Read the passage. There are several questions about this passage.
Information
,begin italics,A photo of a woman. Caption reads, Ida Husted Harper (1851 to 1931).,begin underline,The History of Woman Suffrage,end underline, is a six-volume work written by multiple authors over a period of 40 years. This excerpt was written by well-known activist Ida Husted Harper in 1922, two years after U.S. women gained the right to vote in all states. However, many citizens were still unable to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.,end italics,
from ,begin bold,The History of Woman Suffrage,end bold,
paragraph 1,A voice in the Government under which one lives is absolutely necessary to personal liberty and the right of a whole people to a voice in their Government is the first requisite for a free country. There must be government by a constitution made with the consent and help of the people which guarantees this right. It is only within the last century and a half that a constitutional form of government has been secured by any countries and in the most of those where it now exists, not excepting the United States, it was won through war and bloodshed. Largely for this reason its principal advantage was monopolized by men, who made and carried on war, and who held that such government must be maintained by physical force and only those should have a voice in it who could fight for it if necessary. There were many other reasons why those who had thus secured their right to a vote should use their new power to withhold it from women, which was done in every country. Women then had to begin their own contest for what by the law of justice was theirs as much as men's when government by constitution was established.
paragraph 2,Their struggle lasted for nearly three-quarters of a century in the United States and half a century in Great Britain, the two largest constitutional governments, and a shorter time in other countries, but it was a peaceful revolution. Not a drop of blood was spilled and toward the end of it, when in Great Britain the only "militancy" occurred, its leaders gave the strictest orders that human life must be held sacred. Although at the last the women of Central Europe were enfranchised as the result of war it was not of their making and their part in it was not on the battlefield. This was the most unequal contest that ever was waged, for one side had to fight without weapons. It was held against women that they were not educated, but the doors of all institutions of learning were closed against them; that they were not taxpayers, although money-earning occupations were barred to them and if married they were not allowed to own property. . . . When they had largely overcome these handicaps they found themselves facing a political fight without political power. . . .
paragraph 3, . . . In every other reform which had to be won through legislative bodies those who were working for it had the power of the vote over these bodies. . . . No sudden revolution could have gained it but only the slow processes of evolution. The founding of the public school system with its high schools, from which girls could not be excluded, solved the question of their education and inevitably led to the opening of the colleges. In the causes of temperance and anti-slavery women made their way to the platform and remained to speak for their own. During the Civil War they entered by thousands the places vacated by men and retained them partly from necessity and partly from choice.
paragraph 4,One step led to another; business opportunities increased; women accumulated property; Legislatures were compelled to revise the laws. . . . Women began to organize; their missionary and charity societies prepared the way to clubs for self-improvement; these in turn broadened into civic organizations whose public work carried them to city councils and State Legislatures, where they found themselves in the midst of politics and wholly without influence. Thus they were led into the movement for the suffrage. It was only a few of the clear thinkers, the far seeing, who realized at the beginning that the principal cause of women's inferior position and helplessness lay in their disenfranchisement and until they could be made to see it they were a dead weight on the movement. Men fully understood the power that the vote would place in the hands of women, with a lessening of their own, and in the mass they did not intend to concede it.
paragraph 5,The pioneers in the movement for the rights of women, of which the suffrage was only one, contested every inch of ground and little by little the old prejudice weakened, public sentiment was educated, barriers were broken down and women pressed forward. At the opening of the present century, while they had not obtained entire equality of rights, their status had been completely transformed in most respects and they were prepared to get what was lacking. None of these gains, however, had required the permission of the masses of men but only of selected groups, boards of trustees, committees, legislators. It was when women found that with all their rights they were at tremendous disadvantage without political influence and asked for the suffrage that they learned the difficulty of changing constitutions. They found that either National or State constitutions had to be amended and in the latter case the consent of a majority of all men was necessary.
(from ,begin underline,The History of Woman Suffrage,end underline, by Ida Husted Harper)
Question
Based on the passage, how did the struggle for constitutional democracies and the struggle for woman suffrage differ?
Answer options with 4 options
1.
Many wars were fought in support of constitutional democracies, but most of the activism in support of woman suffrage was entirely peaceful.
2.
Both men and women supported constitutional democracies, but only women supported woman suffrage during the time period about which Harper writes.
3.
The establishment of constitutional democracies was a quick and strategic process, but the establishment of woman suffrage was a slow and methodical process.
4.
Establishing constitutional democracies required little participation from legislative bodies, but establishing woman suffrage required the full consent of legislative bodies.
Option 1 is not supported by the passage. There is no mention of wars being fought in support of constitutional democracies.
Option 2 is not supported by the passage. While the passage does mention that women were fighting for suffrage, it does not state that only women supported it.
Option 3 is not supported by the passage. The passage does mention that the establishment of constitutional democracies was not a quick process, but it does not provide any information about the speed or process of establishing woman suffrage.
Option 4 is supported by the passage. It is stated in paragraph 5 that women found it difficult to change constitutions and that the consent of a majority of all men was necessary for the amendment of National or State constitutions. Therefore, establishing woman suffrage required the full consent of legislative bodies.
The correct answer is:
4. Establishing constitutional democracies required little participation from legislative bodies, but establishing woman suffrage required the full consent of legislative bodies.