3. Reconstruction and women's suffrage

• Lots of women contributed to the war effort. They gathered medical material : several laudresses, cook, nurses. Even women working for the U.S. federal government (for the first time) as clerks or as copyists
• In 1864, women held 33% of all manufacturing jobs (≠1861 : 23%)
• So after the war : some women demanded equal rights with men.
• Women had to have skills with forming association -> It would be useful to ask for more rights
• Prior to the war, women had organised the : 1848 Seneca Falls Convention led by Elizabeth Cady Santon and Lucretia Mott
• Adoption of Stanton's "declaration of sentiments" : "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal".
• They demanded equality in property, marriage and education.
• 1866 : Formation of the American Equal Rights Association. The main purpose of that association was to demand universal suffrage.
• Women accepted to renounce their own right to push through the Black vote.
• 1920 : 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution : finally granting womens the right to vote.
• Conclusion : the Civil War was a turning point in American history : it freed the Republic from evils at odds with the nation's founding values.
• Slavery had poisoned the relationships between the North and the South.
• With the northern victory : abolition of slavery and new status to African-Americans
• With the 15th amendment : universal male suffrage, yet leaving aside women’s demands for equal rights.