February 23, 2017
Volume 47 - No. 08
Editor’s Note: Following last year’s historic election which pitted a woman candidate, Hillary Clinton, against Donald Trump, our Claudia Aragon thought it timely to take a look at women in politicas over the years and see just what impace women and their fight for the right to vote have had on our nation. byo Claudia Aragon
We as a nation found ourselves in yet another presidential election. The campaigns for that election did not disappoint in their theatrics. There had been the usual mudslinging and finger pointing on both sides. The ‘he said, she said’ rhetoric.
No matter what your opinion or political party, I think we can agree that it’s important we all had our chance to get out there and cast our vote. We needed to make our voices heard and our choices made. If we didn’t speak up we had no one to blame but ourselves.
As a nation we are still in our infancy and every measure of freedom we have and the rights we are privy to, have been hard fought by men, women and children. Battles fought at home and abroad by blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, gays, straight, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, etc. The list goes on. With that said, I felt it was important to write this article about one particular battle for the right to vote. Even though we had a female candidate and many feel it was unlike any other election in our recent history, it was not, however, the first time a woman has run for president as a major candidate. Before the election I was asked if I was going to vote in the Presidential election. I quickly answered, yes, of course. I’ve voted in every election, local and Presidential, since I was old enough to vote. There have been times my choices on propositions as well as politicians have been wrong, or my choices never quite made the cut. That fact of life is true for everyone who’s ever voted. Like the saying goes…if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. In order to make a difference we have to try. There are no guarantees of immediate change or success, and the process can be tedious at best. It’s just important that we all get out there and try to make the changes we feel are important, by exercising our right to vote. After all, if we don’t strive to effect a change, someone else will, and it may not be the right choice for us, or our families.
It was just before I turned twenty and the Presidential election of 1976 was just around the corner. I was living in Yuba County, just north of Sacramento and I remember the excitement felt among me and my friends. It would be the first time we would all be old enough to vote for President. During the previous presidential campaign in 1972, we had all worked at various campaign headquarters … some for McGovern and some for Nixon. Inspired by her courage, some actively campaigned and worked
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for Shirley Chisholm. Not only was she a woman, but she was black. Some people felt it could work to her advantage, while others felt it was two strikes against her. She surprised everyone with an outstanding total of 152 votes at the Democratic National Convention, but lost the nomination to George McGovern. Even though George McGovern won the nomination, he lost the Presidential election to Richard Nixon. We were all still too young to vote, but busied ourselves by putting out door hangers and handing out flyers, trying to drum up voters. A few of us, myself included, manned (or should I say womanned) the phones and stuffed mailers. The signing of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was a big topic of conversation with us and we were actively trying to find new ways to give the female vote a voice.
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Ironically, women could run for President before they could vote for one. The only exception to the rule, due in part to their status in the community at large, were women of means. The women who owned property and/or had amassed a great deal of wealth. The first official record of a woman running for President was Victoria Woodhull in 1872. She was a member of the Equal Rights Party and her Vice Presidential choice was running mate Frederick Douglass. In 1884, when Abigail Scott Duniway rejected her nomination by the National Equal Rights Party, Belvia Ann Lockwood was given the nomination instead. Lockwood ran for President twice. The first time in 1884, with Marietta Stow as her running mate and the second time in 1888, with Alfred Love, who was later replaced by Charles Stuart as her vice presidential running mate.
Women’s Suffrage Continued on Page 2
After the Civil War there had been increased agitation among the women regarding their right to go to the polls. In 1869, the 15th Amendment was being signed into law, which would give newly freed black men the right to vote. When asked for their endorsements, the feminists were split. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were opposed, refusing to sign the endorsement, as it did not include giving women their right to go to the polls as well. They formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, which campaigned for and attacked the issues for women’s rights at the federal level. This included giving property rights to married women. Other feminist suffragists, including Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, endorsed the 15th Amendment, arguing that once the black man had the vote, the women’s vote would soon follow. Stone and Howe formed the American