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Voices of Rebellion: Gilded Age Suffragists, 1870-1920 Karma Bromwell Junior Division Historical Paper: 2379 Words Process Pape

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Voices of Rebellion: Gilded Age Suffragists, 1870-1920 Karma Bromwell Junior Division Historical Paper: 2379 Words Process Pape Voices of Rebellion: Gilded Age Suffragists, 1870-1920 Karma Bromwell Junior Division Historical Paper: 2379 Words Process Paper: 500 Words 1 August 26, 2020 was the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting the constitutional right to vote for American women. Throughout the country, celebrations focused on the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, but also the efforts of suffragists who worked for over 72 years to win the right to vote in 1920. I wanted to identify women who were key players in the women’s suffrage movement and to help keep their stories alive. At critical points in our nation’s history, exchange of information was key, influencing sentiments resulting in the passage of the amendment. Because voting is a primary method used to voice opinions about the destiny of the country, my topic directly ties into “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.” I thought critically and concluded communication isn’t just verbal, but includes images, symbols, and the written word. Suffragists used all of these methods to gain attention and convince American men to ratify the amendment. My first resources were general books about the women’s movement, suffragists, and how American women were historically disenfranchised. I visited New Mexico State University Library and used the Internet to access primary sources. Finally, I consulted several books that directly tie to my thesis. It was essential to separate fact, fiction, and myth in the suffrage tales. Initially, I brainstormed topics associated with the 19th Amendment. I considered discovering how deaf women, such as Helen Keller, fought for the amendment despite their physical impairment. This research confirmed women historically were denied access to higher education. I also learned Katherine Dexter McCormick, a socialite, used her prestige and money to force Massachusetts Institute of Technology to admit women into their programs and provide housing. She was also actively involved in the movement to allow women control over their bodies. McCormick, and 2 many other socialites, invested in a variety of philanthropic endeavors that laid the foundation for the women’s rights movement. My research led me to conclude that the passage of the 19th Amendment was due to the involvement of wealthy women who took up the cause when it was floundering in the early 1900s. Without Gilded Age socialites leveraging their prestige and monies, it is dubious that the amendment would have been ratified. These women used their voices, celebrity status, and resources to create a cohesive network of individuals who were committed to changing society. Women’s right to vote did not come easily and without cost; suffrage was often achieved while dividing friendships and family loyalties. Wealthy suffragists such as Katherine Duer Mackay, Louisine Havemeyer and Mary Cassatt shaped history that brought about societal changes leading to the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. Their efforts further supported equal access to education, fair employment and equitable wages, equality within marriage, child custody, and reproductive rights. Efforts to ratify the 19th amendment facilitated broad-spectrum reforms, supported by law, that continue to provide women opportunities to pursue an equal place in society. “Philanthropy lies at the heart of women’s history.” --Kathleen D. McCarthy1 Without the committed intercession of socialites who actively fought for women’s right to vote, it is highly doubtful the 19th Amendment to the Constitution would have been ratified. The wealth of these gilded age suffragists amplified the voices of women throughout the country and delivered their right to vote. Just as Alexander Hamilton asserted in Federalist 12, “a nation cannot long exist without revenues,” contending an independent and consistent revenue stream is necessary for political independence, the struggle for women’s suffrage was dependent upon steady and sufficient monies.2 In 1776, Abigail Adams cautioned her husband to “Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.... If particular care and attention is not paide to the Laidies we are determined to forment a Rebelion and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”3 Despite the plea, it was not until August 26, 1920 that American women won the right to vote. Indeed, 1 Kathleen D McCarthy. Lady Bountiful: Women, Philanthropy, and Power, (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersye, November 1, 1990), x. 2 The Federalist No. 12, [27 November 1787],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0165. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 4, January 1787 – May 1788, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, pp. 346–352.], Retrieved Dec 18, 2020 3 “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0241. [Original1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 369–371.], (accessed Dec 18, 2020). 2 Abigail Adams’ prediction of a “formented Rebelion” occurred and was funded through the efforts of privileged women who leveraged their social standing and wealth for political gain. In 1890, 11,000,000 Americans earned less than $1200 a year and the average annual income was $380, yet a small elite group in society enjoyed untold wealth and power; opportunities for leisure and extravagance were seized by the ruling class. 4 One might question why wealthy women courageously committed themselves to support suffrage and catalyze an equitable society through philanthropy, especially when their actions were met with vehement animosity and sarcastic accusations of dilettantism.5 While the actual intentions of any group may not be adequately ascertained, one can speculate as to the reasoning and find answers within the lives and communiques of these socialites who used their privileged positions to improve the lives of women, including those significantly less fortunate than themselves. The historian Eric Homberger has suggested glitterati such as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Florence Jaffray “Daisy” Harriman, Miriam Leslie, Katherine Duer Mackay, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, and Charlotte Anita Whitney became activists because they believed it was “the prerogative of the elite to speak for the poor.”6 It has further been suggested by the historian Johanna Neuman: 4 “Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in the World: The Gilded Age,” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-gilded/ (accessed November 20, 2020). 5 “Our Suffrage Movement Is Flirtation on a Big Scale”, New York Times, May 27, 1913, 10, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/05/27/issue.html; and “Suffragists’ Appeal,” (New York Times, May 27, 1913,): 10, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/05/27/issue.html, (accessed December 29, 2020) 6 Eric Homberger, The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City’s History (New York: Macmillan, 2005), 231. 3 For women of the gilded set, modernity meant jettisoning old social customs....in favor of education, career, and independence…. Instead they made a bid for influence --- not the moral suasion of motherhood or the indirect power of social standing, but the political influence of the men of their class, long denied them because of their gender.7 Other than a desire for social change, there was no universal reason why these socialites threw themselves into “the cause”; some idle rich women were motivated by progressive ideals, while other women simply felt political enfranchisement would protect their class privilege. Prior to the Gilded Age8, wealthy women did not attend college, but were taught by private tutors, and then enhanced their education by traveling through Europe to master the languages, sketch and paint images of the landscapes, and wed an affluent husband. It was on one of these tours Louisine Elder Havemeyer met the artist Mary Cassatt, who introduced her to the works of Edgar Degas and other impressionists. Louisine met Mary in France when she was fourteen, and they quickly became close friends.9 Cassatt not only mentored Louisine in the nuances of art collecting, but also encouraged her to support the suffrage movement. Louisine readily embraced this suggestion, as her mother supported women’s suffrage, and was a friend of both Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Burns, pioneer activists in the movement. Furthermore, while in Paris, Louisine became friends with Harriot Stanton Blatch, later the head of the Women’s Political Union in New York. 10 Blatch was the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the main 7 Johanna Neuman, “Introduction.” In Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women’s Right to Vote, 1st ed., (New York, New York: Washington Mews Books, 2017,) 2-3. 8 Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. "Gilded Age," https://www.britannica.com/event/Gilded-Age, (accessed January 3, 2021). 9 Alicia Faxon, "Painter and Patron: Collaboration of Mary Cassatt and Louisine Havemeyer." Woman's Art Journal 3, no. 2 (1982): 15-20. (accessed December 10, 2020), doi:10.2307/1358029. 10 Louisine Havemeyer, “The Suffrage Torch”, Scribner’s Magazine, May 1922, 528. 4 force behind the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention that demanded women’s rights. At
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