Timeline
1815
Elizabeth Cady born on 12 November in Johnstown, N.Y.
1820
Susan Brownell Anthony born on 15 February in Adams, Mass.
1840
Elizabeth Cady married abolitionist, Henry B. Stanton.
1848
Stanton, with Lucretia Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt, organized the first woman's rights convention at Seneca Falls in July. She co-authored the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled on the Declaration of Independence, and introduced the demand for voting rights.
1851
Stanton and Anthony introduced to one another by Amelia Jenks Bloomer.
1852
Stanton, Anthony, and others founded the Women's New York State Temperance Society.
1856
Anthony became agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
1861
Civil War began.
1863
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring Confederate slaves "then, thenceforward, and forever free."
Stanton, Anthony, and others founded the Women's Loyal National League to agitate for the 13th Amendment ending slavery.
1865
Civil War ended.
1866
Stanton, Anthony, and others petitioned Congress for universal suffrage.
From National Archives, RG 233, 39th Congress, 1st Session, House 39A-H14.9
Now within the congressional records preserved in the National Archives in Washington, this petition from Stanton, Anthony, Lucy Stone, and other activists in New York City urged Congress to enfranchise women and black men at the same time. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens submitted the petition on 29 January 1866. See the full petition in the documents section of the site.
1868
Stanton and Anthony began publishing the Revolution.
1869
Stanton and Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage Association [NWSA] to agitate for a 16th Amendment that would outlaw disfranchisement on account of sex. Later that year, Lucy Stone and others founded the rival American Woman Suffrage Association [AWSA]. 14th Amendment to protect the civil rights of freedmen ratified.
1870
15th Amendment outlawing disfranchisement "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" ratified.
1872
Anthony arrested for illegal voting in a national election.
1874
Woman's Christian Temperance Union founded.
1875
Supreme Court decides Minor v. Happersett, declaring that female citizens were not legally entitled to vote.
1878
16th Amendment introduced in Congress.
1881
Stanton and Anthony with Matilda Joslyn Gage published the first volume of History of Woman Suffrage.
1887
16th Amendment defeated in U.S. Senate.
1888
Stanton and Anthony founded the International Council of Women.
1890
The NWSA and AWSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association [NAWSA]. Stanton was elected president, a position she held until 1892 when Anthony assumed that role.
1895
Stanton published the Woman's Bible, Part I. The following year, the NAWSA formally dissociated itself from Stanton's views on religion. Part II was published in 1898.
1900
Anthony retired as president of the NAWSA; Carrie Chapman Catt replaced her.
1902
Stanton died on 26 October.
1906
Anthony died on 13 March.
1916
National Woman's Party founded by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, former leaders of the NAWSA Congressional Committee.
1917
U.S. entered World War I.
1918
Armistice ending World War I signed.
1920
19th Amendment outlawing sexual disfranchisement ratified.