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Show PAGE 27 THE ZEPHYRJULY 1995 women still had to sit behind a curtain, separated from the men on the main floor, where the proceedings occurred. How must they have felt, that a nation such as America, formed on the principles of democracy, would condone the exclusion of women from the benefits of that democracy? So they fought back, by organizing, by later in the fight writing up their own Women's Declaration of Independence, by not ever giving up. LIKE PULLING TEETH In 1868, Congress did pass an amendment to the Constitution giving more Americans the right to vote. What made women furious was that the vote for women was not included. No, wc were still left out. Amendment 14, passed July 28, 1868, was indeed about the right to vote. It protected the right to vote in all elections of "male inhabitants...being 21 years of age, and citizens of the United States. And yet again, in 1870, another constitutional amendment dealing with voting "radical National Woman rights was passed by the men of Congress. The 1869 Association had been formed which in May Suffrage by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton publicly opposed Amendment 15. After the bloodshed of the Civil War, after the hatred, the losses and the alienations between families over the slavery issue, it gave the vote to Negro men but not to women! Its passage was a bitter blow. Republican leadership was unwilling to deal fairly with the "woman question," afraid it would scare away supporters for giving Black Americans the vote, just as abolitionists had feared it on the slavery issue before the Civil War. Elizabeth Stanton said, "My question is this: Do you believe the African race is composed entirely of males?" so-call- ed - 1 - 5 ( i f 4 ? 5 AMENDMENT 19 AUGUST 26, 1920 Finally, the woman suffrage amendment was passed in 1920, probably because it was a tide that simply could not be held back any longer. But also, as a practical matter. World War I had proved to men that as workers supporting the war effort, women were essential. Many suffragettes worked tirelessly during that war, to help reace Party refused prove their patriotism. But a New York branch of the Woman's to support World War 1 "to make the world safe for democracy" when women didn't even haw democratic rights in American itself. A war couldn't be won without women and it had become more and more clear that women might not help in the future if they didn't get the vote! So Congress did it. They dealt with the "woman shall not question" once and for all: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote sex." of State account on or States United be denied or abridged by the by any The national amendment had become essential to women in the first place because the Continental Congress (which wrote the U.S. Constitution) had left the decision on women's right to vote in the hands of the individual states. The statehouses were wry slow to act. By the time Amendment 19 was adopted, 19 states still didn't let women vote at all, while 12 states let them vo.e only in Presidential elections, and two states permitted them to wte only in primary elections. Only 15 states had given full voting privileges to women prior to 1920. That list did include Utah, which granted women the vote as a territory in 1870 and as a state in 1896. The intellectually advanced Wyoming Territory had seen the light first, in 1869. Pack Creek Ranch.. a country inn 16 miles south of Moab on the La Sal Loop Rd. DINNER Nightly, 6:30 to 8:30 PM FOR GUARANTEED SEATING CALL FOR A RESERVATION 259-550- 5 SO WHAT NOW Women still hawn't gotten rolling, hawn't caught their stride. We are different but not unequal to men. We are equal but not the same. Arc we leaders? Are we going to grab hold of equality with our own two hands, or are we going to beg for it? (Drop in's welcome) "Come brozvse ivith the deer. " 4 V 4 i Stay tuned for the next column in this series: WIMPY WOMEN NEED CONFIDENCE, OR "DO WHAT MEN DO - FAKE IT 1 I I I boors try these tmRGSlWff j 1 MLA6F ce of AT 50 S MIIN from brow trout publisher BACCF BEYOND S3 ft MAIN MS nftlvfc BEST photo books of The ytflR" MMEP THE to FIRST MftRtP pctfl NG Ncfl t- -. rT-- r V alone V .. Oil K 1 - --- -- '' A it ifwnMi k .. I ,k ; Acting rtflFP tVOflLD FANTASIZING t- - -- V '.,.W 1 ,v I TViT- -' - M.' y NAIM: .MU lARfltt Mf OF CClRtfMP AMID THE MffltfATJCM OF A PENEBAPE M0BM0M EIDER. - |