One Step Forward...
The arrest of Susan B. Anthony was just one incident that showed that the suffrage movement was beginning to gain traction among citizens and had started to gain the attention of lawmakers. Starting in 1866, groups of women had been petitioning every session of Congress for the right to vote. In 1878, Aaron A. Sargent, a California senator, introduced a 16th Amendment that had been drafted by Stanton and Anthony. The amendment stated "the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged based on sex." The amendment was reintroduced every year until it was finally voted on in 1887. The measure was voted down 34-16, 25 senators had not even bothered to show up to vote. This set back added to the fact that the state campaigns by the AWSA had not gained much momentum. At the time of the vote only Utah and Wyoming had enfranchised women and each had done so merely to attract more families to settle in their territories (Clift, 2003).
The National American Woman Suffrage Association
Although the progress had slowed, the hostility between the two factions of the suffrage movement had begun to subside. In 1890, under the direction of Susan B. Anthony. the AWSA and NSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). A new leader emerged in the form of Carrie Chapman Catt and under her direction the NAWSA pursued suffrage on a state-by-state level. By 1896 Idaho and Colorado had joined the list of states that had fully enfranchised women (Mayo, 2007). As the nineteenth century closed, the suffrage movement also began to shift. The older suffragists began to pass the torch and new leaders took their places. NAWSA continued working for suffrage on a state-by state level and the suffrage movement began to spread. As the twentieth century began a new generation of female activists emerged who were passionate about many social issues including urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. These women wanted to reform societies problems and soon became aware that the best way to enact reform would be through the vote. As the women of the reform movement became committed to winning the right to vote, the suffrage movement changed from a small, local organization, to a mass political movement for the first time (Mayo, 2007).
Carrie Chapman Catt
Under Carrie Chapman Catt, NAWSA grew to become a highly effective organization. Catt was a highly intelligent and motivated woman. She had worked as a teacher, librarian, and dishwasher to pay her way through Iowa State College and, after graduating, became a high school principal and eventually superintendent of schools in Mason City, Iowa, a rare job for a woman. She was the president of NAWSA twice, first, as Susan B. Anthony's successor from 1900-1904; and again from 1915 until her death in 1947 (Meller). As president, Catt unveiled what she called her "Winning Plan" which laid out a plan by which NAWSA would win suffrage on a state-by-state level and, at the same time, would put in place the mechanisms to influence voters, lobby Congress, and eventually pass a federal amendment (Mayo, 2007). Catt was an excellent tactician and was called by Eleanor Roosevelt "the most organized woman I know." She distributed a pamphlet called Organizing to Win which gave women a step-by-step guide to creating a political operation (Clift, 2003). While Catt was organizing women across the country, another movement was forming, one that was more radical than any in the past.