Lawmakers are elected to represent the interests of the voters in the area they represent. A short video details the how the women involved in the Suffrage Movement recognized that granting women the right to voted would double the size of a constituency and cause male lawmakers concerns about how the increase would impact their re-election chances.

Concepts

the nineteenth amendment, women's suffrage, women's rights, women's history, women's history month, suffrage, the suffrage movement, world war i, business

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Have class members investigate groups that are working today to expand suffrage through voter registration
• Ask others to investigate lobbying groups that try to influence lawmakers

Classroom Considerations

• The video segment is part of the full-length PBS documentary Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women
• Due to the lack of detail in the video, the resource would work best as one part of a more in depth study of the ratification struggle

Pros

• Support materials include links to a rich collection of materials, websites, activities, discussion questions, and primary sources

Cons

• The video does not detail the strategies and arguments the suffrage movement used to convince male lawmakers to support the amendment