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Virginia House of Burgesses
The first English representative government in North America for the purpose of passing laws and maintaining order in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia and the other settlements that settled around it. -
Mayflower Compact
An agreement that joined Mayflower (the ship that carried the colonists who first settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts – in a single self-governing community). An agreement to establish a government was entered into by the Pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620. -
Limitations on Colonial Voting
Suffrage was not available to everybody as colonists could only gain suffrage by passing a religious test or by property qualifications. -
Declaration of Independence
The document stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”. This suggests that women should have the same rights as men. -
New Jersey Repeals Women’s Suffrage
Women’s voting rights in New Jersey were repealed in 1807, with a law establishing that voters were to be free, white male citizens of twenty-one years old only. The main reason for this backlash was suspicion of voting fraud which was denounced by legislators. -
Jacksonian Democracy Universal White Male Suffrage
The Jacksonians believed that all white men should have suffrage. By the end of the 1820s, attitudes and state laws had shifted in favor of universal white male suffrage and by 1856 all requirements to own property and nearly all requirements to pay taxes had been dropped -
Seneca Fall
Over 70 years after the convention in Seneca Falls, the nation ratified the 19th Amendment, granting women suffrage in 1920. This victory led to the work of prominent feminist leaders in the 1950s and 60s, ushering in a new age and new hope for women's rights. -
The First National Women's Rights Convention
The first National Women's Rights Convention takes place in Worcester, Massachusetts, attracting more than 1,000 participants. -
Pennsylvania abolishes all property qualifications
President Andrew Jackson, champion of frontiersmen, helped advance the political rights of those who did not own property. By about 1860, most white men without property were enfranchised. -
Civil War
The Civil War begins in the United States and women’s rights advocacy grinds to a halt until the war ends in 1865. -
Formation of the American Equal Rights Association
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage. They petition Congress for “universal suffrage.” -
The 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment guaranteed African-American men the right to vote. Almost immediately after ratification, African Americans began to take part in running for office and voting. -
National Woman Suffrage Association
National Woman Suffrage Association is founded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president. American Woman Suffrage Association is founded with Henry Ward Beecher as president. Wyoming Territory grants suffrage to women. -
NWSA and the AWSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
By 1900 women also have full suffrage in Utah, Colorado, and Idaho. New Zealand is the first nation to give women suffrage. -
Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party supports women’s suffrage
Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party supports women’s suffrage which would be significant for the movement as an important icon supported their cause -
Montana and Nevada granted voting rights to women
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. It merges in 1917 with the Woman’s Party to become the National Woman’s Party. -
19th Amendment
legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting -
National Organization for Women is founded
promotes child care for working mothers, abortion rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and “full participation in the mainstream of American society now.” -
Equal Rights Amendment
After 50 years, Equal Rights Amendment was passed in both houses and signed by President Richard Nixon. The Civil Rights Act eradicates sex discrimination in employment opportunities and education.
