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The colonies adopt the English system of property ownership.
In doing so, they make it so married women cannot own propety in their own name or keep their own earnings. -
"Remember the ladies."
Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, to where he is working on the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, urging him to keep the women of America in mind while working in the document. Abigail pointed out that it was unfair of her husband and his peers to preach equality and independence while simultaneously maintaining total control over their wives. b -
Women lose the right to vote in New York.
With their new Constituition outlines its requirements to vote within the state, it clearly excludes women. -
Women lose the right to vote in Massachusetts.
Once again, the state Constituition makes it so women are not granted the right to vote. -
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
She would go on to be a leader of the early women's rights movement. -
Susan Brownell Anthony is born.
She would go on to be a leader and one of the most recognized activists in the early women's rights movement. -
New York passes the Married Women's Property Act.
The act stated that any property a woman has before marriage remains her own and that any inheritence she recieves will remain her own. This document would be the foundation for the other state's individual property laws. -
Seneca Falls Convention
One of the first American women's rights conventions. The Declaration of Sentiments was presented here. -
American Equal Rights Association is founded.
The organization had women and African-Americans working together for racial and gender equality in the US. However, tensions over what should be the priority lead to the group splitting in 1869. -
National Woman Suffrage Association founded.
Founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the NWSA sought encfranchisement through a constituitional ammendment and would not support the Fifteenth Ammendment unless it included a clause about female voters. -
American Woman Suffrage Association founded.
The AWSA cocerned itself with women gaining the vote on a state by state basis and believed the Fifteenth Ammendment would never pass if women's enfranchisement was included. -
Susan B. Anthony arrested.
Anthony was taken into custody for voting in the Novemeber 5th election of that year. Her punishment was a $100 fine, which she never paid. -
Comstock Law passed by Congress.
The Comstock Law was an anti-obscenity act that listed contraceptives as "illict", making it illegal to send actual contraceptives or information about them through the mail. -
Margaret Sanger is born.
Sanger would go on to be one of the leading activists of the early contraceptive crisis in America. Among other accomplishments, she coined the phrase "birth control". -
John Rock is born.
Rock would go on to be an obstetrician and would lead the clinical trials of the first oral contraceptive. He would also lead the campaign to gain Vatican approval of 'the Pill'. -
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "The Woman's Bible" is published.
The book challenged the religious idea that women should be subservient to men. -
National Women's Trade Union Legue is founded
Both working and upper class members worked to organize labor unions for women and destroy sweatshops. It would play a huge part in the many union strikes women help during the first two decades of the 20th century.b -
Washington state grants women the right to vote
By allowing women's enfranchisement, Washington opened the floodgates for similar legistlature to be passed in other Western states. -
Fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
The fire caused the death of 146 garment makers and the investigation that followed would lead to the improvement of factory safety standards and help the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. -
California grants women the right to vote.
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HMS Titanic sinks
Because of this tragedy, countless women would be celebrated as heroes. Among them was the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, who would fight for maritime reform and run for Colorado Senate in 1914. (She would later postpone her Congressional bid because of World War I.) -
Suffrage parade in New York City
A new tactic for the suffrage movement, parades were designed to drum up press coverage -either negative or positive- to further the movement. -
First free birth control clinic opens.
It was opened by Margaret Sanger, her sister, and a friend. The clinic was the first of its kind in America and would allow women to get organized information on contraceptives. Eventually, Sanger's clinic would grow into the modern organization 'Planned Parenthood'. -
Sanger's clinic raided.
After only ten days, the clinic was shut down by the Brooklyn vice squad. All women involved were arrested while the clinic's condoms and diaphragms were confiscated. -
Jeanette Rankin is the first woman sworn into Congress.
Elected by the state of Montana, Rankin would serve in the House of Representatives. In 1941, she served a second term and was the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. -
Nineteenth Ammendment is ratified.
This ammendment makes it unconstituitional to prevent anyone from voting based on sex. -
United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries
A US federal court judge rules that the federal government cannot keep doctors from giving contraception to their patients. -
Margaret Chase Smith joins the House of Representatives
Elected in the state of Maine, Smith by request of her husband (the House incumbent) who died while in office. She first won in a special election in the summer, than maintained her position in the fall's general election. -
United States joins WW2
While young men enlist and fight overseas, women take over factory jobs in order to meet demands for weapons and supplies as well as sustain their own lives. The iconic 'Rosie the Riveter' image was born during time. Many people believe she was created to encourage women to join the workforce, but she actually was designed to keep morale up in those already employed. -
Margaret Chase Smith is sworn in to the US Senate.
With this, she became the first woman to serve in both the House and the Senate. During her time in the Senate, she was a notably critic of McCarthyism. -
FDA approves Enovoid for sale.
The first oral controceptive to be released to the market, Enovoid allowed its parent pharmaceutical company (Searle) to monopolize the blossoming industry. -
'The Feminine Mystique' is published.
Written by Betty Friedan, it discusses 'the problem that has no name' (the unhappiness of women in the 1950s and 60s). The book kickstarted the second wave feminist movement. -
Equal Pay Act signed into law
States that no employer can use an employee's sex as a basis to judge how much that employee should be paid. While the act was designed to help destory the wage gap, on average, women still make less than men do. -
Margaret Chase Smith makes her bid for US President.
She was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the U.S. Presidency at a major party's convention (Republican). -
Supreme gives its ruling for Eisenstadt v. Baird.
Ruling declares it unconstitutional to keep a single person from buying contraceptives purely based on the fact that they are unmarried. Before this, several states had laws in place that made it illegal for an unmarried person to purchase birth control. -
Supreme Court issues ruling on Roe v. Wade
A 7-to-2 majority rules that abortion is not a state's rights issue and is legal throughout the United States. This court ruling is still considered highly controversial.
