Editing Suffrage (section)

===Universal suffrage===
{{Main|Universal suffrage}}
[[File:Peterloo Massacre.png|thumb|The [[Peterloo Massacre]] of 1819]]
[[Universal suffrage]] would be achieved when all have the right to vote without restriction. It could, for example, look like a system where everyone was presumed to have the right to vote unless a government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt the need to revoke voting rights.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamilton |first=Vivian E. |year=2012 |title=Democratic Inclusion, Cognitive Development, and the Age of Electoral Majority |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2086875 |language=en |location=Rochester, NY |ssrn=2086875}}</ref> The trend towards universal suffrage has progressed in some democracies by eliminating some or all of the voting restrictions due to gender, race, religion, social status, education level, wealth, [[Non-citizen suffrage|citizenship]], ability and [[Voting age|age]]. However, throughout history the term 'universal suffrage' has meant different things with the different assumptions about the groups that were or were not deemed desirable voters.

==== Early history ====
The short-lived [[Corsican Republic]] (1755–1769) was the first country to grant limited universal suffrage to all citizens over the age of 25.

In 1819, 60–80,000 women and men from 30 miles around Manchester assembled in the city's [[St Peter's Square, Manchester|St. Peter's Square]] to protest their lack of any representation in the Houses of Parliament. Historian [[Robert Poole (historian)|Robert Poole]] has called the [[Peterloo Massacre]] one of the defining moments of its age.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Poole |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Poole (historian) |title='By the Law or the Sword': Peterloo Revisited |journal=History |volume=2 |issue=302 |date=April 2006 |pages=254–276 |jstor=24427836 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.2006.00366.x}}</ref> (The eponymous ''[[Peterloo (film)|Peterloo]]'' film featured a scene of women suffragists planning their contribution to the protest.) At that time Manchester had a population of around 140,000 and the population totals of [[Demographics of Greater Manchester|Greater Manchester]] were around 490,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10056925&c_id=10001043&add=N |title=Greater Manchester Met.C: Total Population |author=A Vision of Britain through time |access-date=6 April 2007}}</ref>

This was followed by other experiments in the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871 and the island republic of [[Franceville, New Hebrides|Franceville]] (1889). From 1840 to 1852, the [[Kingdom of Hawai'i]] granted universal suffrage without mention of sex. In 1893, when the Kingdom of Hawai'i was [[Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom|overthrown in a coup]], [[New Zealand]] was the only independent country to practice universal (active) suffrage, and the [[Freedom in the World]] index lists New Zealand as the only free country in the world in 1893.<ref>Nohlen, Dieter, e al. (2001). ''Elections in Asia and the Pacific: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific''. p.&nbsp;14. Oxford University Press, 2001</ref><ref>A. Kulinski, K. Pawlowski. ''The Atlantic Community – The Titanic of the XXI Century''. p.&nbsp;96. WSB-NLU. 2010</ref>

====Women's suffrage====
{{Main|Women's suffrage}}
[[File:SPD-Plakat 1919.jpg|thumb|German election poster from 1919: ''Equal rights – equal duties!'']]

[[Women's suffrage]] is the right of women to vote.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suffrage |title=Definition of SUFFRAGE |website=merriam-webster.com |language=en |access-date=1 July 2019}}</ref> This was the goal of the suffragists, who believed in using legal means, as well as the [[suffragette]]s, who used extremist measures. Short-lived suffrage equity was drafted into provisions of the State of New Jersey's first, 1776 Constitution, which extended the Right to Vote to unwed female landholders and black land owners.

{{Blockquote|IV. That all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for Representatives in Council and Assembly; and also for all other public officers, that shall be elected by the people of the county at large. [[New Jersey]] ''1776''}}
However, the document did not specify an Amendment procedure, and the provision was subsequently replaced in 1844 by the adoption of the [[1844 New Jersey Constitution|succeeding constitution]], which reverted to "all white male" suffrage restrictions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/njfacts/njdoc10.htm |title=The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 |access-date=17 December 2006}}</ref>

Although the Kingdom of Hawai'i granted female suffrage in 1840, the right was rescinded in 1852. Limited voting rights were gained by some women in Sweden, Britain, and some western U.S. states in the 1860s. In 1893, the British colony of [[New Zealand]] became the first self-governing nation to extend the right to vote to all adult women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elections.org.nz/study/education-centre/history/votes-for-women.html |title=Votes for Women |publisher=Electoral Commission of New Zealand |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819080640/http://www.elections.org.nz/study/education-centre/history/votes-for-women.html |archive-date=19 August 2012 |access-date=11 August 2020}}</ref> In 1894, the women of [[South Australia]] achieved the [[Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894|right to both vote and stand for Parliament]]. The autonomous [[Grand Duchy of Finland]] in the [[Russian Empire]] was the first nation to allow all women to both vote and run for parliament.

==== Anti-women's suffrage propaganda ====
[[File:Anti Suffrage Postcard c.1908 03.jpg|thumb|A British postcard against women's suffrage postcard from {{Circa|1908}}. It shows unflattering [[caricature]]s of suffragettes in front of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliament]] and the caption: "This is the house that man built" with a poem. From the [[People's History Museum]], [[Manchester]].]]
[[File:Votes For Women.jpg|thumb| Britain's [[Women's Social and Political Union|WSPU]] poster by [[Hilda Dallas]], 1909]]
Those against the women's suffrage movement made public organizations to put down the political movement, with the main argument being that a woman's place was in the home, not polls. Political cartoons and public outrage over women's rights increased as the opposition to suffrage worked to organize legitimate groups campaigning against women's voting rights. The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was one organization that came out of the 1880s to put down the voting efforts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/naows-opposition |title=Opposition to Suffrage |website=History of U.S. Woman's Suffrage |date=5 April 2016 |language=en-US |access-date=4 April 2019}}</ref>

Much anti-suffrage propaganda poked fun at the idea of women in politics. Political cartoons displayed the most sentiment by portraying the issue of women's suffrage to be swapped with men's lives. Some mocked the popular suffrage hairstyle of full-upward combed hair. Others depicted young girls turning into suffragettes after a failure in life, such as not being married.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/52207/12-cruel-anti-suffragette-cartoons |title=12 Cruel Anti-Suffragette Cartoons |date=21 June 2015 |website=mentalfloss.com |language=en |access-date=4 April 2019}}</ref>