12. Prohibition Was the Single Biggest Motivator for Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Desire to Secure Political Rights
Women wanted laws that regulated or banned ban alcohol, but it was difficult for women to get such laws enacted when they lacked the ability to elect the lawmakers. Thus, as the nineteenth century progressed, more and more women came to see the vote as a vital means of protecting themselves and their families, often from threats posed by alcohol. Considering the booze epidemic’s negative impact on women, women’s rights advocates such as Susan B. Anthony and Eliza Thompson made temperance a women’s issue.
As they saw it, women’s issues could not be resolved if authority was left solely in the hands of men. Thus was borne one of the most potent arguments for rallying women to demand the right to vote. The logic was airtight and solid enough to break through the widespread acceptance by many women that they had no business in politics. Alcohol harmed women. Women wanted something done about alcohol. Men were not doing enough about alcohol. Women needed the vote to see to it that something was done about alcohol.
