Alice Evelyn Hay Wadsworth (1880 - May 13, 1960) was an American

anti-suffrage Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To ...

leader during the early 20th century. She was daughter of

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...

, 37th

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

, and Clara L. Stone and was married to U.S. Senator James W. Wadsworth Jr., of

Geneseo, New York Geneseo is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Livingston County, New York, Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, United States. It is at the south end of the five-county Rochester metropol ...

in 1902.

Activism career

Wadsworth was a prominent leader in the anti-suffrage movement during the early 20th century, and her husband also virulently opposed women's suffrage. The Wadsworths believed that government was a man's job, and upheld traditional societal roles. Motherhood and family were dominant themes of the argument against women's voting and becoming involved in political affairs. She linked

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

to women's suffrage, and many statements produced by the movement at the time were inflammatory and vitriolic, which became known as "Wadsworthy" tactics. In 1917, when the U.S. became involved in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, patriotism was another theme used in the anti-suffrage fight. In the same year, New York State passed an amendment to its

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

that granted New York women the right to vote. Until this time, the

National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage The National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS) was founded in the United States by women opposed to the suffrage movement in 1911. It was the most popular anti-suffrage organization in northeastern cities. NAOWS had influential local ...

(NAOWS), founded in 1911 by

Josephine Jewell Dodge Josephine may refer to: People * Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer Places *Josephine, Texas, United States *Mount Josephine (disambiguation) * Josephine Coun ...

, had been headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The passage of the state constitutional amendment shifted the focus of the anti-suffrage movement to fight against the passage of a federal amendment to the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

. In 1917, Wadsworth replaced Dodge as president of the NAOWS, and the headquarters of the organization were moved to

Washington, D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. On December 11, 1917, while serving as president of the NAOWS, Wadsworth wrote a memorial to Charles E. Fuller, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, outlining the group’s continued opposition to a federal suffrage amendment. Wadsworth proposed that the issue of women’s suffrage should be decided by popular vote and opposed ratification of the federal amendment through the state legislatures. Wadsworth argued that women’s suffrage would be forced on individual states whose general population opposed it by the legislatures in other states that supported the amendment. 1920 brought the Nineteenth Amendment, which resulted in the dissolution of the NAOWS. Alice Hay Wadsworth ended her public opposition to suffrage and returned to her role as wife of a senator until her husband's death in 1952.

Personal life

In 1958, Mrs. Wadsworth was remarried at the Wadsworth family home in Geneseo, to businessman Jackson H. Boyd of

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

. Alice Hay Wadsworth Boyd died in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in 1960 at the age of 80 and is buried at Geneseo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadsworth, Alice 1880 births 1960 deaths American activists Anti-suffragists People from Geneseo, New York