Women’s Suffrage and Satire

This satirical caricature, published in the midst of the blossoming women’s rights movement, depicts what the United States might be like if women got the vote. Two political candidates, "The Celebrated Man-Tamer Susan Sharp-Tongue” and “Miss Hangman for Sheriff,” demonstrate the threat women running for political office could pose to traditional gender roles.

"The Age of Brass: Or the Triumphs of Woman's Rights." lithograph. [New York]: Currier & Ives, 1869. Visual Studies Collection, Library of Virginia.

This engraving was produced exactly 70 years after New Jersey women lost the vote in 1807, in the midst of a new fight for woman suffrage. Published by an opponent of woman suffrage, it portrays women voters making passionate speeches amidst a chaotic polling place. The illustration was published alongside quotes from 1790s critics of women voters.

Serial and Government Publications Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC