Carrie Chapman Catt: The Women's Suffrage Movement

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Carrie Chapman Catt once said, “In the adjustment of the new order of things, we women demand and equal voice; we shall accept nothing less.” These very words helped ratify the nineteenth amendment and allow women to vote. Catt was born in Ripon Wisconsin on January ninth of 1859, the second of three children. At age seven, she moved to Iowa and continued her schooling there. She was an avid learner, graduating high school in 1877, then continuing on to graduate from Iowa Agricultural College & Model Farm. She was the top of her graduating class, also being the only woman. Post graduating, she worked as a law clerk, a teacher, and a principal. In 1883, she was one of the only women to become a superintendent. This was a big deal during her time period. In 1887, she joined the Iowa Women Suffrage Association as a professional writer and lecturer, and continued on as a recording secretary for their group. …show more content…

She began working for the National American Women Association. She built her reputation up through her work. She excelled in writing and speaking, and eventually became known as the Leading Suffragist. She was asked by Susan B. Anthony, the NAWSA president to address congress on the suffrage amendment they had so tirelessly been working on. She then took Susan B. Anthony’s place as president of the NAWSA, and spent her time primarily planning her campaigns, writing speeches, rounding up women to support her campaign, and overall gaining political experience. Around this time, her husband fell ill so she resigned to take care of him. He passed, following with Susan B. Anthony, her little brother, and her mother all in the span of two years. Needless to say, she was full of grief during this time. She spent the next eight years traveling abroad, aiming to promote woman suffrage in countries all around the

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