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Anti-Suffrage Arguments, Broadside, circa 1912

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation. 

Context

The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia (ESL) was founded in 1909 in Richmond when about twenty women met at the home of Anne Clay Crenshaw. The league sought to win women the right to vote. Although the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, were passed in 1791, women were still not considered equal citizens under the law nearly a century and a half later. The ESL believed that denying women the right to vote was equivalent to the pre-Revolution days of taxation without representation. While many women supported the suffrage movement, others opposed the idea of women's voting rights.

The ESL faced organized resistance in the form of the Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, founded in 1912. Much of the anti-suffragist rhetoric was based on the arguments that a women’s proper role was within the home and that separate spheres existed for women and men. Anti-suffragists argued that men were to be involved in public sphere activities, such as politics, whereas women belonged in the private sphere of the home. Many people believed that if women stepped outside of their role in the home, the family unit would ultimately suffer.

This broadside highlights the efforts of the Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage to tie the suffrage movement directly to socialism, a political ideology that was gaining some momentum at the time as labor reform efforts increased. Socialism was highly controversial at the time as many Americans viewed it as a challenge to democracy and free enterprise.

Citation: Virginia Association Opposed to Woman's Suffrage, Anti-suffrage arguments: Danger!: Woman’s suffrage, the vanguard of socialism. Richmond, Va.: The Association, 191-. Broadside 191- .A684 FF, Lab #15_0233_026, Manuscripts & Special Collections, Library of Virginia.

Standards

Social Studies: VS.1, VS.9. USII.1, USII.9, VUS.1, VUS.8
Art: 4.18, 4.19, 5.18, 5.19

Suggested Questions

Preview Activity

Scan It: Scan the broadside. List the words which are repeated more than twice or which are purposely in large typeface. Why would the creator of this document choose to use words repeatedly? What impact might the repetition and size of the type have on a reader?

Post Activities

Social Media Spin: Using hashtags and memes, convert the messages of this broadside into short, social media-style messages that may have been used had the technology existed at the time.

Analyze: Why would women be opposed to the idea women having the right to vote? What does their opposition tell you about the prevailing culture and values in the early 1900’s?

Another Perspective: There are countries around the world today in which women do not have the same rights as men or where women do not feel that women are considered equal to men. How and why does culture impact the decisions made to give or not give women rights in the 21st century?