =Hull House Social Settlement founded=]
She returned to Chicago, and there with a group of workers established
a social settlement in a building in a poor quarter of the city and
called it Hull House.
There everyone, however poor, was welcomed. People could come there
for advice or help. Through personal influence they were led to become
acquainted with the best books, to cultivate their minds, and to meet
each other at times for study or social enjoyment.
[Sidenote: =The settlement a success=]
Men and women from all parts of the country and from abroad visited
Hull House to see what Miss Addams and all her fellow-workers, through
personal service, were doing to make the lives of the poor people
around them a little brighter and happier. They found Hull House a
success. The neighborhood was like a great family whose members sought
each other's welfare. They regarded Miss Addams as one of themselves.
This was a bit of the human brotherhood of which Miss Addams had
dreamed.
[Sidenote: =Greater opportunities for women=]
=227. What Has Been Accomplished.= These great women of whom we have
read have worked for the advancement, not alone of their sex, but of
all mankind in the United States and the world over.
Through their efforts great changes have taken place in woman's
position. Throughout the country she has a place more equal to man's in
the eyes of the law, almost unlimited opportunities in education and
business, and whatever openings in public life she proves fitted for.
Now looking back, we can see that the greater part of what Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony so relentlessly strove for has been
gained. Woman suffrage will doubtless soon cause the more backward
states to give women full legal rights, and it will also enable women
to work more freely for the progress of the nation.