Sixteenth Amendment Convention Announcement (National Woman Suffrage Association)

Item

Identifier: COU: 4443

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

"Sixteenth Amendment Convention. The National Woman Suffrage Association will hold its Tenth Annual Washington Convention at Lincoln Hall, 9th and D Sts. Washington, D.C., January 8th and 9th, 1878." Following this headline is a call to action which implores women to speak up and act for the right to vote. The announcement explains that it is "of vital importance that delegates should be present at this Convention from every state and territory, and that each one should call upon her entire state delegation in Congress and urge them to attend the Convention and hear the discussion of the greatest political question of the age." The handbill notes Congress' inclination to enfranchise Native Americans and urges women not to be left behind in this push for civic inclusion. This document is signed in print by suffrage leaders Clemence S. Lozier, Susan B. Anthony, Isabella Beecher Hooker, and Sara Andrews Spencer.

Dates

Creation: 1877

Biographical / Historical

The Woman Suffrage Convention of 1878 marked 30 years since the Seneca Falls Convention and 10 years since the inaugural Woman Suffrage Convention. This meeting was a landmark in its own right as it resulted in the first Congressional bill to amend the Constitution to grant women the right to vote. Congress did not pass the bill; the 16th amendment would instead solidify laws on federal income tax. Women did not achieve suffrage until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment.