Browse · Jane Addams Digital Edition

The Modern City and the Municipal Franchise for Women, 1906

Addams discusses the history of suffrage and argues that women in modern, urban societies need the vote.

Government History Immigrants Juvenile Delinquency Labor Public Health Woman Suffrage

Municipal Suffrage, March 6, 1906 (excerpt) Also known as Address to the Lake View Women's Club, March 6, 1906 (excerpt)

Addams gave an address to the Lake View Women's Club about her views on woman suffrage at the municipal level of government.

Lectures Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Jane Addams Declares Ballot for Woman Made Necessary by Changed Conditions, April 1, 1906

Addams offers reasons why Chicago should extend vote to women.

Crime Enforcement Politics Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams to Martha Carey Thomas, November 24, 1906

Addams regrets that the pressure of work from chairing the School Management Committee makes it impossible for her to lecture in the East this winter.

Education Lectures Requests

Mary Thorn Lewis Gannett to Jane Addams, January 25, 1907

Gannett invites Addams to the National Women's Suffrage Association meeting in February.

Conferences Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

The Campaign for Municipal Suffrage, February 17, 1907

A newspaper report and excerpts from Addams' February 17 speech at the National Suffrage Convention, after the defeat of municipal suffrage for women in Chicago.

Conferences Politics Woman Suffrage

Martha Carey Thomas to Jane Addams, October 5, 1907

Thomas invites Addams to make a tour of East Coast women's colleges on the subject of equal suffrage.

Education Lectures Requests Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Address Before the Nineteenth Century Club, October 14, 1907 (excerpts)

Addams argues that woman suffrage might impact the plight of fallen women who are preyed upon by men.

Crime Enforcement Lectures Morality Prostitution Woman Suffrage

The Social Value of the Immigrant, March 14, 1908 (excerpt)

Addams discusses the benefits of suffrage and how the vote will benefit immigrant women living in tenement houses. This lecture was made before the Ethical Culture Society at New Century Hall in Philadelphia on March 14, 1908 and published later.

Labor Lectures Woman Suffrage

The Benefit of Suffrage for Working Women, March 19, 1908 (excerpt)

A summary of Addams' speech at Mount Holyoke College in support of woman suffrage as a means to foster social change.

Lectures Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Social Legislation and the Need for the Ballot for Women (excerpt), March 21, 1908

Addams discusses poor women in Chicago and their need for suffrage at a meeting of the College Equal Suffrage Society at Boston University on March 21. The excerpt was published later.

Housing Immigrants Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

The Working Woman and the Ballot, April 1908

Addams gives arguments for woman's suffrage, stressing that working class need it to be able to control some aspects of their lives.

Gender Roles Labor Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Jane Addams to Rachel Hole Rice, April 28, 1908

Addams reports to Rice on their defeat in securing woman suffrage in Chicago and in Illinois.

Woman Suffrage

Martha Carey Thomas to Jane Addams, May 7, 1908

Thomas apologizes for the delay in responding and discusses the impact of Addams' lectures on the suffrage cause.

Finances Health Lectures Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams's Retort, June 7, 1908

Addams points out the hypocrisy in women who ridicule suffragists.

Lectures Woman Suffrage

Miss Jane Addams Tells More about Women Foreigners, February 21, 1909

Addams argues that when women vote, they help to improve protection for children and to the general public.

Child Welfare Lectures Social Welfare Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams to Sarah Alice Addams Haldeman, February 23, 1909

Addams sends Haldeman a postcard regarding the suffrage movement.

Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Jane Addams Says that American Women are Slower, March 19, 1909

In terms of securing their rights, Addams argues that women in America lag behind their European counterparts.

Lectures Social Reform Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Woman Suffrage Is Needed in Chicago, March 24, 1909

Addams discusses the movement for municipal suffrage for women in Chicago, arguing that it will help improve schools, public health, and sanitation.

Education Public Health Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Jane Addams to Agnes Nestor, March 29, 1909

Addams asks Nestor to speak at a public hearing in Springfield, Illinois, to discuss municipal voting for women.

Requests Women's Rights

Woman's Suffrage and the Preservation of the Home, May 1909

Addams argues women's need for the vote so that they can perform their duties to family and the nation.

Hull-House Immigrants Public Health Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams' Message, August 25, 1914

A portion of Addams' speech from the Second Annual Peace Conference on May 4, 1909 about what women have done that have earned them suffrage.

Lectures Peace Woman Suffrage

Edward William Bok to Jane Addams, May 25, 1909

Bok congratulates Addams on her suffrage articles for the Ladies Home Journal.

Praise Woman Suffrage Writings

Jane Addams to James DeWitt Andrews, July 23, 1909

Addams apologizes for holding on to Andrews' article too long and praises him for its views on suffrage and protective legislation.

Labor Woman Suffrage Writing

Why Women Should Vote, January 1910

Addams argues for women to have the vote in order that they may continue to perform their duties to family and to home in the modern world, where responsibilities, like feeding their children and keeping them safe, are no long directly within their control.

Democracy Immigrants Woman Suffrage

Chicago Civic Club Talk, January 13, 1910 (excerpt)

Addams tells a story to illustrate the danger of looking at the struggle for women's rights through rose-colored glasses.

Crime Death Lectures Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams to Martha Carey Thomas, August 29, 1910

Addams writes Thomas regarding her article about woman suffrage in the Ladies' Home Journal.

Publishing Woman Suffrage Writings

Interview with James Evans Crown, September, 1910

In an interview with James Evan Crown, Addams discusses the impact that woman suffrage is having on society. Addams later denied having taken part in this interview, specifically her comments on the poor.

Journalism Labor Social Work Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Tribute to Theodore Parker, November 17, 1910

Addams pays tribute to Theodore Parker at a Memorial Banquet in Chicago, where she praised his anti-slavery work and support of black suffrage, blamed his generation for not extending suffrage to women, and surmised that Parker would have ultimately supported the franchise for women had he lived longer.

Abolition Death Praise Religion Woman Suffrage

Ada C. Sweet to Jane Addams, December 20, 1910

Sweet asks Addams to contribute some articles to her publishing company.

Requests Woman Suffrage Writings

Jane Addams to Ella S. Stewart, December 24, 1910

Addams writes Stewart regarding her pledge to the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association.

Woman Suffrage

The Ballot for Health and Beauty, February 1911

Addams' short argument for woman suffrage that women's voices are needed for the health and beauty of the cities.

Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Woman and the State, February 2-14, 1911

Addams gave this lecture at least two times; once at the February 2 meeting of the New York City Women's Political Union, and again on February 14 at the Boston School Voters' League. In the lecture, she discusses the philosophical relationship between women and the State and argues for the value of women in government, leading to the importance of woman suffrage. She may have also delivered a version of this lecture in Chicago on Dec. 8, 1910, to the Fortnightly Club.

Child Labor Child Welfare Education Politics Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Suffrage Speech at Peotone, March 7, 1911 (summary)

A summary of Addams speech about woman suffrage at the start of her lecture tour.

Lectures Woman Suffrage

Introduction to Suffrage Speeches, March 7, 1911

A short quote by Addams introducing speakers during the suffrage tour.

Lectures Woman Suffrage

Why Women Should Vote, March 27, 1911

In this first installment of "Why Women Should Vote," Addams argues that antiquated notions of being a "lady" work against the woman suffrage movement.

Child Welfare Germany Woman Suffrage Women's Rights

Why Women Should Vote, March 28, 1911

The second in a four-part series arguing for woman suffrage.

Politics Woman Suffrage

Why Women Should Vote, March 30, 1911

In the final installment of "Why Women Should Vote," Addams highlights why women need the ballot and argues that woman suffrage is centuries overdue and necessary for women to protect themselves.

Civil Rights Gender Roles Woman Suffrage

Speech on Woman Suffrage, June 17, 1911

Addams argues that woman suffrage is long overdue.

Immigrants Lectures Woman Suffrage

William D. P. Bliss to Jane Addams, October 21, 1911

Bliss thanks Addams for agreeing to provide a paper on woman suffrage for Sunday classes.

Requests Woman Suffrage Writings

What Women Might Accomplish with the Franchise (extract), October 21, 1911

An excerpt from Addams' address to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, on October 21, 1911, in Louisville, Kentucky, arguing that the desire for woman suffrage comes from women's desires for better social conditions.

Lectures Legislation Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams to Jesse C. Green, October 27, 1911

Addams writes Green expressing her delight to correspond with a man who had been in communication with the great leaders of the women's movement.

Woman Suffrage

Theodore Roosevelt to Jane Addams, October 31, 1911

Roosevelt compliments Addams's article in McClure's, which argues that woman's suffrage will lift up women from vice. But he also offers a caution that women's suffrage could fail to impart real change as suffrage failed to impart real change for African Americans in the South.

African-Americans Civil Rights Morality Politics Social Purity Woman Suffrage Women's Rights