Bio of Carrie Chapman Catt--Intro and Chapter 1

Chapter 5

A few months after her marriage to George, Carrie Catt went to South Dakota to work in a campaign to win voting rights for women by changing the state constitution.  In November, the voters of South Dakota would vote on whether to approve this change.  For three months before the election, Carrie traveled through a large part of the state, riding many miles in wagons on dusty roads in the hot sun, spending the night with farm families, eating the same poor meals they did, and sometimes sharing a bed with the lady of the house.

            As the weather in South Dakota turned cold before the election, Carrie found she needed something warmer to wear than her summer dresses.  She bought some red and yellow striped flannel cloth and made a dress out of it.  The dress was hardly fashionable, but it was the best Carrie could do at the time, and at least she was warm.

            Everywhere she went Carrie gave strong speeches arguing for the right of women to vote.  But Carrie could see that the South Dakota campaign was certain to fail.  All of the major political parties and religious groups were against woman suffrage.  The makers and sellers of liquor were spending huge amounts of money to fight against the suffragists.  When the election came, only one-third of the voters were in favor of woman suffrage.

            Immediately after this defeat, Carrie went on to Kansas and Iowa to continue the work in those states.  From her experience in these difficult campaigns, she learned the necessary ingredients for a successful suffrage campaign—support from the political parties and important citizens’ organizations, organized and energetic campaign workers, and a reasonable amount of money to spend on the campaign.

            By the end of 1890, Carrie was worn out from all her travel and work.  She became very ill and had to spend the first half of the next year in Seattle, regaining her strength.  In the fall of 1891, Carrie went back to Iowa to continue her suffrage work.  She emphasized how important it was to constantly educate people about women’s voting rights in order to build the support that would be needed for future campaigns to succeed.

            The next year, Carrie attended the NAWSA convention in Washington, D.C.  For the first time she went along with the suffrage leaders as they made their annual visit to Congress to ask for consideration of a constitutional amendment that would grant women the right to vote. What impressed Carrie the most was how completely bored and uninterested the congressmen were.  They didn’t hide the fact that they had no intention of supporting the suffrage amendment.  Carrie knew they acted this way because NAWSA had little power and the congressmen did not respect or fear people who could not hurt them.  It was time for the suffrage movement to change its approach and Carrie had some ideas about how to get started.

            Susan Anthony was impressed with Carrie’s energy and her ability to deal with many details that are important in running an organization.  She put Carrie in charge of a committee that recruited and educated new members by sending out speakers around the country.  This was Carrie’s first important position in the national organization.