Discussion Question Response History

Discussion Question Response

This week, you read articles within your webtext about the women's suffrage movement and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), two major efforts to establish equal rights for women in the United States. In your discussion post, address the following:

Choose one sentence or short section from the article you read on the women’s suffrage movement. Quote the sentence or section in your post and briefly explain how your chosen sentence or section illustrates the concept of historical causality.

After reading the article on the ERA, summarize the author's thesis statement about the ERA in one or two sentences. To support your answer, quote one or two sentences from the article that convey the author's central point.

Respond to your peers by comparing one of their selections to your own. Reflect on the similarities and differences between the conclusions you each made based on the evidence you selected.

Pierre Taylor - “Following the war, the right to vote became the central focus of the women's rights movement, but this issue precipitated a sharp division in the movement's leadership." The war changed the movements focus to abolition after the war. The push for equal rights for former slaves caused a division that lead to five more decades before women could vote. 

The main reason for inaction of the ERA was due to limited data. There were no more than eight efforts to amend the constitution since 1960.  

"Thus, little attention was given to the second half of the Article V process [i.e., ratification by the state legislatures]. As a result, neither congressional sponsors, supporters such as NOW, nor anyone else prepared to campaign vigorously for ERA ratification in the states."

Response –

Ainsley Smith - "A reformer, to be conscientious, must be free from bread-winning." -Wendell Phillips

This statement was an undermining of the need for funds to advertise and vocalize an organized, unified voice for change and reformation. Despite this statement from Wendell Phillips, it was acknowledged that in order to move forward, funds were needed, therefore the attention went to attracting wealthy supporters. This fact points out and emphasizes why money and status can most often times have the upper hand because of the need and access to funds. Same thought process of today. 

Response -