LENGTH: 5 double-spaced pages with 12-point font and 1-inch margins
Then, that justice is not fulfilled so long as woman is unequal before the law. We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul.”
– Frances E. W. Harper at the Eleventh National Women’s Rights Convention in New York City (May 1866)
Write an essay in which you analyze at least three (3) of the assigned primary sources to explain why and how different groups of Americans supported and opposed women’s right to vote in the early twentieth century.
The purpose of this assignment is not to summarize the assigned primary sources. Nor is it to argue whether or not women should be able to vote (you already had an opportunity to do this in class during our debate).
Rather, you are being asked to examine the content of the assigned primary sources to see what they can tell us about a particular historical event (in this case, the national debate surrounding women’s suffrage the Nineteenth Amendment in the early twentieth century). Using evidence extracted from the assigned primary sources and relevant secondary sources (lectures and the textbook), you will make a historical argument about the movements for and against women’s suffrage and flesh out this argument in several body paragraphs.
As you re-read the assigned primary sources, consider some of these questions:
• What was the author’s argument or message about the prospect of women voting?
• Who constituted the intended audience?
• How does the author’s social background (race, sex, class, occupation, religion, age, political belief, etc.) inform their perspectives?
• What kinds of evidence does the author cite to support their argument?
• What about the silences — what does the author choose NOT to talk about?
• How does the author connect the women’s suffrage debate to other historical events and social issues?
You must support your argument with direct quotations from both the primary and secondary sources you draw upon. Use Chicago Style Citation (footnotes) to cite your sources. You can find the Chicago Manual of Style here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html
