SUFFRAGE GLOSSARY

19th Amendment — Ratified on August 18, 1920, the Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex.

Abolish — To end or stop; to completely do away with something. Many states had their women’s voting rights abolished including Utah in 1887, etc.

Anti-Suffragist — A person against women being granted the right to vote.

Acquiesce — To accept, agree, or allow something to happen by staying silent or not arguing.

Activist — A person who uses or supports strong actions to make changes in politics and/or society.

Advocate — A person who works for a cause or group.

Affiliate — An organization that is a chapter (or part) of a larger organization.

Amendment — A change is the words or meaning of a law or document, such as the United States Constitution.

American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) — Founded in 1869, it focused solely on the issue of women’s right to vote in order to attract as many supporters as possible, including males. The organization, unlike its rival the NWSA, pursued a state-by-state strategy to gaining suffrage.

Analogy — Drawing a comparison between two unlike things to make a point. Cartoonists often compare a complex situation to a familiar situation.

Ballot — A ticket or piece of paper used to vote in secrecy..

Biased — Influenced or prejudiced against someone or something.

Cajole — To persuade someone to do something by making promises or saying nice things.

Campaign — A series of events designed to influence voters in an election.

Concur — To agree.

Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU) —

Constitutional — A peaceful, legal way of campaigning, often using recognized ‘political’ methods such as petitions.

Delegate — A representative who votes on behalf of others.

Denounce — To publicly state that someone or something is wrong or bad.

Disavow — To give up doing something.

Disenfranchisement — To take away someone’s right to vote.

Emancipate — To free a person from someone else’s power.

Empower — To give power to someone, including legal power.

Enfranchisement — To be granted the vote or the state of having the vote.

Exaggeration — Overdoing or emphasizing certain physical characteristics and/or attributes. (Anti-suffrage postcards).

Expedient — Providing a quick and easy way to solve a problem.

Exultant — Very happy and excited.

Force Feeding — Imprisoned suffragists on hunger strike were sometimes force fed. Being force fed involved a rubber tube being inserted into the throat or nose and liquidated food being poured in.

Franchise — The right to vote in public elections.

Hunger Strike — Some imprisoned suffragists refused to eat to further awareness of their cause.

Immigrate — To come to a country to live there.

Indelible — Impossible to remove or forget.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) — Either of two distinct secret societies in the United States that employ terror and violence in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. The first group was founded immediately after the Civil War and lasted until the 1870s. The second group began in 1915 and continues to this day targeting people who are not American-born white Christians.

Lobby — To try to influence government officials to make decisions for or against something.

Militant — Aggressive and violent behavior in pursuit of a political cause, favoring extreme or confrontational campaign methods.

Moderates — People who are assumed to “listen to reason”; committed to “friendly persuasion”; push social norms a little, but still within levels of respectability.

Municipal — City or town government.

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) — In 1890 members of both the NWSA and AWSA meet in Washington D.C. to approve a merger of the two organizations.

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) — Founded in 1869 (the same year as AWSA), the organization was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and supported a national amendment to gain the right to vote for women.

National Woman’s Party —

Nominate — To formally propose someone for a position or political office.

Nullify — To make it so something has no legal power.

Oratory — Speaking to groups of people in a way that is effective.

Pacifist — An individual who disagrees with war on principle.

Petition — A formal written request or application, especially one signed by many people, to a particular group, for example, a government in order for the person or organization to do or change something.

Philanthropy — Giving money and time to help make life better for other people.

Platform — The official beliefs and goals of a political party or candidate.

Positive Discrimination — Discrimination in favor of individuals belonging to a group considered to be disadvantaged or underprivileged.

Propaganda — The publication of resources and ideas designed to encourage a particular and specific response.

Racism — A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others. It can extend into policies and systems of government causing discrimination and leads to hatred or intolerance of another race or races.

Racist — A person who believes that one’s own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to others.

Radicals — People who express greater degrees of dissatisfaction than moderates; they tend to be more “combative’ and push more against social norms and ideas; more extreme.

Ratify — To make official by voting for and signing (a constitutional amendment).

Re-enfranchisement — To give back someone’s right to vote.

Rescind — To end officially; to say officially that something is no longer valid.

Revoke — To make something invalid.

Sanction — To officially accept or allow something.

Secular — Not religious.

Seneca Falls Convention — The first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. It fought for the social, civil and religious right of women.

Statute — A law.

Stereotypes — A simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. Many arguments agains woman suffrage were presented as upending the gender order by masculizing women and feminizing men. Giving women the right to vote would cause women to abandon their household duties and become aggressive and unladylike and, ultimately, would threaten men, the family, and the entire natural order of things.

Stump Speech — A speech that is made many times by a politician who is traveling to different places during a campaign for election.

Suffrage — The right to vote in political elections.

Suffragette versus Suffragist — Although we often see words suffragist and suffragette used interchangeably, their historical meanings are quite different. In 1906, a British reporter used the word “suffragette” to mock those fighting for women’s right to vote. The suffix “-ette” is used to refer to something small or diminutive. Some women in Britain embraced the term suffragette as a way of reclaiming it from its original derogatory use. In the United States, however, the term suffragette was seen as an offensive term and not embraced by the suffrage movement. Instead, it was wielded by anti-suffragists in their fight to deny women in America the right to vote.

Suffragist — A person who works to get voting right for women.

Symbolism — An object that stand for itself and a larger concept or idea.

Territory — A part of the United States that is not a state.

Violence — Rough or injurious physical force, action or treatment. The 1913 National Woman Suffrage Parade in Washington D.C. became violent as women were pulled off of floats and their signs destroyed. Many other protests also resulted in violence like the 1916 silent protest by the National Woman’s Party at President Wilson’s speech in Chicago. Signs were destroyed and women were beaten as the police stood by and watched.

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union — The national organization was founded in 1874 to “temper” or moderate alcohol consumption, combat vice and promote a broad range of social reforms including woman suffrage.