Rightfully Ours: How Women Won the Vote, 21 Activities
it in full IN CONGRESS JE 4 1976 THE ex A OVE D E CLAR AT ON THIRTEEN UNITED STATES on AMERICA TERBs are seen an entertainment limitmeg in the event the a meeting W Julie Hansent Jon Hancock Prfiant Mary Katherine Goddard printed the first full copies of the Declaration of Independence Library of Congress bdsdсc 02101
IN CONGRESS Jr 4 1776 fie unanimous Reclaration is one States of merica The Declaration of Independence National Archives That duty fell to a woman named Mary Katherine Goddard editor of the Maryland Journal She accom plished her task and at the bottom of the broadsheet she added her name Goddard oversaw the task of printing the Declara tion of Independence but its words about liberty and freedom did not include her In revolutionary Ameri ca women did not live as equals with men Not one man who signed the Declaration even dreamed that women should vote sit on a jury or serve in govern ment Most people in the Americas and Europe believed that women needed little education beyond being able to read write and do simple math Women's
minds people said were far too weak to develop great thoughts or hold much knowledge After all didn't the Bible say that women were the weaker sex From then on America's women fought a revolu tion of their own as they challenged the roles that men had written for them Their battles were many Winning the right to vote was one struggle It took 144 years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence until American women achieved suf frage the right to go to the polls on Election Day and cast their ballots Early suffragists were women who desperately wanted an education and the opportunity to expand their minds But first they had to overcome their fathers objections to schooling girls This story about women's suffrage opens with two of them Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton A third Susan B Anthony got the education she wanted but then she was forbidden to speak out in public against the evils of slavery Suffrage The word suffrage might be new to you It means the act of voting in an election ranchise is another word for vote A person who is allowed to vote is said to be enfranchised The terms woman suffrage or women's suf frage that you read here refer to the unique topic of
a woman's right to vote That right was not included in the original US Constitution Each state was allowed to write its own laws about suffrage In the early days of the United States voting rights were usually reserved for white men who owned property By the time the Civil War started in 1861 most states had granted suffrage to all adult white men It was time to act Stone Stanton and Anthony gathered up their skirts and their courage and set out to find their voices Though their paths diverged over the years all three knew in their souls that American women must win what was rightfully theirs the right to vote Only then could they take a full role as citi zens of the United States of
