After the 15th amendment was passed, many women of all races tried to see if the new amendment gave them the right to vote as well. Sadly, only Wyoming and Utah fully "enfranchised" women. All that would have had to happen with the 15th amendment was the insertion of one more word, "race color, gender, or previous condition of servitude". In May 1869, there was another convention for the Equal Rights Association where Fredrick Douglass spoke again. Though Fredrick Douglass had supported the women and their efforts to earn their rights, he begged them to understand the necessity for the African American males to get their rights and for them to focus on the end of black male suffrage for the time being. After the convention ended, the American Woman Suffrage Association made the decision to remain loyal to the Republicans and Fredrick Douglass, hoping that after all races were considered equal, women's rights would have the spotlight. A couple of friends however, had an entirely different idea. Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, organized a new group called the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) which focused only on women's rights, and fought for a federal suffrage amendment.
In 1873, NWSA tried to test their rights, as women of all races all over the United States tried to register to vote. Most women were turned away, and Susan B. Anthony was actually arrested. In a series of long lawsuits, saying that Anthony had been denied her rights under the 14th amendement, but the Supreme Court gave the women the opposite reaction of what they wanted, saying that even though the women were considered citizens, the state legislatures could deny them the right to vote if they wanted to.
Even after all of these defeats, none of the women stopped fighting. In 1869, Wyoming gave women the right to vote, and was congratulated by people from as far away as Europe. Despite what many anti-suffragist said, none of the Wyoming women left their children, "neglected their homes", or found any other ways to "unsex" themselves. Some even argued that giving women the right to vote made Wyoming politics better; they were respectable and uncorrupt. Wyoming giving the women the right to vote, stopped the movement from seeming trivial or absurd, and women's rights was evolving into a national debate.
Sources:
Textbook
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405576/National-Woman-Suffrage-Association-NWSA
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/03/cartoon.gif
http://www.cleverley.org/areopagus/docs/usconst/usamend3.html
In 1873, NWSA tried to test their rights, as women of all races all over the United States tried to register to vote. Most women were turned away, and Susan B. Anthony was actually arrested. In a series of long lawsuits, saying that Anthony had been denied her rights under the 14th amendement, but the Supreme Court gave the women the opposite reaction of what they wanted, saying that even though the women were considered citizens, the state legislatures could deny them the right to vote if they wanted to.
Even after all of these defeats, none of the women stopped fighting. In 1869, Wyoming gave women the right to vote, and was congratulated by people from as far away as Europe. Despite what many anti-suffragist said, none of the Wyoming women left their children, "neglected their homes", or found any other ways to "unsex" themselves. Some even argued that giving women the right to vote made Wyoming politics better; they were respectable and uncorrupt. Wyoming giving the women the right to vote, stopped the movement from seeming trivial or absurd, and women's rights was evolving into a national debate.
Sources:
Textbook
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405576/National-Woman-Suffrage-Association-NWSA
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/03/cartoon.gif
http://www.cleverley.org/areopagus/docs/usconst/usamend3.html