for kim woods only

AFTER WINNING INDEPENDENCE FROM ENGLAND,THE 13 AMERICAN COLONIES WERE SELF-GOVERNING STATES LOOSELY UNITED BY A DOCUMENT KNOWN AS THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. THE DESIRE FOR AN IMPROVED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESULTED IN A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION HELD IN PHILADELPHIA IN THE SUMMER OF 1787. THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE FOR THE ATTENDEES WASHOW TO SHAPE A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POWERFUL ENOUGH TO FUNCTION YET FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO ALLOW STATES TO CONTROL THEIR INTERNAL AFFAIRS. AS A RESULT, THE FIRST FOUR ARTICLES OF THE CONSTITUTION DEAL WITH THE BALANCE OF POWER BETWEEN STATES AND BETWEEN BRANCHES OF THE NEW FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION ANTICIPATED THE NEED TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION AS THE WORLD CHANGED. THE FIFTH ARTICLE CONTAINS RULES FOR AMENDING THE DOCUMENT AND LISTS EACH AMENDMENT AS IT IS ADDED. THE FIRST 10 AMENDMENTS WERE PASSED BY CONGRESS AND RATIFIED BY THE STATES AS A GROUP IN 1791.BECAUSE THEY LIMIT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ABILITY TO RESTRICT THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS AND STATES, THEY ARE KNOWN AS THE BILL OF RIGHTS. SINCE 1791, ONLY 17 ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS HAVE BEEN RATIFIED. THESE 27 AMENDMENTS TELL SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STORIES OF AMERICAN POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL HISTORY, AND REINFORCE THE VISION OF OUR COLONIAL ANCESTORS; THAT THE CONSTITUTION ENDURE AS A DYNAMIC INSTRUMENT TO BOTH GOVERN AND PROTECT THE PEOPLE. THE 19TH AMENDMENT GAVE WOMEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE.THE RATIFICATION OF THE AMENDMENT BROUGHT TO A CLOSE ONE OF THE MOST PROLONGED STRUGGLES FOR SUFFRAGE IN AMERICAN HISTORY. FROM THE MOMENT THE UNITED STATES FIRST GAINED INDEPENDENCE, VARIOUS GROUPS SOUGHT TO BE INCLUDED AMONG THE NATION'S VOTERS. FIRST, RELIGIOUS QUALIFICATIONS WERE ABOLISHED AS PREREQUISITES FOR VOTING. THIS WAS SOON FOLLOWED BY THE ELIMINATION OF PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS. NEXT CAME THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF FORMER SLAVES IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CIVIL WAR. BUT STILL, THE NATION'S LARGEST REMAINING GROUP OF POTENTIAL VOTERS, THE WOMEN OF AMERICA,REMAINED DISENFRANCHISED. PARADOXICALLY, BECAUSE I THINK IN MANY WAYS RACEDISCRIMINATION IS EVEN MORE ENTRENCHED THAN GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN OUR COUNTRY, BUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN WERE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE BY THE 15TH AMENDMENT - A FULL 50 YEARS, A HALF-CENTURY BEFORE ANY WOMEN, WHITE OR BLACK, HAD THE RIGHT TO VOTE. I THINK, AND MY FOREMOTHERS IN THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT ARGUED, THAT THE 14TH AMENDMENT'S EQUALITY GUARANTEE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD ENOUGHTO GIVE THEM THE RIGHT TO VOTE BUT THE COURT DIDN'T INTERPRET IT THAT WAY. THE STRUGGLE ON BEHALF OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE,OR GAINING THE RIGHT TO VOTE, BEGAN AS EARLY AS THE JACKSON ADMINISTRATION BUT THE EARLY VICTORIES WERE SMALL ONES. BY 1838, KENTUCKY ALLOWED WOMEN TO VOTE IN SCHOOL ELECTIONS. THIS ACTION WAS LATER COPIED BY A NUMBER OF OTHER STATES. IN 1887, KANSAS GRANTED WOMEN UNLIMITED RIGHTS TO VOTE IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. BUT THE FIRST NOTABLE VICTORY DID NOT ARRIVE UNTIL 1869.AT THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE OF WYOMING HELD IN CHEYENNE IN DECEMBER 1869, WOMEN OF THAT STATE WERE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN ALL ELECTIONS. THIS RIGHT WAS CONFIRMED BY AN EQUAL SUFFRAGE CLAUSE IN THE STATE CONSTITUTION. WYOMING WAS THUS THE FIRST STATE TO GRANTUNIVERSAL WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. BUT FURTHER PROGRESS PROVED TO BE ELUSIVE. THE IDEA OF A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WOULD BECOME A CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE FOR THE NEXT 40 YEARS. AT THE SAME TIME, THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT BECAME INCREASINGLY MILITANT, CONDUCTING CAMPAIGNS AND DEMONSTRATIONS FOR CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF THE AMENDMENT AND THEN FOR RATIFICATION BY THE STATES. IN THE SENATE, VOTING ON THE AMENDMENT FOLLOWED A REGIONAL PATTERN WITH SENATORS FROM THE SOUTH VOTING AGAINST THE AMENDMENT, THE WEST SUPPORTING IT, AND THE EAST REMAINING EQUALLY DIVIDED. SUSAN B. ANTHONY, A MASSACHUSETTS QUAKER, SPENT ALMOST 60 YEARS OF HER LIFE AS A SPOKESWOMAN AND LEADER IN THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT.SHE WAS ONE OF THE MOST OUTSPOKEN WOMEN OF HER TIME AND SPOKE IN PUBLIC MORE THAN ANY OTHER WOMAN. ANTHONY CALLED FOR A CHANGE IN THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE OF SOCIETY, AND BY THE 1850'S WAS A VERY PROMINENT FORCE IN THE NATION. SHE MET ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND BEGAN A LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP. THE TWO WOMEN LED NUMEROUS TEMPERANCE, ABOLITION, AND SUFFRAGE ORGANIZATIONS. BY THE 1870'S, ANTHONY REALIZED THAT WITHOUT POLITICAL POWER MANY OF THESE CHANGES WOULD NEVER OCCUR. SHE BEGAN FOCUSING ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE AND EVEN TOOK SUFFRAGE PETITIONS DOOR TO DOOR. IN THE 1880'S SHE TRAVELED TO EUROPE ANDBEGAN AN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT. ONE MONTH BEFORE HER DEATH SHE ATTENDED THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE CONVENTION AND THE LAST PUBLIC WORDS SHE SPOKE WERE "FAILURE IS IMPOSSIBLE". THE AMENDMENT PROPOSAL WHICH FAILED TO PASS CONGRESS IN 1914 WAS POPULARLY KNOWN ASTHE SUSAN B. ANTHONY AMENDMENT. BUT A STRONG CAMPAIGN BROUGHT CONGRESSIONALPASSAGE OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT AND THE NECESSARY STATE RATIFICATION IN AUGUST OF 1920. SO IN 1920 WOMEN GET THE RIGHT TO VOTE. THE IMMEDIATE REACTION OF SOME STATES IS THAT THIS IS AN ATTACK ON THEIR SOVEREIGNTY, THAT IT'S LITIGATED BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT, THE 15TH AMENDMENT WHICH GAVE THE RIGHT OF FORMER MALE SLAVES TO VOTE IS USED AS PRECEDENT TO SAY THAT IT IS NOT INFRINGING ON THE RIGHTS OF THE STATES.SO IN THOSE CASES, AND THE RIGHT OF WOMEN IS SECURE, AND THERE HAS NOT BEEN MUCH LITIGATION ABOUT THAT ISSUE EVER SINCE.TODAY WOMEN VOTE AND HOLD ELECTIVE OFFICETHROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY WITHOUT CONTROVERSY AS TO THEIR RIGHT TO DO SO.HOWEVER, FULL EQUALITY IN LAW AND SOCIAL MATTERS IS STILL NOT OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZEDBY A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ALTHOUGH THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM HAS USUALLY ACTED ON GENDER DISCRIMINATION CASES AS IF THERE WERE BY CITING RIGHTS PRESENT ELSEWHERE IN THE DOCUMENT. A PROPOSED EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT FAILED TO BERATIFIED IN THE 1970'S AND IS CONSIDERED UNLIKELY TO BE SERIOUSLY REINTRODUCED IN THE NEAR FUTURE. SO MANY WOMEN WHO HAD ADVOCATED WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE BELIEVED THAT THAT WOULD BE THE END OF THEIR STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT HAS NOT PROVEN TO BE THE CASE AND IN FACT THERE WAS A FAILED ATTEMPT TO ADD THE SO-CALLED EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT TO THECONSTITUTION THAT WOULD HAVE EXPRESSLY MADE CLEAR THAT LEGAL RIGHTS COULD NOT BE DENIED OR ABRIDGED ON THE BASIS OF GENDER.ALTHOUGH THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT WAS NOT RATIFIED, WOMEN HAVE CONTINUED TO MAKE GREAT STRIDES IN POLITICS, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY. A GREAT DEBT IS OWED TO THOSE EARLY SUFFRAGETTES WHO INSTILLED IN US THE IDEA THAT FAILURE IS IMPOSSIBLE.