Stirring Up Suffrage Sentiment: The Formation of the State Woman Suffrage Organizations, 1866-1914

Abstract

In nearly every state around the turn of the twentieth century, suffragists mobilized in grassroots suffrage organizations to secure the vote for women. Mile movement researchers have theorized that political opportunities are important in explaining why movements emerge, the results from an examination of the emergence of the state suffrage movements show that the mobilization of various resources along with the way in which pro-suffrage arguments were framed were instrumental in stirring up suffrage sentiment. Political opportunities did little to explain the emergence of the suffrage movements. The article concludes that movement researchers need to consider that historically contingent circumstances may determine which factors bring about movement mobilization.