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Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, asking that he "remember the ladies" in the making of the constitution. He replies back that he and other men will fight the "despotism of the petticoat", meaning that he didn't want women to have power in the country.
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Women lose the right to vote in every except New Jersey
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Women are not allowed to vote in any state in the US
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Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and a few other women are barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. This sparks the beginning of the women’s rights movement.
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The first women’s rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposes that men and women should have equal suffrage. Susan B. Anthony and Stanton become main leaders in women’s rights movement.
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Women stopped suffrage movement to help with the Civil War efforts.
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The fourteenth amendment is passed by Congress, and is the first use of the word “male” in the Constitution. Susan B. Anthony forms Equal Rights Association, which pushed for universal suffrage, not just American.
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The fourteenth amendment is ratified and the fifteenth amendment, which gives voting rights to black men, passes Congress. Women make a petition to be included in the amendment, but are denied. Europe starts to join women’s suffrage by creating the New England Woman Suffrage Association.
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Women’s suffrage movement loses momentum. Many people focus on the fight for black male suffrage. Wyoming territory grants the first women suffrage since 1807.
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The fifteenth amendment is ratified. Grimke sisters and other women try to vote in Massachusetts, but are denied. Utah territory grants women suffrage.
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Susan B. Anthony and other women’s suffrage supporters are arrested for voting and fined. Anthony has to pay $1000. Victoria Woodhull is the first woman candidate to run for President of the United States.
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Anthony tries to vote again alone, but ends up being fined $100.
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July 4, in Philadelphia, PA, Anthony reads the Declaration for the Rights of Women at a podium in front of the Liberty Bell.
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The women’s suffrage amendment is shown to Congress for the first time.
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Women protest after being excluded from the dedication ceremonies for the Statue of Liberty. The suffrage amendment reaches the Senate, but loses.
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NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association) and AWSA (American Woman Suffrage Association) combine to create the NAWSA
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Alice Paul and others break away from the NAWSA and form the NWP (National Women’s Party)
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Suffrage Amendment passes through US House but loses in the Senate by two votes.
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In January, the NWP lights their “Watchfire for Freedom”. They guard and maintain it until the Suffrage Amendment passes the US Senate, which happened on June 4. Next they focused on being granted suffrage from the thirty-six states that haven’t granted it yet.
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The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified by Tennessee on August 18, then becomes the law on August 26.
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Women were allowed to vote, but were still not equal to men. Wisconsin passed the first state-level equal rights laws and Alice Paul begins writing the Equal Rights Amendment.
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The ERA is introduced to Congress, and fails to pass.
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Women begin to work in factories to help war efforts. Rosie the Riveter becomes an important figure in the women work force.
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Men come back from the war and take jobs away from women, who want their jobs back. They are denied because of employer discrimination.
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JFK issues an executive order to establish the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. This was made to explore issues relating to women and propose ideas in certain areas of society, like employment policy, education, tax laws, etc.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which includes the Title VII prohibition. Title VII prohibition made it so employers could not refuse to hire a person based on race, religion, or sex. This gave women a better chance at getting jobs.
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National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded.
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NOW endorses the ERA and begins great efforts to get it passed. They were successful.
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NOW launches a major campaign for the ERA
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ERA passes Senate and gets sent to the states for ratification.
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NOW began economic boycotts of states that hadn’t ratified the ERA.
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ERA deadline is extended to 1982 instead of 1979, but is three states short of being put into the Constitution.
