USING 19TH CENTURY NEWSPAPERS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Linda Richardson

OBJECTIVE

Nineteenth century Americans witnessed a concentrated effort by many women to improve their lifestyle by extending, to themselves and to others deemed unfortunate, rights previously denied or restricted. Contemporary newspapers offered interesting perspectives on these efforts, and on the atmosphere in which the women struggled for acknowledgement and reform. Newspaper excerpts included in this unit refer to the following topics: suffrage, work, slavery, the Centennial Exhibition, and the Election of 1876. The format is both document-based and open-ended questions. Hopefully these questions serve to involve the reader in woman's quest for equality.

MASSACHUSETTS FRAMEWORKS CONNECTIONS

Core Knowledge: 4.f. Pre-Civil War Reformers: abolitionism, labor, women's rights, education

Commonly Taught Subtopics:

• 4.e. Pre-Civil War Reformers
• 7.c. Campaign for women's suffrage

Learning Standards:

History-

• 1. Chronology and Cause
• 2. Historical Understanding
• 3. Research, Evidence, Point of View
• 4. Society, Diversity, commonality, and Individual

Economics-

• 12. Economic Reasoning
• 13. American and Massachusetts Economic History

Civics and Government-

• 16. Authority, Responsibility, and Power
• 17. The Founding Documents
• 18. Principles and Practices of American government
• 19. Citizenship

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTIONS

WOMEN AND SUFFRAGE

After carefully reading the following newspaper excerpts, answer the questions that follow.

"My strongest objection to this measure is that owing to the physical organization of Woman and the phenomena attendant thereon, she cannot perform the duties incumbent upon those who hold the privilege of the ballot."

Honorable Francis Stedman
The Woman's Journal, 3/25/76

"And I sometimes think that the real reason why men vote against Woman Suffrage is the fear of competition in remunerative avenues of labor."

"The Need of the Ballot"
The Woman's Journal, 4/1/76

"If a woman holds property, she must pay taxes the same as a man, if she violates the law she must be punished the same as a man, but, as soon as she says I want to help make the laws by which I am governed, men raise the cry, women are out of their sphere. I am not able to discern the reason for this distinction."

"A Presbyterian Temperance Woman on Suffrage"
The Woman's Journal, 7/22/76

"Have not all persons a right to vote, inasmuch as that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens? It is as plain as that two and two make four that ever since the adoption of the 14th Amendment, women have the full right of suffrage, and are prevented from the exercise of it..." "Has Not Everybody a Right to Vote?"
Sarah Taylor, Cambridge, Ohio
The Woman's Journal, 5/6/76

''The staid matronly woman who stays at home don't ask for this change... The Christian woman asks for no duty to add to her busy life in doing good for others. All these classes find enough to do in their families, in their churches, their schools, among the poor, among the sick, in pursuit of literature, in music, in science and society of friends to occupy all their time without embarking on troubled and murky waters of political strife. They are satisfied...and wish to fill their days with the duties, willingly performed, in that honored sphere where God has placed them."
Debate in Massachusetts Senate on Constitutional Amend-
meant by S.S. Ginnodo, Committee on Woman Suffrage
The Woman's Journal, 3/25/76

"Bribery by liquor is most popular manner of securing an elective office....The political support of few, of very few, women could be purchased by means of intoxicating drinks....the inauguration of Woman Suffrage would secure to the nation about eight millions of voters who would be wholly inaccessible to bribery by means of liquor....Women would refuse their Suffrage to a man whom they know to be seeking his election by making inebriates...Woman Suffrage must be an invaluable auxiliary in any effort to purify elections....The struggle for Woman Suffrage to day lies not between men and women, as men and women. It lies between women as the enemies of vice and debauchery and vice and debauchery as the enemies of women."

Virginia F. Russell
The Woman's Journal, 11/4/76

"The men alone of this country live in a Republic, the women enter the second hundred years of national life, as political slaves." (ad for National Woman Suffrage Association's 9th convention, to be held in Masonic Hall, N.Y.,N.Y., May 10 and 11, 1876)
Victoria Woodhull
Woodhull and Chaflin's Weekly, 4/29/76


QUESTIONS

• 1. List three objections to giving women the right to vote that were mentioned in the articles.
• 2. What possible connection can be made between women's suffrage and competition (with men) in the workplace?
• 3. What do you suppose the Temperance Woman meant by "out of their sphere?" [Link to the Pastoral Letter] What is the tone and intent of this letter? Would it have bothered you if you had heard it read? Why?
• 4. Why would women assume that the 14th Amendment extended to them the "privilege of the ballot?" [Link to copy of the 14th}
• 5. Could S.S. Ginnodo's remarks be considered derogatory to women promoting suffrage? If so, how?
• 6. Could Virginia Russell's comments be considered derogatory to male voters? Do they help explain why many reformers moved from temperance to suffrage? Explain your answers.
• 7. One political right that women used extensively was petition. Read the Woman Suffrage Petition that was inserted in The Woman's Journal, Nov. 11, 1876. What were the women trying to achieve? Would you have signed the petition? Why do you suppose women had to wait until the 19th amendment was passed in 1920 to finally enjoy full voting rights?

WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

The following are three excerpts from newspapers published in 1876 that address women and work. Read and respond to related questions.

"Probably not one of these 'striking' gallants believe that a woman has any rights which they are bound to respect; that she has any rights either inherent or acquired, political, industrial, social."
"Shall a Woman Earn an Honest Living"
(description of a newsroom strike caused by the
hiring of a woman.)
Woodhull and Chaflin's Weekly, 4/29/76

"The most prominent reason for this great competition among female laborers seems to be their inferior physical strength." ( a commentary on connection between limited work options and low wages)

The Woman's Journal, 7/15/76

"In 1874 was passed a statute which infringes upon a woman's right to labor as many hours as she may please, and classes her with minors....Under the law, a woman can no longer acquire as much property, through factory labor, as she likes...If ten hours' work procures scanty living, and twelve hours' better living, which is most harmful to the future?

"Ten Hour Law for Women"
(urges women waiting for suffrage to work for
repeal of the law.)
The Woman's Journal, 5/27/76

QUESTIONS

• Victoria Woodhull ran for President in 1872, when women were not allowed to vote in national elections. Find out what happened to Susan B. Anthony when she tried! Revisit the quote to focus on the "striking" gallants comment Comment on Victoria Woodhull's tone and her message. Would she have made an unbiased president?
• Reflect on the second excerpt to explain the connection between physical strength and competition in the workplace--also between limited work options and low wages. How did these terms apply to women in the 19th century? Are they in any way relevant today?
• As for the third reading, why would anyone want to work more than ten hours a day? Women began petitioning to shorten their workday in 1845. [Link to Petition to Massachusetts Legislature] Their goal was finally achieved in 1874. What type of woman would support the effort to repeal the law? Do you agree that the restriction on how many hours a woman can work in a factory "classes her with minors?"

Let's move on to three other topics: slavery, the Centennial Exhibition, and the Election of 1876. Though seemingly unrelated, their newspaper excerpts highlight the plight of women considered property, an unsuccessful attempt to call attention to women's problems with property, and the continuing effort to rectify society's ills through suffrage.

SLAVERY

In the following 3 articles, a woman over fifty is sold into slavery with her family, a young girl is helped to freedom by a ship's crew, and passengers about to board a steamboat witness a newly purchased slave told to give up her baby. which of the 3 newspaper excerpts would have the most impact on Northerners? How might an abolitionist put such stories to use? What parts of the stories would a women's rights activist find most applicable? Remember, these are actual events.

"The family of William Williams, the coachman of Presidents Polk, Taylor, and Fillmore, were suddenly on Friday morning, seized by a slave trader and taken from their homes in this city to Baltimore, to be sent to New Orleans. His wife, over fifty years of age, three daughters, and three grandchildren, were thus snatched from him in an hour to a fate worse to him than death, to be sold South to the highest bidder, and separated from him and each other....After many years toil, he recently purchased his own freedom, but his family were owned by someone in New Orleans.
The President...gave him money and let him go to Baltimore, to see them again. Williams found the trader would take the sum of $3,200 for them, and returned with hope of raising that amount.
...The President, Mr. Webster, General Scott, and a number of Senators, members, and citizens have contributed sums from $5 to $50....and he is on a fair way of raising the money."
Daily Evening Traveler, 8/10/50


"We understand a vessel has arrived here from Washington, N.C., bringing a yellow girl belonging to George W. Davis of that city. She was secreted on board by the mate. A bed was thrown into the poop for her to lie upon and concealed by piling wood around it. The authorities at Wilmington, almost knowing her to be on board, made repeated searches, and smoked the vessel several times, after loudly announcing that they would smother her if she did not show herself,...
During the voyage, this girl was fed in the watches without the knowledge of the master. Soon after {landing} the mate took the girl from her concealment, and ran with her rapidly up the wharf."

"Remarkable Escape of a Slave"
Daily Evening Traveler, 1/4/50


"Yesterday morning we witnessed a scene that we little believed could be enacted within the borders of Kentucky. The steamer G.W.Kendall was lying at the wharf at the foot of Wall Street, preparing to start for New Orleans. On the forecastle deck stood a group consisting of a master and five or six slaves, including a woman with a child at the breast, who were apparently going to the South. Just as the last bell of the steamer rang out its bell for departure, and the lines were about to be cast loose, the mother was bade to give up her infant, and was told that she must go without it. At this intimation the poor creature became frantic with grief. She caressed the child a moment, then flew to her trunk in which had been packed various little articles of clothing, ... These she pressed fervently to her lips then bestowed upon the child. Her owner then ordered her to follow him, and she mechanically started to obey,... with loud sobs of grief she turned, embraced her child, and clung to it with the tenacity of despair....The heart rending grief of the woman, and her frantic gestures, attracted the attentions of persons passing along the levee, and strongly excited the sympathies of many.... The bystanders volunteered to raise subscriptions to buy the child, and send it with its mother, and several of them proffered $10 apiece. At this juncture, Captain Norton, the captain of the boat, came forward and told the owner of the slaves that he would not take him on his boat, and sent the whole party ashore, and in a few moments the steamer was seen dashing over the falls without them."
"Affecting Incident"
(from Louisville Courier, Jan. 25)
Daily Evening Traveler, 2/1/50

The Centennial Exhibition

Try to imagine what it was like for Americans to visit the Exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of this nation. What would you expect to see exhibited? How might Americans working to bring about change use such a setting to further their agenda? What would you expect to seen in the Woman's Pavilion? How "political" would these exhibits be? Consider the thousands of spectators who could be influenced by a well planned presentation. What would it be like for someone your age to attend something of this magnitude and variety for the first time?

"Of course, your parents will object to your leaving home. It would therefore, be best for you to say nothing about this until you are here and then to write to them."
(letter to young ladies of Pennsylvania promising them from $8 to $15/week to work in exhibition booths.)

The Woman's Journal, 4/15/76

[ The Spencer Sun, 9/15/76, printed a few lines about 3 young ladies who, having spent all of their money at the exhibition, sold their hair to afford the trip home.]

The Woman's Journal, 5/27/76, reviews the contents of the Women's Pavilion at the Philadelphia exhibition. More interesting is the following article about an intended display not utilized.

"I therefore collected protests against "taxation without representation" beginning with that of Hannah Lee, a sister of Richard Henry Lee, made in 1778. To this I added those of Harriott K. Hunt, Lucy Stone, Abby Kelly Foster, Sarah E. Wall, Julia and Abby Smith." [Listed items were packed in a case, with the required permit and display sign, and dispatched to Philadelphia; Lucy Stone visited the Centennial and found her box not exhibited. When questioned, one in charge responded, "anything which savored of protest was not suited to the time and place."]

"The eight millions of people who came there and went...might have been stirred by the memories of the time and place, to co-operate with peaceful methods now in process to establish for this class the rights which, a century ago, cost years of bloodshed and strife to establish for men. A great opportunity was lost. History will record the fact, to show how submission to the denial of just rights stupifies the conscience and blinds the intellect ..." Lucy Stone
"Not Exhibited at the Centennial"
The Woman's Journal, 11/18/76

Election of 1876

Finally, four short quotes concerning the most unusual Election of 1876. Research this topic in your textbook to discover in what ways it was unlike any previous Presidential election. Now you're ready to relate the woman's suffrage issue.

"Our only hope is in the prevalence of a spirit of reform." (First mention of Hayes as being worthy of consideration as he seemed friendly to reform.)
The Woman's Journal, 5/6/76

"No party composed of men alone, which limits its caucuses to men alone, can be trusted, because it is inconsistent with the Woman Suffrage principle in its very structure....The right of women to vote in the caucus is the necessary foundation of a genuine Woman Suffrage Party. Is the Temperance Party ready to become, in form and in fact, a political party of men and women, organized upon the basis of Equal Rights? Time will show."
The Woman's Journal, 5/27/76

"Never forget it, the dog on your rug, or the cat in your corner, has as much political power as you have." (a commentary on the exclusion of women from the nominating convention)
The Woman's Journal, 6/17/76

"The one day in 365 that closes its doors upon the woman is Election Day."
"Ruled Out"
The Woman's Journal, 11/11/76

Comment on the last 2 quotes, in light of the fact that women were excluded from participation in the caucus, the nominating convention, and the election!

Consider the style and content of the newspaper articles included in this lesson.

• What about them surprised you?
• What comparisons can be made with today's newspapers?
• Which articles would likely end up as editorials?

You've probably noticed that most of the articles are from The Woman's Journal, which was edited by Lucy Stone. Lucy recognized the value of the newspaper to bring about change. What change in society can you envision promoting? How could the newspaper serve as a helpful medium?