Notable Women of the Suffrage Movement | Carrie Chapman Catt

Activist Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was an outspoken proponent of and a major influence in the women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century (PBS, 2019). Catt was born in Ripon, Wisconsin and moved with her family to rural Iowa when she was seven years old (A Biography, 2016). Following her graduation from Iowa Agricultural College, today Iowa State University (Archives of Women, 2019), Catt worked as a Law Clerk, a teacher and later as a school superintendent—a position held by very few women (Archives of Women, 2019). 

 
Carrie Chapman Catt, 1909. Courtesy the Library of Congress.

Catt’s first entry into the suffrage movement was with the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association and soon thereafter as a member of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) (PBS, 2019). Her excellent organizational skills, fundraising abilities, and motivational speech writing helped her advance quickly to a leadership role within the NAWSA (Carrie Chapman Catt, 2019). By 1900, Catt was handpicked by outgoing President Susan B. Anthony to lead the NAWSA (Editors, 2009). Catt served as NAWSA president from 1900-1904 and again from 1915-1920 leading the organization in a two-prong suffrage campaign approach—seeking both state and federal passage of a voting rights amendment (Carrie Chapman Catt, 2019).

 
Carrie Chapman Catt (center) leads suffrage parade in New York City, 1917. Courtesy the League of Women Voters.

Unlike Alice Paul, leader of the National Women’s Party (NWP), Catt did not agitate for the vote. Catt instead chose to operate strategically in achieving the vote at the state level, compromising where necessary and working within the confines of acceptable female behavior (PBS, 2019). The PBS (2019) article recounts a reporter’s reaction to a 1914 speech given by Catt in New York, “as factual, conciliatory and delivered so as not to offend.” Catt’s leadership and exhaustive campaigning garnered the support of President Woodrow Wilson. In 1918 Wilson backed a federal amendment to the constitution, it was ratified in August 1920 (Britannica, 2019).    

 
Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin (right) with Carrie Chapman Catt (center) upon her arrival in Washington, 1917. Courtesy the Library of Congress.
 

Like Paul, Catt’s work in fostering women’s rights did not end with the passage of the 19th amendment. In 1920 Catt restructured the NAWSA—at this time an organization with two million active members—into the League of Women Voters, a bipartisan group whose purpose was to provide direction for women in their new role as electorate while also advancing progressive legislation (Britannica, 2019). The League of Women Voters, a co-ed grassroots organization, continues to serve as a non-partisan, non-sectarian body “encouraging informed and active participation in government…influencing public policy through education and advocacy” (Mission and History, 2019).  
 

 
Board of Directors, National League of Women Voters Chicago Convention, 1920. Courtesy the League of Women Voters.

Throughout her life, Carrie Chapman Catt believed that women were guaranteed the same inalienable right to participate in the political process as men (Editors, 2009).  She felt that given the opportunity to affect change women would “improve the conditions of life for themselves and their children” (Editors, 2009).  

 
Carrie Chapman Catt following the ratification of the 19th amendment by the 36th state, 1920. Courtesy Getty Images.

Works Cited

“A Biography.” Carrie Museum | About Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, 2016, https://catt.org/biography.html.   

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Carrie Chapman Catt.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Carrie-Chapman-Catt. 

“Carrie Chapman Catt -.” Archives of Women's Political Communication, 2019, https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/carrie-chapman-catt/.  

“Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947).” Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, 2019, https://cattcenter.iastate.edu/home/about-us/carrie-chapman-catt/.   

“Carrie Chapman Catt.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 2019, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/wilson-carrie-chapman-catt/.

Editors, History.com. “Carrie Chapman Catt.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/womens-history/carrie-chapman-catt.  

Michals, Debra. “Carrie Chapman Catt.” National Women's History Museum, 2015, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/carrie-chapman-catt. 

“Mission and History.” Mission and History - LWV of Greater Pittsburgh, Inc., 2019, https://www.lwvpgh.org/about.html.