The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was instrumental in the fight for women's suffrage. Though their primary focus was temperance, they saw the right to vote as an essential tool for home protection and women's advancement. The national organization formally endorsed women's suffrage in 1881. The WCTU's unique organizational structure meant that they could approach suffrage work on a state and local level, while their extensive advocacy work for temperance and other social causes gave them a toolkit for successful campaigns.
The women's temperance movement began in Hillsboro, Ohio with a series of non-violent protests called the Woman's Temperance Crusades.
Frances Willard gave her first suffrage speech in August 1876 (exact date is unknown) at the Old Orchard Beach camp meeting in Maine. It was themed around "Home Protection."
The Indiana WCTU organized a Franchise Department in 1878.
Frances Willard, second president of the WCTU, brought her "Do Everything" approach to the organization. Under her leadership, the WCTU grew to be the largest women's organization in the world.
The new Franchise Department submitted its first report.
"Since law is the expression of the average public sentiment, and but one half of this public sentiment has been expressed in law, we should earnestly work to secure the ballot for women in the interest of more efficient protection to themselves, their children, and their homes; action in this matter, however, shall be discretionary in the states."
WCTU women, collaborating with the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, successfully campaign for municipal suffrage for women.
In her President's Address, Frances Willard asks that suffrage be contingent on an educational test rather than by gender, a move designed to limit voting by African-American and immigrant voters.
The National Women's Suffrage Association and the American Women's Suffrage Association merge into one organization, the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
Susan B. Anthony wrote to Frances Willard, asking her to mobilize the South Dakota WCTU to aid in the suffrage campaign.
The women's suffrage referendum is defeated in South Dakota.
Frances Willard dies in New York City on February 17, 1897.
Lillian Stevens is elected President of the WCTU.
The Iowa WCTU joined with the National Equal Suffrage Association in a campaign to eliminate the word "male" from the state constitution.
At the Annual Convention, the WCTU received a letter from Carrie Chapman Catt, head of the National American Women's Suffrage Association, asking them to leave suffrage work to NAWSA. Catt worried that the WCTU's association with temperance and Prohibition would interfere with the fight for women's suffrage. The WCTU responded by affirming their commitment to working for suffrage as true "White Ribboners."
The bill for women's suffrage is vetoed by the governor of Arizona.
As new states entered the Union, the WCTU paid close attention to the language in their state constitutions.
On a local level, the WCTU used many tactics to spread the word about women's suffrage.
The Young People's Branch (YPB) was the youth arm of the WCTU.
By 1908, 37 of the 46 state WCTUs had Franchise Departments.
Lillian Stevens, in her address to the convention, condemned the militant tactics of the British suffragettes.
The Oklahoma WCTU is heavily involved in a petition campaign for women's suffrage.
California voted to give women the right to vote.
A parade in favor of women's suffrage was held in New York City.
Thanks in large part to the efforts of the WCTU, Kansas granted women suffrage.
Illinois granted women the right to vote on select elections, including presidential elections.
WCTU women in North Dakota held automobile street meetings to spread the news about women's suffrage.
Anna Gordon was elected President of the WCTU after the death of Lillian Stevens.
Carrie Chapman Catt becomes President of the National American Women's Suffrage Association
Alice Paul, inspired by the work of British suffragettes, forms the National Women's Party.
A referendum for suffrage in West Virginia was defeated. Lenna Lowe Yost, former president of the West Virginia WCTU, was instrumental in the campaign.
Florida forms its franchise department, one of the few states in the Deep South to do so.
Jeannette Rankin, first woman to hold national office, is elected to Congress from Montana.
The WCTU funded an investigation into fraud in the 1916 referendum on women's suffrage in Iowa.
Livingston, head of the Franchise Department, was asked by the NAWSA to head the suffrage campaign in Maine.
The WCTU shifts their attention to a national suffrage amendment.
The Susan B. Anthony Amendment passed the Senate and was sent out to the states for ratification.
Illinois is the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment.
Lenna Lowe Yost, the Washington correspondent for the WCTU, was heavily involved in the ratification fight in West Virginia.
Tennessee is the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, making it law.
After ratification, the WCTU's attention shifts to educating women voters in "Christian Citizenship."
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