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First Women's Rights Convention
The first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY, and organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The convention was held with the purpose of producing a list of demands for the women’s rights movement that is known as the Declaration of Sentiments.
This consisted of 12 resolutions that mentioned equal treatment between men and women and the voting rights of women. Over 300 men and women were in attendance, with 68 women and 32 men signing the resolutions. -
Introducing NWSA & AWSA
This was the year the split into two suffrage groups known as the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) occurred. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the NWSA with the goal of gaining voting rights from women with an amendment. AWSA primarily focused on gaining voting rights for women by working with the state legislature and was created by Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell. -
Susan B. Anthony's Attempt at Voting
Susan B. Anthony registered and voted in the presidential election for Ulysses S. Grant in New York along with 14 other women. She was arrested and convicted in 1873, but used the defense of the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment to fight it claiming that it gives her the right to vote. The individuals who helped her register and allowed her to vote were also arrested and charged. -
Minor v. Happersett Supreme Court Case
The Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment does not give/guarantee women the right to vote in the Minor v. Happersett case. Women's right to vote is under the jurisdiction of individual states and citizenship does not give women voting rights, was their final ruling. There had been many cases previously where women believed the 14th Amendment granted them rights, but this Supreme Court case shut the idea down. -
Introducing the Women's Suffrage Amendment
A senator from California introduced a Woman Suffrage Amendment to Congress in 1878. This amendment would be written in the same way as the 19th Amendment would be in 40 years. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Staton would be the two who wrote the amendment. -
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) would merge and create the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). NAWSA would organize campaigns state-by-state with the purpose of obtaining women’s voting rights. The members would pay dues in order to fund campaigns and newsletters were also written and published by the group to inform the public of their movement. -
Transcontinental Tour for Women's Suffrage
Sara Bard Field and Mabel Vernon would begin a transcontinental tour with the purpose of gathering signatures in order to petition Congress. They would obtain over 500,000 signatures in favor of women’s suffrage. Along the tour, there were many stops made for fundraisers, conventions, and campaigns. By this time support for the Women's Suffrage Movement had grown in politics, with Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party being the first major political group to show support for the cause. -
First Female Elected into the House of Representatives
The first woman elected to the House of Representatives would be Jeannette Rankin from Montana. After this occurred it would lead Woodrow Wilson to claim that the Democratic Party was in support of the women’s suffrage platform. She was sworn in on April 2, 1917, and although she was not the first woman to run she was the first to get elected in. -
Alice Paul's Hunger Strike
Protestors were arrested for obstructing traffic while protesting for women’s suffrage and were later incarcerated. One of the people incarcerated was Alice Paul, who would begin a hunger strike while imprisoned for her 7-month sentence. Since she was no longer able to protest on the streets, the hunger strike was a different form of protest she was able to organize alongside others in prison with her. -
Women's Suffrage Amendment Moves to the Ratification Process
The Women's Suffrage Amendment written by Susan B. Anthony back in 1878 would be introduced again to Congress. This time it would be passed by the House and Senate, and would then be sent off to the states for the ratification process. -
19th Amendment is Ratified
The 19th Amendment was ratified by Tennessee and became certified. The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote and legally guaranteed that right. This would lead NAWSA to disband since their work of creating the amendment had been completed.