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Page 34 The Antique Shoppe August, 2019
Suffrage Postcards
Scared Men and Empowered Women
By Larry LeMasters
LeMasters’ Antique News Service
Suffrage is the right to vote in public elections. The
struggle for women’s suffrage in the United States
began on July 4, 1776, when John Hancock and 55
other Congressional delegates declared the United
States “free” from British rule. Many Americans,
including women, soon found the “freedom” of our
declaration was not meant for them. It was not until
1920 that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution
gave women the right to vote.
The demand for women’s suffrage truly began
in 1848 when the Seneca Falls Convention, the first
women’s rights convention, passed a resolution favoring
women’s suffrage. The first National Women’s Rights
Convention was held in 1850. In 1869, Susan B.
Anthony along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Lucy Stone formed two competing women’s suffrage
organizations. In 1890, the two organizations merged
into the National American Woman Suffrage ↑ 1912 anti-
Association. The Women’s Christian Temperance suffrage postcard
Union, of which Carrie Nation was a member, shows a cat “suf-
formed in 1873, also supported women’s suffrage. fragette” who is in
Susan B. Anthony succeeded in voting in the need of a rest.
presidential election of 1872 but was arrested for
doing so and found guilty at trial. The judge did not
permit Anthony to speak in her own defense and “She’s good enough
he directed the jury to deliver a “guilty verdict.” for me,” circa 1915,
Anthony was sentenced to pay a $100 fine, but she depicts Uncle Sam
responded, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust supporting wom-
en’s suffrage. →
penalty.” And she never did.
In 1916 Alice Paul formed the National Woman’s
Party, a militant group pushing for a national suffrage
amendment. Finally, after enduring nearly 150 years of
second-class citizenship, the 19th Amendment became
part of the US Constitution on August 26, 1920. It stated
in part, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
by any State on account of sex.”
Strong opposition to women’s suffrage existed,
especially among German-Americans, who believed
women voters would favor the prohibition of alcoholic
beverages. And, somewhat surprisingly, strong
opposition to suffrage occurred among women. As
early as 1870 the Woman’s Anti-Suffrage Association of
Washington was formed, and anti-suffrage women were
initially called “remonstrants.” In 1911 the National
Association Opposed to Women’s Suffrage claimed
350,000 members, arguing among other things “women’s
suffrage would destroy the family.”
This anthropomorphic postcard, “Are you Mr. Henpecko?”,
circa 1900, shows a rooster becoming a hen.
C. Hobson postcard from 1910 shows woman leaving her husband with screaming
kids, endless “women’s” chores, and a hissing, suffragette cat with claws extended.
And the card implies that when women get the vote, she ain’t a comin’ back.
One side effect that emerged from the suffrage movement was the inevitable
political advertising that both supported and attacked women’s suffrage.
Postcards, whose use grew to meteoric fame by 1900, used cartoons and witty
sayings to argue both sides of the suffrage issue. Today, collectors eagerly seek
these politically explosive cards.
It has been estimated that about 4,500 women’s suffrage-themed postcards,
both for and against suffrage, were produced in the United States between 1890
and 1915. Trying to find just one of each of these suffrage
postcards would take any collector several lifetimes.
The most common pro-suffrage post cards were cartoons
of women attempting to take control of their own lives and
futures by advocating their right to vote. Many of the pro-
suffrage post cards featured cutesy kids acting as adults, that
softened the political, suffrage punch somewhat. Some of
these childish cards even had a boy dressed like Uncle Sam
supporting a pretty young girl who wanted “to speak for
myself at the polls.” However, Dunston-Weiler Lithograph
Company of New York was famous for incorporating Uncle
Sam imagery into its anti-suffrage postcards.
Anti-suffrage post cards often depicted thoughts and
ideas, such as men becoming “hen pecked” if women get
the vote, that were meant to spread from person to person.
These cards often depicted men doing “women’s” chores
and other house-hold work, leading to the feminization
of men and scaring American men into being anti-
←Anti-suffrage suffrage which, ironically, scared men into being anti-
postcard from 1915 American since all people are, by our Declaration of
declaring, “Woman’s Independence, “created equal.” Some anti-suffrage
sphere is in the postcards were mean-spirited, suggesting women
home.” Illustrated were unfit to vote.
by Ellen Clapsaddle, Suffrage postcards depicted many different animals
this card if valued
at $60. anthropomorphically, giving the animals human traits,
but cats were used often on these cards to represent
This anti-suffrage the home or “domestic sphere.” Historians suggest
postcard depicts
men as “beaten” at that cats, on suffrage postcards, act as stand-ins for
the polls if women “silly, infantile, incompetent” women, who are “ill-
get the vote. This suited” to think about or vote on political issues.
card is valued at One unfortunate side effect to pro-suffrage
$85.↓ postcards was, according to Catherine Palczewski,
“these postcards may have inadvertently assisted
anti-suffrage forces by making the suffragettes appear too
humorous,” making suffrage itself nothing but a joke.
Some collectors seek women’s suffrage postcards drawn
by famous artists, such as Ellen Clapsaddle or C. Hobson.
Other collectors only seek anti-suffrage cards, possibly hoping
the 19th amendment will one day be repealed, and still other
collectors seek pro-suffrage postcards that reveal to readers the
inalienable fact that women not only deserve the vote, they
deserve the respect of political office that goes hand-in-hand
with voting rights.
Novice collectors might want to begin their postcard hunting
at estate sales or antique stores because at auction or in antique
“paper” shows, women’s suffrage postcards readily cost $60
or more, making collecting “the right to vote” an expensive
hobby.