Carrie Chapman Catt

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Carrie Chapman Catt. (credit: Courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Illinois)

(born Jan. 9, 1859, Ripon, Wis., U.S. — died March 9, 1947, New Rochelle, N.Y.) U.S. advocate of woman suffrage. A graduate of Iowa State College (1880), she became a high-school principal in Mason City, Iowa, in 1881 and superintendent of schools two years later; she was one of the first U.S. women to hold such a post. She married Leo Chapman in 1884. After his untimely death in 1886 she devoted herself to organizing the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association (1887 – 90). Her marriage to George W. Catt, an engineer, in 1890, was unusual in its prenuptial legal contract providing her with four months of free time each year to work exclusively for woman suffrage. In 1900 she was elected to succeed Susan B. Anthony as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Between 1905 and 1915 Catt reorganized the NAWSA along political district lines. By then an accomplished public speaker, she served as the group's president from 1915 until her death. After ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted voting rights to women, she reorganized the NAWSA as the League of Women Voters to work for progressive legislation, including the cause of world peace. See also woman suffrage movement.

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The American reformer Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) designed the strategy for the final victory of the woman's-suffrage movement in 1920 and founded the League of Women Voters.

Carrie Lane was born in Ripon, Wis., on Jan. 9, 1859. She was raised in lowa and graduated from the state college. Her first husband died soon after their marriage, and 4 years later, in 1890, she married George Catt, a prosperous engineer. In 1895 she became chairman of the Organization Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and in 1900 she succeeded Susan B. Anthony as president of NAWSA. Her husband's ill health forced Catt to resign in 1904, but after his death the next year she returned to active service as president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Later she assumed command of the New York woman's-suffrage movement, then struggling to win a statewide referendum authorizing the vote for women. Although the New York campaign was not completed until 1917, Catt's brilliant management of it made her the obvious choice to become president of NAWSA in 1915, when discontent with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw's faltering leadership forced her to step down.

Catt reorganized NAWSA, installed her own people in key positions, and in 1916 worked out a 6-year plan to secure a constitutional amendment that would enfranchise women. America's entry into World War I forced the issue. No doubt women would have gained the ballot some day, but they got it in 1920 mainly because of Catt. Under her direction the amendment was lobbied torturously through Congress and then, in the face of substantial opposition, through the state legislatures. The issue was in doubt until Tennessee, at the last minute, became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the 19th Amendment on Aug. 26, 1920.

Catt was notable for her intelligence, strength of character, and self-discipline. An effective speaker, a superb organizer, a diplomat and a politician, she converted NAWSA from a loose coalition of societies into a tightly knit political machine. She had pacifist inclinations and helped launch the Woman's Peace party, but she broke with it when American entry into World War I was imminent. By the same token, although she served on the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense during that war, she did only enough work to establish her credentials as a patriotic American. In both cases her first loyalty and best energies went to the suffrage movement.

In 1919 Catt founded the League of Women Voters as a vehicle for nonpartisan suffragists and as an instrument to advance those reforms for which women had sought the ballot. Later she fulfilled her early pacifist ambitions by establishing a Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, which was the largest of the women's peace groups during the 1920s. A lifelong internationalist, she supported both the League of Nations and the United Nations. Unlike many feminists, Catt was not discouraged by the modest gains women made after receiving the vote. She never thought that enfranchising women would revolutionize the human condition, and as long as her strength held out she continued to work for social justice and social welfare in a variety of fields. She died on March 9, 1947.

Further Reading

The only biography of Catt is Mary G. Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt (1944). The fact that the author was a friend and colleague of Catt for 40 years gives the book a special authority, but a full study of this important woman based on the extensive documentary material now available is needed. Carrie C. Catt and Nettie R. Shuler, Woman Suffrage and Politics (1923), is informative since it draws on some of Mrs. Catt's own experiences. Volumes 4 (1903), 5 (1922), and 6 (1922) of the History of Woman Suffrage, edited by Ida H. Harper, contain much useful material.

(1859-1947), woman's suffrage leader. The triumph of woman's suffrage in the United States in 1920 was very much the work of Carrie Catt. A brilliant strategist, she was twice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (nawsa), first from 1900 to 1904 and then in the dramatic final years of the struggle, from 1915 to 1920.

Catt, born Carrie Lane in Ripon, Wisconsin, spent most of her youth in Iowa, where she went to college. She became a teacher and then superintendent of schools in Mason City in 1883. This was an unusual achievement for a woman of that day, but no great surprise to those who knew her. Bright, resilient, and self-confident, she never acceded to conventions that made no sense to her.

In 1885 Catt married newspaper editor Leo Chapman, but he died in California soon after, leaving her far from home with no resources. Eventually she landed on her feet but only after some harrowing experiences in the male working world. In 1890 she married George Catt, a wealthy engineer. Their marriage allowed her to spend a good part of each year on the road campaigning for woman's suffrage, a cause she had become involved in in Iowa in the late 1880s.

Catt rose rapidly in suffrage ranks. Over time she became a close colleague of Susan B. Anthony, who selected Catt to succeed her as head of the nawsa. Catt led the movement over the next twenty years, struggling against great odds and many frustrating setbacks. In Catt's approach to politics, organization was the watchword and she was superb at it. From her first endeavors in Iowa in the 1880s to her last in Tennessee in 1920, Catt supervised dozens of campaigns, mobilized numerous volunteers (1 million by the end), and made hundreds of speeches. She made skilled use of communication and publicity, fashioning disciplined campaigns and building a highly effective machine.

Catt believed it was woman's natural right to participate in politics on an equal basis with men. If women could vote, she argued, they would become a force for world peace and would help improve the conditions of life for themselves and their children. Above all, she was concerned with women's dignity. Angry that women had no control over their lives, she felt that political participation would give them a voice in decisions affecting them, enhancing their dignity as human beings.

One of Catt's overriding goals was that of world peace, a cause she pursued throughout her life. Another was that the political process should be rational and issue-oriented, dominated by citizens, not politicians. To that end, she founded the League of Women Voters in 1920. It remains something of a monument to her ideals, devoting itself to issues and placing what it considers the public interest over partisan politics. Catt was proud of her role in this organization until the end of her life.

Bibliography:

Robert Booth Fowler, Carrie Catt: Feminist Politician (1986).

Author:

Robert Booth Fowler

See also Feminist Movement; League of Women Voters; National American Woman Suffrage Association; Suffrage.

Carrie Chapman Catt
A woman suffragist
Born	January 9, 1859(1859-01-09) Ripon, Wisconsin
Died	March 9, 1947 (aged 88) New Rochelle, New York

Carrie Chapman Catt (January 9, 1859 – March 9, 1947) was a woman's suffrage leader. She was elected president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) twice; her first term was from 1900 to 1904 and her second term was from 1915 to 1920. Her second term coincided with the climax of the woman suffrage movement in the U.S., and culminated in the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. NAWSA was by far the largest organization working for woman suffrage in the U.S.

Contents 1 Biography 2 See also 3 Notes 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

Biography

She was born Carrie Clinton Lane in Ripon, Wisconsin. Catt spent her childhood in Charles City, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State College, later called Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. She became a teacher and then superintendent of schools in Mason City, Iowa in 1885.

In 1885 Carrie married newspaper editor Leo Chapman, but he died in California soon after. Eventually she landed on her feet but only after some harrowing experiences in the male working world. In 1890, she married George Catt, a wealthy engineer. Their marriage allowed her to spend a good part of each year on the road campaigning for woman's suffrage, a cause she had become involved with in Iowa during the late 1880s. Catt also joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Catt became a close colleague of Susan B. Anthony, who selected Catt to succeed her as head of the NAWSA. Catt led the woman suffrage movement over the next twenty years. From her first endeavors in Iowa in the 1880s to her last in Tennessee in 1920, Catt supervised dozens of campaigns, mobilized numerous volunteers (1 million by the end), and made hundreds of speeches. After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Catt retired from NAWSA. ^[1]

Catt founded the League of Women Voters in 1920 as a successor to NAWSA. In the same year, she ran as the Presidential candidate for the Commonwealth Land Party. ^[2]

The grave of Carrie Chapman Catt in Woodlawn Cemetery

Catt was also a leader of the international woman suffrage movement. ^[3] She helped to found the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) in 1902, serving as its president from 1904 until 1923. The IWSA remains in existence, now as the International Alliance of Women.

Catt was active in anti-war causes during the 1920s and 1930s. She settled in New Rochelle, New York in 1928. During this period she was frequently recognized as one of the most prominent female leaders of her time. Carrie Chapman Catt died in New Rochelle in 1947 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY.

See also

• List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s - 14 Jun. 1926

Notes

1. ^ [Women in Congress, 1917-1990, DIANE Publishing Company, page.208]
2. ^ Excerpt from The Corruption of Economics by Mason Gaffney
3. ^ [Carrie Chapman Catt: A Life of Leadership,by Nate Levin,page.62]

References

• Robert Booth Fowler, Carrie Catt: Feminist Politician (1986).
• Jacqueline Van Voris, Carrie Chapman Catt: A Public Life.
• Mary Gray Peck, Carrie Chapman Catt: A Biography.

Further reading

• Carrie Chapman Catt: A Life of Leadership by Nate Levin. (Full text available here:) [1]

External links

• The Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum online, located in Charles City, Iowa
• PBS Kids: Women and the Vote [2]
• Information from the Library of Congress [3] [4]
• About.com [5]
• Interesting Timeline showing the different tactics of the National Woman’s Party and the National American Woman Suffrage Association [6]
• Alice Paul Institute [7]
• Biography by Women in History (an organization in Ohio) [8]

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