Marching Shoulder to Shoulder: New Life in the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Movement

On May 2, 1914, women, men, and children across the United States celebrated “National Suffrage Day.” Parades, speeches, and demonstrations in support of the proposed woman suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution took place in every state and territory in the country. The colors of woman suffrage (green, white, purple, and yellow) dotted the celebrations in the forms of pins, ribbons, banners, pennants, sashes, balloons, and clothing, and “Votes For Women” could be seen nationwide. These state-wide events, which turned thousands of eyes towards the campaign to give women the right to vote, set the stage for a national demonstration a week later in the nation's capital. There delegates from 531 congressional districts throughout the country and thousands of sympathizers planned to parade and give speeches promoting the adoption of a suffrage amendment that would extend the right to vote to women.1Connecticut was no stranger to the excitement and dedication that surrounded the push for woman suffrage. Hartford was the scene of a suffrage parade, with floats and banners, that boasted more than 1,000 participants. Thousands more men, women, and children crowded the streets to watch on in awe.2 Interest in such a spectacle was not limited to the day of the parade however, and preparation for the march gained vast amounts of attention from organizers, the public, and the press months in advance. The parade's success reflected the changing leadership, tactics and enthusiasm for woman suffrage in the state. It also propelled the suffrage movement in Connecticut and energized the fight in the following years. Although the state saw increased participation and vigor as a result, the parade did not push the movement forward enough for Connecticut to be among the number of states needed to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. It instead became the first state after the amendment's approval to sign on officially to support woman suffrage for the nation.The history of woman suffrage has received much attention from scholars and historians in the years since the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. The vantage points used to explore the history of this complex topic vary greatly and produced a vast amount of literature. Notable recent histories of the suffrage movement include works concentrating on leadership, politics, the relationship between suffrage and feminism, and the tactics and ideas used by supporters. Most consider the comprehensive overview of the movement presented in the 1996 revised edition of Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movements in the United States by Eleanor Flexner and Ellen Fitzpatrick a standard on the topic of suffrage history.3 Regional and state-specific studies of woman suffrage and the Nineteenth Amendment appear more infrequently in suffrage literature compared to nationally focused examinations. In 1983, Carole Nichols published Votes and More for Women: Suffrage and After in Connecticut, a milestone study in the literature of woman suffrage.4 Arguing against national suffrage historians, Nichols concludes that feminists in Connecticut did not become inactive, complacent, or conservative after gaining the vote.5 Nichols touches on specific tactics such as leafleting, petition drives, and speaking tours. However, she fails to mention suffrage parades—a tactic which drew attention to the suffrage movement in Connecticut and the nation for a number of years. Since the publication of Votes and More for Women, no other major studies of suffrage in Connecticut have been undertaken.This article specifically examines the May 2, 1914, parade in Hartford on “National Suffrage Day.”6 It complements Nichols's study and engages the tactics utilized by Connecticut's suffragists, but also explores a previously overlooked event and highlights the state's new leadership and enthusiasm for the cause, as well as the propelling effect it had on the campaign of suffragists in the state. Utilizing newspapers, pamphlets, organizational records, photographs, three-dimensional objects, and archival materials, this article presents a thorough examination of the planning, execution, and outcome of the Hartford parade.A study of the parade provides a means of understanding the increased interest in suffrage that was boosted by the Progressive Era and the dynamics created by pro-state and pro-federal amendment organizations. Also, suffrage parades typified women's active role in politics during the second decade of the twentieth century. This campaign tactic turned the world upside down with women setting the agenda, determining the course of march, setting the parameters, and claiming public space. Most suffrage activity took place on the state, not national, level and it is through a local lens that historians can better document and understand these suffrage campaigns that drew the majority of attention and energy during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.7 Unlike the national movement which was frequently disrupted by ideological divisions, many state level movements were able to succeed and remain vibrant by finding ways to work together even when local organizations did not always see eye-to-eye.To better appreciate the significance of the Hartford parade, a basic understanding of the suffrage movement in the United States is required. The movement, which evolved over time, gained steam in the United States with the end of the Civil War and culminated in 1920 when women legally received the right to vote under the Nineteenth Amendment. To achieve this victory, women struggled for nearly seventy-five years. Between 1848, when a resolution calling for woman suffrage was adopted at the Seneca Falls Convention in upstate New York, to 1920, generations of suffragists fought for the cause.8Nineteenth-century society in the United States saw many social reform movements, such as antislavery, health, education, and labor conditions, take root. The initial claims for women's equal participation in the public arena emanated from the battle against slavery. Having been denied the right to participate fully in reform movements, women began speaking out for changes in the social, moral, legal, educational, and economic status for themselves and others; their initial focus centered on women's rights as a whole, not specifically on woman suffrage. In fact, those present at the Seneca Falls Convention regarded the resolution demanding the vote as the most extreme of all their demands and adopted it by only a narrow margin.In the few years following the close of the Civil War, the United States Congress adopted two amendments to the United States Constitution. In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted and caused dissension in the ranks of the abolitionist-woman's rights alliance since it introduced the word “male” into the Constitution as a condition of citizenship and a pre-condition for voting rights. In 1869 the Fifteenth Amendment was proposed, and upon its adoption in 1870, extended the right to vote to black men, but not women. The proposal of this legislation acted as a catalyst for women's rights leaders to see the vote as one of their most important goals, and the suffrage movement as a separate interest was born.The year 1869 proved critical to the growth of the woman suffrage movement. In that year two official woman suffrage organizations formed on the national level. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and open only to women, opposed the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment and instead called for an amendment enfranchising women. This New York-based organization adopted a radical tone in promoting a variety of feminist reforms and worked to achieve suffrage through federal action.9 In 1878, the woman suffrage amendment that Anthony first proposed in 1868 was introduced to the United States Senate, and it was presented to one Congress after another in the years that followed.Also in 1869, Lucy Stone, along with other male and female activists, set up the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). With its headquarters in Boston, the AWSA promoted the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, while simultaneously working to secure the vote for women. Members promoted state suffrage amendments and various forms of partial suffrage legislation, such as bills giving women the right to vote on school and municipal issues. They saw these smaller achievements as desirable and also believed them to be a means of gaining full suffrage for all American women.10In the last decades of the nineteenth century, suffragists utilized two basic kinds of tactics to promote the cause of woman suffrage. They held gatherings composed primarily of women sympathetic to the cause to increase membership in suffrage organizations. In addition, they discretely lobbied state legislators to give women the right to vote. These efforts proved mildly successful, and by 1900 four states or territories had granted women the vote. These victories took place in the midst of one of the most important turning points in the suffrage movement when the two national suffrage groups united to form one organization in 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). During the years from 1880 to 1890 it became evident that a state-by-state approach, which had been favored by the AWSA, proved more successful and the fight for the cause would be stronger if the two organizations united. The newly formed NAWSA continued to demand a federal amendment but concluded that they must first build support at the state level, winning enough state suffrage amendments to guarantee approval of a federal amendment from the national Congress. The state support would ratification by the of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association which had been formed in 1869 and under the leadership of for its first forward in its fight for suffrage. the of proposed legislation, and support of equal women gained the right to vote on school in and on to in the of the twentieth century, women had been and to state and local as school public public, and These were by such as women gaining the right to their by an of the in legislation working for women in the and in became the first woman to the of when the Connecticut in of the end of the century, along with their voting a number of women also of such as Hartford and Connecticut the had been mildly successful in the first decades of their the their national in the last of the nineteenth and enthusiasm as the twentieth In Connecticut boasted only suffrage and the only these the movement in Connecticut, its national a major of and as the second decade of the twentieth The movement greatly from the new ideas and energy of leaders and tactics from suffragists and activists, the of and The of the Progressive movement in the twentieth also boosted the of the woman suffrage cause on the state and national the women and as for and legislation to that women's would to achieve such the increased support for women's the suffrage movement across the of victories in states boosted and suffragists fought at state, and national demonstrations for the right to Connecticut, a second of suffragists the of the in by and these new suffragists the and and many held the suffragists these women that rights equal participation in and they in a of and work With interest in woman suffrage by leadership and by Progressive Era new suffrage and were in Connecticut by and by the boasted in a number of the leaders and believed the had become and in its the organization in of the more Connecticut of the National Woman's Although the two groups did not see to on the the vote be the of suffrage the and as a the two groups with one another in the state as they with other groups in working towards their increased of suffrage activity in Connecticut during the twentieth the organization of the Connecticut Association to in by of the to the of the vote to women. They also and pamphlets, and and worked to women's role in Unlike the suffragists, the did not that women were or to the of groups and the state's that worked against woman the women's movement in Connecticut continued to and push for the The Connecticut of the National Woman's together with the and other local continued the by the and bills to the Connecticut at and that it was to support woman suffrage. the of their to and opposed to the all worked to their and women in Connecticut also their to suffrage by in national and the second decade of the twentieth suffragists across the nation began a demonstration Parades, or amounts of suffragists together at one to the public, and they could march in they could be seen and attention to themselves and the cause of woman suffrage. The parades women to present themselves to as for suffrage. They also the it took to appear in public to demand equal voting rights. These a among women to vote by women march with and society women as one Suffrage parades turned the of society upside down with women setting the agenda, determining the and claiming previously public for their and the official colors woman suffrage could be seen by and at the press the parades or they on the and the of suffrage in the public In became the first state to a suffrage a more began the and in Connecticut, held their first suffrage For the few parades a form of demonstration in many states across the This tactic the previously attention that woman suffrage had been and was used to interest in the cause and on a However, by the the United States War in only one new state had held its first parade, and the of this tactic did not to in the of suffrage parades Connecticut and its suffragists saw the topic of parades into the local as of The Hartford began woman an push for women's equal voting rights had not been in Connecticut, the press was the topic in the public the of the nineteenth and up to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, and and could be on the of local Hartford began the word to local suffrage to The its a full year the first official parade was held in the state on “National Suffrage Day.” examination of the article that this an of suffragists through and up the from the headquarters on The state as the women on woman suffrage at the state of the to suffrage to this event as a evident that this demonstration tactic had become a activity of suffragists in the nation by this the march from to the on the women themselves with their and suffrage colors of purple, and and also held for those to the demonstration at the suffrage groups in Hartford to of Hartford and to state suffragists would give on the of on the of the was a in the of the day and a “Votes for under the of the Suffrage and the Hartford This of a not only the in but also the that women an active role in to the support of this suffragists in Connecticut began the of suffragists on their by the second decade of the twentieth century. in together in new ways they began used for parades the such as and the NAWSA and the began a “National Suffrage for the following was to have suffrage parades and across the nation on the gaining attention and woman suffrage in a an demonstration would the fight for suffrage and to many women the right to vote. On The Hartford is of a state parade in Hartford in May with floats from the and a women in This mention was the first to the public of the event to take place in the of Connecticut the following The the official of the parade at their on and continued on at through The enthusiasm of the organization for the and the and that the women this parade would have on the state and national movements, can be seen through the amount of to its and the in the the under of the NAWSA and the the organization of the state parade they were not the only suffrage in its suffrage organizations from New and to floats for the the state, the significance of the first parade was by various organizations to their in it a During the the out to various suffrage and across Connecticut them that local suffrage in Connecticut to this demonstration one of the most successful in the Members of the in their records, that of at in the Suffrage in Hartford on May to that of in and the on for the organization of the parade and to banners, and they also set their into The Hartford through the at suffrage the and the floats and of the the time, the parade and calling for the state. an of the Connecticut delegates in the suffrage parade in New on May the the that the Hartford parade would take place or and a for the parade and as many as the to be and to the a means for to the event and many to for the event took place as on and of the and its at the headquarters on on than two months the day of the parade, for the of the march, and to the significance of such an of the fight for woman suffrage was one that would not and that women held the right to vote and be in she the of a national amendment that would women the right to vote. through a national amendment would suffragists that the vote could be gained for all women across the of the that could from to with other of the cause, she the fight of suffragists in the state and the cause of woman suffrage. The Hartford as parade more than the march of an It the work of the to be women have gained the to Although the suffrage movement to and at to than by the second decade of the twentieth women were more active in Connecticut and their cause gained had a suffrage event received much attention and for such an extended of in The newly energized worked to its cause into the with the that a successful parade would to Congress from the states the of women for the of the amendment to the United States On the of May 2, 1914, one of the to in Hartford to watch a parade formed along the and streets the state capital. Thousands of men, women, and children turned out to participate in the parade, or to watch the were in no and the excitement of the day across the crowded against the the local the were with to a better vantage of the in the of the The parade formed and at led by the Hartford and a of the down the and through the and in After the parade its of through for to secure on and the in white, and the suffrage colors in the form of sashes, pins, and ribbons, women, men, and children through the streets of Hartford in support of the for women. This to of and that the of women and more than the parade the social of women over the course of the years the of for equal rights. with women in every nation and state woman suffrage was suffrage colors and among the of suffrage and work of the event also the significance of the parade for woman suffrage in the state. of the of enthusiasm such an event could have for the suffrage cause, the Connecticut Association to Woman Suffrage continued to with a when were a parade to their On the day of the parade, of their among the by the the of the movement. of along the the which had been by the and many of the which were up along the streets to see the were with the as were their smaller in than the the to as a at the parade as but could not with the excitement and of the parade, which was compared by The Hartford in and to the of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Hartford in of had all of the and spectacle of the national suffrage parades this In May of women in the suffrage parade held in New the in of the women, the women, were all in On one of the most suffrage parades in the nation took place in on the day with the of on the to the of and in the nation's to on the of the new by as of upon a the parade the out for the place the the twentieth century, of became a of female the suffrage movement. a she was always to for if and would for a With for the as of frequently at the of suffrage the suffrage movement in Connecticut, of a of by a at the of the Hartford a of through the streets of Hartford on National Suffrage months after the parade, suffragists were able to on its success and the effect it had on the state movement. With of the parade for in local newspapers, and as the Hartford suffrage parade became an event that extended well the day on which it had been at the and of the points of the These a that on in the state in the following the that and woman was in Hartford to see the parade, or in its is to see the and to and as they into the of was at first as a one day event became an parade no to a few on May 2, only could and watch the of the to for themselves and but to the parade in the of calling for support of woman suffrage and the excitement and enthusiasm of the the success of the parade became suffragists in the state continued to new In of 1914, an out across the state that for suffrage at and in and women on a of and suffrage in a that the attention of the press and the public, as the parade had the women suffrage speeches in the and for two with the of The which was into of its drew of at the to suffrage The the interest in the Hartford parade, one of the most of the as of the Hartford suffrage parade The that were to the of the interest of the demonstrations continued in the months and years following the In of 1914, the a at the Connecticut and new were also suffrage literature and could have by suffragists, while of and to those in the parade drew The increased interest in the suffrage cause led to the of suffrage in the of the Hartford For the of 1914, suffrage held these in the in every and in Connecticut a suffrage In a demonstration was held at a with an could a local a and all at one during the course of the Connecticut suffragists, on by the success of the parade, on to a parade in New in thousands of and suffragists continued to march for their cause in the while the success of the Hartford parade new of support and enthusiasm for Connecticut's movement and among groups in the years that the national movement continued to and groups which vibrant even when not were the groups that the woman suffrage movement With support from and a number of states women the right to vote, to the cause and Congress to the Nineteenth Amendment and it to the states for ratification in of states were to ratify the amendment it could become a national 1920, became the state to ratify the and on the Nineteenth Amendment officially became of the United States suffragists in Connecticut had their state would be the one to the number of states to ratify the the official of Connecticut and the proved In an to of the of woman suffragists state-wide the to sign the equal suffrage and to a of the to vote on the efforts did not It was only after the it legal, that the Connecticut Connecticut it the state to the Nineteenth Connecticut's role in the national suffrage movement not be a parade, and no major of activity in history is a This was for the suffrage campaign in Connecticut on May 2, the suffrage movement in Connecticut began to by and a new of suffragists into the fight for the cause, the Hartford suffrage parade of women's from across the state together as one and propelled the place in the state into and The which reflected the new leadership, and enthusiasm of the twentieth century, gained attention for the suffrage years following the parade were in the fight for suffrage in of photographs, and the Hartford parade as a for enthusiasm for the In Connecticut, the that the national movement were and the movement was able to forward in a the of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, suffragists in Connecticut continued to the of energy and to support through leafleting, speeches, and The women, men, and children to in support of equal voting rights in an event that the dedication of state and local groups to the national