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The Movement Started with a Tea Party
Jane Hunt invited Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, and Mary Ann McClintock over for tea. As they talked, they began to realize the issues in their lives. Women couldn’t get an education or vote, whether they were married or single. Their livelihoods and property all belonged to the men in their lives. They felt chained by a moral code that expected women to be flawless examples and submissive wives and mothers without giving them anything in return. -
American Woman Suffrage Association Founded
The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), was led by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe. Their goal was to work primarily through state legislatures and support universal suffrage. -
Wyoming Passes Women's Suffrage Law
Tensions rose within the women’s rights movement over the ratified 14th Amendment and the proposed 15th Amendment, which would give the vote to Black men, but not women. In December, the legislature of Wyoming's territory passes the nation’s first women’s suffrage law. Admitted to the Union in 1890, Wyoming became the first state to grant women the right to vote. -
National Woman Suffrage Association Founded
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony led the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). NWSA favored women's enfranchisement through a federal constitutional amendment. They protested and held conventions to help inform other women. -
Suffragists Arrested for Voting in NY
Susan Anthony and a dozen other women are arrested in Rochester, New York after illegally voting in the presidential election. Anthony fought the charges, and the court fined her $100, which she never paid. This is important because it shows how passionate these women are about their rights. -
California Senate Drafts Amendment
Senator Aaron Sargent of California introduces a women’s suffrage amendment to the U.S. Senate. Drafted by Stanton and Anthony, it says “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” (When Congress finally passed the amendment 41 years later, the wording was the same.) -
National American Women's Suffrage Association
Susan B. Anthony helped to merge the two largest suffrage associations into one. The National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association were combined to help make one large group. Susan traveled around the United States giving speeches and protesting for women's rights. -
Congress Passed
The 19th Amendment was passed by congress, and now it was up to the states. -
Almost There
Several states voted against ratification, including Alabama and Georgia. Ratification required passage by 36 states, and by July 1920, 35 states had done so. The fate of the 19th Amendment rested with Tennessee. -
19th Amendment in Action
On August 20, 1920, the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote.