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Abigail Adams asks her husband, John, to "remember the ladies" when he and the Continental Congress begin writing the laws for the new country. "If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies," she continues, "we will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation." -
Harriet Jacobs is born in Edenton to enslaved parents. Around the age of 12, she becomes the property of a child, Mary Norcom, and lives in her family’s home. Norcom’s father, Dr. James Norcom, physically abuses Jacobs. Jacobs establishes a relationship with future US Congressman Samuel Sawyer and has two children with him. Enraged, Dr. Norcom removes Jacobs to a plantation from which she escapes. -
The Raleigh Female Benevolent Society is officially incorporated. In 1823, the group released a revised constitution and by-laws that included society reports from the preceding two years. In Ante-Bellum North Carolina: A Social History, Guion Johnson praises the society and its first director, Sarah Hawkins Polk. -
July 19–20: The world’s first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. A Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions is debated and ultimately signed by 68 women and 32 men, setting the agenda for the women's rights movement that follows. -
The Fourteenth Amendment is passed by Congress (it will be ratified by the states in 1868), defining "citizens" and "voters" as "male" for the first time in the Constitution. -
In a disagreement over the Fifteenth Amendment, Anthony and Stanton withdraw from the Equal Rights Association to found the National Woman Suffrage Association. Its wide-ranging goals include a federal amendment for the women's vote.
The American Woman Suffrage Association is formed to secure the vote through each state constitution. -
March 3: 5,000 to 8,000 suffragists parade in Washington, D.C., drawing people away from the arrival of newly elected President Woodrow Wilson. They are mobbed by abusive crowds along the way.
May 10: the largest suffrage parade to date, including perhaps 500 men, marches down Fifth Avenue in New York City. -
The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Women’s Suffrage Amendment, 304 to 89; the Senate passes it with just two votes to spare, 56 to 25.