WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE AND ABOLITION MOVEMENT

31 March 1776
Abigail Adams admonishes her husband John in a letter to Philadelphia where he is deliberating with the Continental Congress

"...in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to forment rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."

4 JULY 1776
United States declares independence from Great Britain.

Establishment of an independent United States is a set-back for women.

Married women are not granted legal status apart from their husbands; women are forbidden from

• obtaining education beyond elementary school (except for the wealthy)
• learning anything except domestic tasks
• owning property
• keeping earnings from any employment they might have
• inheriting money or property in their own right
• obtaining a divorce except in dire circumstances (adultery, desertion, non-support, extreme cruelty)
• enjoying custody of their children
• voting, serving on a jury, testifying in a trial
• being tried by a jury of peers
• signing legal cintracts; suing or being sued
• engaging in public speaking
• having a voice in the laws that might convict them
• handling money (in certain states) - in Massachusetts women cannot even serve as treasurers of their sewing societies

As states adopt their new constitutions, they more clearly define qualifications for voting (i.e., free, white, male citizen) and exclude women from participating in the democratic experiment; women property owners are even taxed without representation.

1777
New York takes away women's right to vote.

1780
Massachusetts takes away women's right to vote.

1784
New Hampshire takes away women's right to vote.

1791
Constitution is finally ratified without granting women right to vote. The Constitution also sanctions slavery (Article IV, Section 3).

NEXT: TIMELINE 1800-1849

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