In 1869, Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, another prominent 19th century suffragist, formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) to collectively lobby for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The NWSA also focused their attention on universal suffrage for African-Americans. Their efforts toward abolition succeeded first, as the 15th Amendment passed in 1871.

Also in 1869 Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, and other suffragists formed a separate suffragist organization due to political and ideological differences with the NWSA. The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) favored a states-rights approach to suffrage and rather than petition the federal government for an amendment to the American constitution granting women the right to vote the AWSA appealed to state legislatures. Their efforts were "tied...closely to the Republican Party," ("Teaching with Documents").

The women's suffrage movement progressed slowly. Several Western territories such as Wyoming and Utah guaranteed women the right to vote in 1869 and 1870, respectively. The NWSA petitioned Senate and the House diligently since 1878 but their efforts to earn respect in Congress failed repeatedly. In 1890, after years of discouraging political results at the federal and state levels, the NWSA and the AWSA joined forces to rally for universal suffrage. In 1893, Colorado and in 1896 Idaho granted women the right to vote. By 1916, "almost all of the major suffrage organizations were united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment," and in 1918 President Woodrow Wilson finally warmed up to the notion that women were citizens of the United States with equal rights as men ("Teaching with Documents"). World War One partly impeded the right to vote when the Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of New York petitioned Congress to put off universal suffrage for fear that the change would hamper the war effort ("Petition to U.S. Senate Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of New York World War I").

It would take a century of civil disobedience, public seminars, marches, parades, political lobbying, hunger strikes, and published essays and works of fiction to earn one of the most basic civil liberties in a democracy: the right to vote. Earning the right to vote meant a wholesale transformation of...

Allowing women to vote meant that their role in society would no longer be that of subservience and near-slavery. Since 1920, women have been legally permitted to run and serve in public office. Their ability to vote meant that women could make meaningful impacts in political debates and discussions that affected their daily lives. Yet after the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, women still suffered from widespread discrimination and continue to fight for equal rights in nearly every arena of life including equal pay for equal work.
Works Cited

19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (1920)." Historical Documents. 2005. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://www.historicaldocuments.com/19thAmendment.htm

Petition to U.S. Senate Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of New York World War I." United States Senate: Records Group 46. 1917. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/images/ny-petition-l.gif&c=/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/images/ny-petition.caption.html

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. "Woman's Rights Petition to the New York Legislature." Transcribed by Carolyn Sims and reverse-order proofed by Lloyd Benson, Department of History, Furman University, from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, et al., History of Woman Suffrage, (New York, Fowler & Wells, Publishers, 1881), I, 593-595. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/19thcentury/womenandequality/pop_petition.html

Teaching With Documents: Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment." The National Archives. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/

Wright, Fanny. "Course of Popular Lectures." 1829. Reproduced on Spartacus. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwright.htm

Women's History in America." Women's International Center. 1995. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm

Women's Suffrage." Scholastic. Retrieved July 31, 2006 at http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/suffrage/history.htm