RECONSTRUCTION
The Road to the First Wave
The culmination of the Civil War fostered important conversations, that further energized the Women's Rights Movement.
THE 14TH AND 15TH AMENDMENTS
The 14th Amendment, which was ratified with the goal of granting citizenship and equal protection to freed slaves, also mentioned gender for the first time in the Constitution. Along with granting citizenship, due process and equal protection to freed slaves, it assured that “all males over the age of twenty-one” were guaranteed the right to vote.(1) By including the word ‘male’ into the Constitution, women are further subordinated in society. Rather than having an opportunity for universal suffrage, Congress is only willing to expand the electorate to African American men.
The 15th Amendment was passed to protect the new freedoms granted to ex-slaves, it ensured that the right to vote could not be denied “on account of race, color, or previous servitude.”(2) Congress felt it was necessary to pass this to protect freedmen from angry southerners who were enforcing strict Black Codes, and making it virtually impossible for black men to vote in elections. Since only racial discriminations regarding voting are made illegal in the 15th Amendment, this does nothing for the perpetually disenfranchised women of America.
The Debate
The 14th and 15th Amendments disregard for women in America drove a rift between the Abolitionist movement leaders and the slighted Women’s Rights Activists. Stanton believed that these two Amendments were so harmful to their cause that, “if the word ‘male’ be inserted, it will take us a century, at least, to get it out.”(3) Other ladies felt betrayed by the group that they had crusaded for just years prior; suffragist Emily Collins, like many other females at the time, “was surprised that that all Abolitionists did not see the similarity in the condition of” African Americans and women.(4)
Reconstruction's inability to provide women with legal or political protection energized more and more women to push for suffrage. Ultimately, the disregard for women's rights further strengthened the Women's Rights Movement, creating the First Wave of American Feminism.
Works Cited:
Alison Lange, "The 14th and 15th Amendments," National Women's History Museum, http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/14-15-amendments.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Emily Collins, Reminiscences, "Reminiscences of Emily Collins, 1848," 1848, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2161000041.
Photo Credits:
"House of Representatives Committee hearing a Delegate". Crusadethevote.com