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Carrie Chapman Catt Background: Carrie Chapman Catt was a women’s suffrage leader starting in the late 1880’s. She grew up in Iowa where she also later went to collage (Wikipedia). She first realized she wanted to be involved with womens suffrage when she was a little girl and she asked her mom why she didn’t vote along with her dad and other males (Biography). The answer to her queation was laughter. Carrie says this was a turning point in her life. Another turning point was in high school when she embraced philosophy of Charles Dawin which was “seeing evolutionary science as offering the idea of a constantly evolving and improving world, moving toward a free and peaceful society (Biography).” These two things were what inspired her to work with womens suffrage. After collage she became a school teacher and then supperinitended. She was later married to a man named Leo Chapman who died soon after. After Leo died she had a tough time finacially and was exposed to the male dominated work place (Wikipedia). Then she married George Catt who suppporete her work in womens sufferage. Around this time she started speaking for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Later her husband, her mom, and her brother died leaving her in a depression but she did work abroad with NAWSA which helped her through this difficult time (Wikipedia). The Problem: Carrie wanted to work on the issues of women’s suffrage. Women’s suffrage is the right for women to vote and run for office. She wanted women to be able to do these things without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or marital status (Girlhood). She traveled around the world to speak to many different countries and cities about women’s suffrage (Girlhood). She wanted women to have all the rights that men had. The Solution: August 26th 1920 the 19th amendment was passed (Girlhood). This amendment said that all women had the right to vote. This was what Carrie had worked so hard to see. This is what she wanted for all women, so after the amendment was passed she stepped down as NAWSA’s president. Carrie was still working other things such as equal suffrage by making the League of Women Voters and serving as its honorary president for the rest of her life. She then moved on to campaigning against child labor and for world peace. She was also the founder and chair of The National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War in 1925. So even after she got what she wanted she kept working toward a better world (Girlhood).

"Carrie Chapman Catt biography." //Lakewood Public Library (Lakewood, Ohio)//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. .

"Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum: About Carrie Chapman Catt." //Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home and Museum//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. .

"Carrie Chapman Catt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. .