Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women

In the state of Massachusetts, women's suffrage referendums took place as early as 1868 and 1869.{{Cite journal|last=Maddux|first=Kristy|date=October 2004|title=When Patriots Protest: The Anti-Suffrage Discursive Transformation of 1917|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-800940001.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517005433/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-800940001.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2018-05-17|journal=Rhetoric & Public Affairs|volume=7|issue=3|pages=283–310|doi=10.1353/rap.2005.0012|s2cid=143856522|url-access=subscription |via=HighBeam Research}} Around two hundred women were against granting to vote to women. An active anti-suffrage committee started operating since 1882 in Massachusetts.{{Cite web|url=http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0121|title=Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women Records, 1894-1920|website=Massachusetts Historical Society|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227015734/http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0121|archive-date=27 February 2018|access-date=2018-05-13}} The committee started publishing a journal, The Remonstrance, in 1890. The journal's articles by women were published anonymously while a male editor was used in the first few years.{{Sfn|Burt|1996|p=327}} The first committee spent most of its time collecting signatures for anti-suffrage petitions called "remonstrances."

In 1895, a bill, called the Wellman bill, to give women municipal suffrage in Boston was put to a popular vote and women who were involved in the anti-suffrage movement in Massachusetts felt they had to create a formal organization.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3itDekmfAIC&dq=%22Massachusetts+Association+Opposed+to+the+Further+Extension+of+Suffrage+to+Women%22&pg=PA60|title=Splintered Sisterhood: Gender and Class in the Campaign against Woman Suffrage|last=Marshall|first=Susan E.|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=1997|isbn=9780299154639|location=Madison, Wisconsin|pages=60–61|language=en}} The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women (MAOFESW) was founded in May of 1895. Women in the group started a boycott, while men publicly campaigned against the Wellman bill. By 1896, The Remonstrance was changed to show that MAOFESW was now responsible for its publication.{{Sfn|Burt|1996|p=329}}

The first officers for MAOFESW were elected in 1897 with Mrs. J. Eliot Cabot as the president.{{Sfn|Burt|1996|p=329}} The organization started to campaign throughout Massachusetts and grow into new branches in different cities.{{Sfn|Burt|1996|p=329}} In 1898, The Remonstrance started describing the organization and the number of branches and communities represented.{{Sfn|Burt|1996|p=329}} The Remonstrance also claimed to represent more of the general population than it actually did, attempting to "deflect suffrage criticism that antisuffragists came from the privileged elite."{{Sfn|Burt|1996|p=329}} MAOFESW would send women to testify in front of government bodies and other organizations in the US about anti-suffrage ideas.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20163895/|title=To Fight Woman Suffrage|date=1 November 1906|work=Burlington Weekly Free Press|access-date=2018-05-18|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20164036/|title=Mrs. George to Address Anti-Suffragists Here|date=11 October 1914|work=Star Tribune|access-date=2018-05-18|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} They would also send issues of The Remonstrance to lawmakers.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20163985/|title=House members have received copies|date=21 January 1909|work=Hartford Courant|access-date=2018-05-18|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20230832/|title=Delegates received yesterday printed|date=5 February 1902|work=Hartford Courant|access-date=2018-05-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} The paper was circulated outside of Massachusetts and antisuffragists used the arguments contained in the paper in their own campaigns.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20229442/|title=Anti-Suffragists Active|date=31 January 1899|work=The Daily Iowa Capitol|access-date=2018-05-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}

Mrs. G. Howland Shaw was elected president of the organization in 1909 and 1910.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20162571/|title=Mrs. G. Howland Shaw has been elected|date=5 June 1910|work=The Washington Post|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20162937/|title=Mrs. G. Howland Shaw was elected|date=6 June 1909|work=The Pittsburgh Sunday Post|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} MAOFESW had 11,000 women involved in the group by 1905 and 37,000 by 1915.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20164244/|title=Opposed Woman Suffrage|date=25 May 1905|work=Montpelier Evening Argus|access-date=2018-05-18|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/voters-deny-massachusetts-women-the-vote.html|title=Voters Deny Massachusetts Women the Vote|website=Mass Moments|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416154159/https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/voters-deny-massachusetts-women-the-vote.html|archive-date=16 April 2018|access-date=2018-05-17}} By 1905, there were 34 branches across the state, representing 243 communities.

After the 19th amendment was passed in 1920, the MAOFESW disbanded.

The MAOFESW believed that women were best suited to working in the domestic sphere and that their work in promoting public programs should remain non-partisan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20162442/|title=Women Who Object|date=27 June 1908|work=Hartford Courant|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} Because the women found influence through the women's club movement and other women's organizations, they were worried that getting involved in politics would shift power balances unfavorably. In addition, since women had made many reforms without using the vote, they felt that voting was unnecessary. They also advocated for conservative positions, such as keeping old laws that made the husband the legal guardian of a couples' children, not both parents.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20162487/|title=The Woman Suffrage Argument|date=11 March 1903|work=The Topeka Daily Capital|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHNlZkqY6w4C&dq=%22Massachusetts+Association+Opposed+to+the+Further+Extension+of+Suffrage+to+Women%22&pg=PA329|title=Women's Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues|last=Burt|first=Elizabeth|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1996|isbn=9780313286322|editor-last=Endres|editor-first=Kathleen L.|location=Westport, Connecticut|chapter=The Remonstrance|editor-last2=Lueck|editor-first2=Therese L.}}

• [http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0121 Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women Records]

Category:1895 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:1920 disestablishments in Massachusetts

Category:Anti-suffragist organizations

Category:Women's organizations based in the United States

Category:Criticism of feminism

Category:Conservative organizations in the United States

Category:History of women in Massachusetts

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