Full Suffrage

This document is a clipping from the Chicago Tribune that appeared in February of 1918. The article describes a speech that was made at a Chicago meeting of the National Women’s Party. It is possible that women’s involvement in the World War I effort helped sway public opinion towards suffrage. The title is “Full Suffrage Here is Seen as Blow to the Foe,” and argues that the enfranchisement of women will help to win the war because both are a question of democracy. The clipping closes with the statement that “When the news that the American house and senate has enfranchised the women of America shall reach Germany and Austria, another terrible blow will be struck at Prussianism.”The connection the suffragette movement had to World War I is similar to the way in which the early women’s rights movements in the United States grew out of abolitionism around the time of the Civil War. Female abolitionists noticed that their voices were not being heard and they began to wonder how they could fight for the rights of enslaved people when they themselves were lacking in power. This early connection to abolitionism is very similar to the argument made in this clipping: how can women help promote democracy abroad when they are not able to participate fully in the democratic system at home?

-Cate LiaBraaten

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