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1840
The World Anti-Slavery Convention is held in London. Abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton attend, but they are barred from participating in the meeting. This snub leads them to decide to hold a women's rights convention when they return to America. -
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A History Of The American Sufferagist Movement
A History of the American Suffragist Movement -
1848
-Three hundred people attend the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Among the attendees are Amelia Bloomer, Charlotte Woodward, and Frederick Douglas. Lucretia Mott's husband James presides. Stanton authors the Declaration of Sentiments, which sets the agenda for decades of women's activism. A larger meeting follows in Rochester. -
1851
Sojourner Truth delivers her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio. -
1866
The Eleventh National Women's Rights Convention, the first since the beginning of the Civil War, is held in New York City. Lucretia Mott presides over a merger between suffragists and the American Anti-Slavery Association: the new group is called the American Equal Rights Association -
1868
The 14th amendment passes granted former slaves the right to vote. The amendment specifies the word “male” officially excluding women’s suffrage. Anthony and Stanton are outraged. Arguments lead to a split in the movement. -
1869
Stanton and Anthony form the National Woman Suffrage Association; it allows only female membership and advocates for woman suffrage above all other issues. Lucy Stone forms the American Woman Suffrage Association, which supports the Fifteenth Amendment and invites men to participate. -
1883
Women in the Washington territory are granted full voting rights. Prominent suffragists travel to Liverpool, where they form the International Council of Women. At this meeting, the leaders of the National and American associations work together, laying the foundation for a reconciliation between these two groups. -
1900
Anthony retires as the president of the National American and, to the surprise of many, recommends Carrie Chapman Catt as her successor; Catt is elected. -
1913
Suffragist Alice Paul organizes 8,000 women for a parade through Washington.
She becomes the leader of the Congressional Union (CU), a militant branch of the National American association. -
1916
Woodrow Wilson promises that the Democratic Party Platform will endorse suffrage. Meanwhile, the CU transforms itself into the National Woman's Party. Montana elects suffragist Jeanette Rankin to the House of Representatives.
