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52-675: The Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association was first formed on October 28, 1869, in hopes of gaining women's voting rights in Connecticut. Members of the CWSA argued that they needed the right to vote to protect personal property, influence labor conditions, and to protect their children. The first meeting was held in Roberts Opera House in Hartford, Connecticut. The CWSA started small, focusing on campaigning for women's suffrage on

104-666: A background of the Haitian Revolution , the French Revolution of 1830 , the agitation in England for reform and against colonial slavery , and the punishment by American courts of citizens like Reuben Crandall who had dared to attack the slave trade carried on under the American flag, news about the brutal treatment of American slaves began to be heard. John Rankin 's Letters on Slavery had begun to direct

156-477: A bill that provided married women with property rights. The bill was rejected, but she reintroduced it every year until it passed in 1877. By 1870, Isabella Beecher Hooker was in the full swing of the suffragist movement traveling throughout the mid-west on her first speaking tour. This first of many tours was in preparation for the 1871 Washington convention on suffrage, which focused on suffrage alone, not women's rights in general. Isabella thought that by building

208-406: A constitutional amendment passed. However, most of the congressmen rejected the suffragists' notions and contended that Congress could not intervene in voter eligibility. However, Isabella felt so strongly that women could already technically vote that she and other women activists tried to vote in the election of 1872. While Susan Anthony succeeded and was arrested , Isabella was unable to penetrate

260-817: A few women's rights conventions in New York and Boston, and participated in the founding of the New England Women Suffrage Association. Then, she made her intentions known to her friends and neighbors in Hartford by founding the Connecticut Women Association and Society for the Study of Political Science. Isabella followed that up with a petition to the Connecticut General Assembly. With the legal aid of her husband, she wrote and presented

312-459: A handful of freed slaves, and secondly according to Gerrit Smith , the colonization movement aimed to make slavery more defensible, not end it. Many of the students were from the South, and an effort was made to stop the discussions and the meetings. Slaveholders from Kentucky came in and incited mob violence, and for several weeks Beecher lived in a turmoil, not knowing whether rioters might destroy

364-472: A limited suffrage proposal. Isabella's last appearance before the General Assembly to present the voting bill was in 1901. Isabella Beecher Hooker was at the side of her half-sister Harriet Beecher Stowe when she died at her Hartford home in 1896. Hooker was crippled by a stroke on January 13, 1907, and died twelve days later. While she died more than a decade before the nineteenth amendment

416-500: A private school, in which he was an instructor. Following Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton's 1804 duel , Beecher gained popular recognition when he gave a sermon before the Presbytery of Long Island which was promptly published as The Remedy for Duelling in 1806. Finding his salary wholly inadequate to support his growing family, he resigned the charge at East Hampton, and in 1810 moved to Litchfield, Connecticut , where he

468-696: A stand against it. In 1826 he delivered and published six sermons on intemperance. They were sent throughout the United States, ran rapidly through many editions in England , and were translated into several languages in Europe , enjoying large sales even 50 years later. During Beecher's residence in Litchfield, the Unitarian controversy arose, and he took a prominent part. Litchfield was at this time

520-531: A stroke of paralysis, and thenceforth his mental powers only gleamed out occasionally. After spending the last years of his life with his children, he died in Brooklyn in 1863 and was buried at Grove Street Cemetery , in New Haven, Connecticut . Beecher was proverbially absent-minded, and after having been wrought up by the excitement of preaching was accustomed to relax his mind by playing "Auld Lang Syne" on

572-818: The Lane Seminary , and the Underground Railroad . The site also documents African-American history. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue, in Cincinnati, Ohio . In 1799, Beecher married Roxana Foote, the daughter of Eli and Roxana (Ward) Foote. They had nine children: Catharine Esther , William Henry , Edward , Mary, Harriet (1808–1808), George, Harriet Elisabeth , Henry Ward , and Charles . Roxana died on September 13, 1816. The following year, he married Harriet Porter and fathered four more children: Frederick C., Isabella Holmes , Thomas Kinnicut , and James Chaplin . Of

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624-561: The Panic of 1837 , not long after Isabella's mother Harriet died. Then, at age fifteen, she returned to Connecticut for an additional year of schooling at the Hartford Female Seminary , the first school her sister Catherine had founded, but was no longer involved with. While studying in Hartford, Isabella met John Hooker, a young lawyer from an established Connecticut family. They married in 1841, and Isabella spent most of

676-469: The CWSA dropped to only 50 members in 1906. Elizabeth D. Bacon , who had served as vice president, and did much of the work for Hooker in later years, became president of CWSA in 1906. Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn , brought a new energy to the movement when she took over as president of CWSA in 1910 after a two hour long discussion and a vote of 40 to 12. She took more aggressive actions like organizing rallies and holding demonstrations. On May 2, 1914,

728-519: The CWSA helped to pass local legislation that improved women's rights in Connecticut. In 1887, the CWSA's influence helped the passage of the Married Women's Property Bill. Later, it also helped women in CT gain the right to vote for school officials in 1893, and to vote on library issues in 1909. In the early 1900s, after Isabella Beecher Hooker stepped down, support for the women's movement waned and

780-477: The CWSA led the first suffrage parade in Connecticut. Over 2,000 people attended. Through Hepburn's efforts and the revitalization of the women's rights movement, the CWSA reached over 32,000 members in 1917. With the support of its new members, the CWSA wrote a telegram directly to President Woodrow Wilson on July 12, 1918. The pressure from Connecticut and other states eventually led to Woodrow Wilson's change in opinion about women's voting rights. As support for

832-714: The Cincinnati Colonization Society "was addressed at length, by the Rev. Dr. Beecher, president of the Lane Seminary, who defended the society in an able manner, against some of the many charges brought against it, and endeavored to show the friends of abolition, that they might and ought to act in concert with the Colonization Society." He is quoted again as participating in a meeting of the same body on October 31, 1834. But against

884-548: The National Women's Suffrage Association to coordinate larger events, as well as local ones. One local event, a month-long automobile tour, was a successful campaign to gain the support of Litchfield citizens, who at the time, were primarily against women's suffrage. This campaign was held in August 1911, and it gained 964 signatures on a petition for women's suffrage. The CWSA created local events and activities that helped

936-578: The Presbyterian Church, the state of Ohio , and the nation. Like most important men of the 1820s, Beecher was a colonizationist, one who supported the American Colonization Society 's program of helping free Blacks emigrate to West Africa and set up there a black colony. He is reported to have reacted positively to an announcement of the planned debates on that topic at Lane . However, a June 4, 1834, meeting of

988-598: The Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati (later merged with First Presbyterian into modern-day Covenant First Presbyterian Church ). He served as a pastor for the first ten years of his Lane presidency. Beecher was also notorious for his anti-Catholicism , and soon after his arrival in Cincinnati authored the nativist tract "A Plea for the West". His sermon on this subject at Boston in 1834

1040-515: The amendment. There was also a countermovement led by The Connecticut Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Although there was opposition to women's right to vote, on May 21, 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, and later ratified on August 18, 1920. After accomplishing this goal, the CWSA voted to disband on June 3, 1921. Isabella Beecher Hooker Isabella Beecher Hooker (February 22, 1822 – January 25, 1907)

1092-649: The attention of Americans to the evils of slavery, and a new organization, the American Anti-Slavery Society , held its initial meeting in Philadelphia in 1833. Its president, Arthur Tappan , through whose generous donations Beecher had been induced to head the new Lane Seminary, forwarded to the students a copy of the address issued by the convention, and the whole subject was soon under discussion. In February 1834, students at Lane, with national publicity, for 18 consecutive nights debated

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1144-646: The benefits of female police officers. She digressed on a campaign for police reform than included complete reorganization of New York City's police department, with a woman as superintendent; for this she was mocked by the New York World and the Chicago Tribune . While Isabella Hooker was derided in New York and Chicago, she had enough national stature that her speaking tours were regularly reported. Furthermore, she gained respect in Hartford, where The Hartford Courant published her lectures from around

1196-416: The burning met on three separate occasions, two of which [preceded] Beecher's sermons. Furthermore, Beecher spoke at upper-class churches which the workers would not have attended. "In all probability," Billington comments, "the [convent] would have been attacked whether or not these sermons were delivered." Beecher's term at Lane came at a time when slavery became an even larger issue, threatening to divide

1248-460: The colonization issue : whether the American Colonization Society , which sought to settle freed slaves in Africa, was worthy of support. The students did not have permission for the debate, but they were not stopped ahead of time. Most of them abandoned colonization as a hoax , replacing it with abolitionism . It was seen as a hoax because firstly it was logistically impossible to relocate more than

1300-410: The convention around one issue, she could reunite the divided women's movement. Isabella set the agenda by describing the situation as she saw it, a view in which the constitution provided women with citizenship, and Congress needed only to recognize that fact for women suffrage to be a done deal. This convention got the women's movement in the congressional door, for the first time Congress responded to

1352-432: The country and her congressional addresses. As she wound down her travels she was able to use this avenue to continue her advocacy. By the turn of the century she journeyed less frequently to speak, but maintained her activity by writing letters, and her annual presentation of a voting bill to the Connecticut General Assembly. She made one last appearance before Congress in 1893, where she persuaded various senators to endorse

1404-534: The first homesteads of what would become the Nook Farm Literary Colony. Following the Civil War, Isabella carefully ventured into the divided women's movement with the unsigned "A Mother's Letter to a Daughter on Women Suffrage," which relied on the idea that "women would raise the moral level of politics and bring a motherly wisdom to the affairs of government." Isabella first attended

1456-628: The following twenty-five years raising their three children. John brought a reformist attitude to the marriage; just before their marriage, John made his abolitionist sympathies known. Isabella did not immediately approve of her husband's position, but she gradually converted to the anti-slavery cause. Throughout the 1850s Isabella supported the abolitionist cause, but her primary activity was motherhood. These early tendencies toward domesticity were likely an influence of her sister Catherine's philosophy. The Hooker family moved to Hartford in 1853 and purchased land with Francis and Elisabeth Gillette, which formed

1508-687: The general synod, he was again acquitted, but the controversy engendered by the action went on until the Presbyterian church was divided in two. Beecher took an active part in the theological controversies that led to the excision of a portion of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in 1837-38, Beecher adhering to the New School Presbyterian branch of the schism. After the slavery controversy, Beecher and his co-professor Calvin Ellis Stowe remained and tried to revive

1560-464: The growth and spread of abolitionism in the northern United States. Beecher was neither aware of nor interested in Lane's key role in publicizing abolitionism. Although earlier in his career he had opposed them, Beecher stoked controversy by advocating "new measures" of evangelism (including revivals and camp meetings ) that ran counter to traditional Calvinist understanding. These new measures at

1612-595: The lead of William Ellery Channing and others in sympathy with him, had excited much anxiety throughout New England. In 1826 Beecher was called to Boston 's Hanover Church, where he began preaching against the Unitarianism which was then sweeping the area. The religious public had become impressed with the growing importance of the great West; a theological seminary had been founded at Walnut Hills, near Cincinnati, Ohio , and named Lane Seminary , after one of its principal benefactors. Beecher's Hanover Street Church

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1664-437: The local level. As it gained momentum, this group became influential in the fight for women's suffrage in Connecticut and nationally. However, it was unable to push Connecticut to ratify the 19th amendment, allowing Tennessee to be the 36th and final state to make women's right to vote law. Smaller groups like the CWSA were vital to the women's suffrage movement nationally as well as locally. The CWSA collaborated with groups like

1716-546: The movement for women's suffrage grow in Connecticut. These activities included: Isabella Beecher Hooker and Frances Ellen Burr were co-founders of the CWSA, starting the group after a women's suffrage convention held in Hartford, Connecticut , in 1869. The first president was Reverend Nathaniel J. Burton who held the position until 1871. After Burton, Isabella Hooker led the CWSA for 36 years, until stepping down in 1905. During years with Isabella Beecher Hooker as director,

1768-522: The prosperity of the seminary, but at last abandoned it. The great project of their lives was defeated, and they returned to the East, where Beecher went to live with his son Henry in Brooklyn, New York , in 1852. He wished to devote himself mainly to the revision and publication of his works. But his intellectual powers began to decline, while his physical strength was unabated. About his 80th year he suffered

1820-409: The rioters had heard it or even "knew of its delivery". Nevertheless, the convent was burned, and just at the season when Lyman was alerting Massachusetts to danger from the "despotic character and hostile designs of popery ". Authors disagree as to whether Lyman Beecher's three anti-catholic speeches triggered the burning. For example, Ira Leonard, author of American Nativism, 1830-1860 , notes that

1872-531: The seat of the famous Litchfield Law School (1784–1833) and several other institutions of learning, and Beecher (now a doctor of divinity ) and his wife undertook to supervise the training of several young women, who were received into their family. But here, too, he found his annual salary of $ 800 inadequate. The rapid and extensive defection of the Congregational churches in Boston and vicinity, under

1924-416: The security at the polling station. By the mid-1880s, Isabella advocated the more common position that women should vote because they would bring a new level of dignity to politics. Along with her drift in strategy, Isabella Hooker was campaigning for women's rights in general, instead of focusing on suffrage alone. During 1887, Isabella spoke on the need for women to have greater roles in society, including

1976-677: The seminary and the houses of the professors. The Board of Trustees interfered during the absence of Beecher, and allayed the excitement of the mob by forbidding all further discussion of slavery in the seminary, even at meals, whereupon the students withdrew en masse . The group of about 50 students (who became known as the Lane Rebels ) who left the seminary went to the new Oberlin Collegiate Institute , leaving Lane almost without students. Beecher believed himself blameless. The well-reported events contributed significantly to

2028-403: The suffrage movement grew, other women's rights groups also formed in Connecticut, including The Connecticut League of Women Voters. These organizations collaborated on events and were instrumental on the eventual passage of the 19th amendment. However, as support for women's suffrage grew, opposition to women's voting rights also increased in Connecticut. Two of Connecticut’s senators voted against

2080-431: The thirteen Beecher children, nine went on to become writers. Harriet Porter Beecher died on July 7, 1835. On September 23, 1836, he married Samuel Beals' daughter Lydia Beals (September 17, 1789 – 1869), who had previously been married to Joseph Jackson (1779/10 – December 1833). Lydia and Beecher had no children. Beecher was the author of a great number of printed sermons and addresses. His published works are: He made

2132-411: The three anti-catholic speeches "by Lyman Beecher" ultimately "ignited the spark["]. This statement implies that some of the individuals involved in the burning attended one of Beecher's three sermons. Conversely, Ray Billington understands the two events to be more coincidental. Billington notes that, although the convent burned the evening of Beecher's sermons, the group of working-class men who organized

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2184-558: The time of the Second Great Awakening brought turmoil to churches all across America. Joshua Lacy Wilson, pastor of First Presbyterian (later merged with Second Presbyterian into modern-day Covenant First Presbyterian) charged Beecher with heresy in 1835. The trial took place in his own church, and Beecher defended himself, while burdened with the cares of his seminary, his church, and his wife at home on her deathbed. The trial resulted in acquittal, and, on an appeal to

2236-483: The violin, or dancing the "double shuffle" in his parlor. Lyman Beecher's house, on the former campus of the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio , became the Harriet Beecher Stowe House . Harriet, his daughter, lived here until her marriage. It is the only Lane building still standing. It is open to the public and operates as an historical and cultural site, focusing on Harriet Beecher Stowe ,

2288-515: The women activists with a hearing. Victoria Woodhull led the presentation to the House Judiciary Committee, and Isabella followed; they both presented the convention's argument. Isabella maintained the constitutional argument for most of the 1870s and used it for the many additional times she spoke before the House Judiciary Committee. Isabella believed this argument partly because she thought it would be too difficult to get

2340-422: Was "largely engaged during his life-time in controversy". However, "he was also the most respected religious voice of his era. ...[H]e seemed also to embody all of the nation's moral ideals, in representing the established clergy, who looked to him for leadership." Beecher was born in New Haven, Connecticut , to David Beecher, a blacksmith, and Esther Hawley Lyman. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he

2392-594: Was a leader, lecturer and social activist in the American suffragist movement. Isabella Holmes Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut , the fifth child and second daughter of Harriet Porter and the Reverend Lyman Beecher . As her father was called to new congregations, the family went to Boston, and then Cincinnati. In Cincinnati she attended her half-sister Catharine's Western Female Institute. The Western Female Institute closed during

2444-428: Was committed to the care of his uncle Lot Benton, by whom he was adopted as a son, and with whom his early life was spent blacksmithing and farming. But it was soon found that he preferred study. He was fitted for college by the Rev. Thomas W. Bray, and at the age of eighteen entered Yale College , graduating in 1797. He spent much of 1798 at Yale under the tutelage of his mentor Timothy Dwight . In September 1798, he

2496-491: Was followed shortly by the burning of the Catholic Ursuline Sisters' convent there. Catholics blamed Lyman, and charged that the arsonists had been "goaded on by Dr. Lyman Beecher", but Lyman insisted that the sermon "to which the mob ascribed" was preached before his presence in Boston was generally known, and on the very evening of the riot, some miles distant from the scene, and that probably not one of

2548-522: Was licensed to preach by the New Haven West Association, and entered upon his clerical duties by supplying the pulpit in the Presbyterian church at East Hampton , Long Island , and was ordained in 1799. Here he married his first wife, Roxana Foote. His salary was $ 300 a year plus firewood, after five years increased to $ 400 (equivalent to $ 8,000 in 2023), with a dilapidated parsonage. To eke out his scanty income, his wife opened

2600-547: Was minister for 16 years at First Congregational Church of Litchfield , the town's Congregational church. There he started to preach Calvinism . He purchased the home built by Elijah Wadsworth and reared a large family. Alcohol intoxication or drunkenness, known as intemperance at the time, was a source of concern in New England as well as in other areas of the United States. Heavy drinking occurred even at some formal meetings of clergy, and Beecher resolved to take

2652-630: Was ratified, her participation in the women's movement saw it transformed from a fringe group to the respectable lobby that succeeded in 1920. [REDACTED] Media related to Isabella Beecher Hooker at Wikimedia Commons Lyman Beecher Lyman Beecher (October 12, 1775 – January 10, 1863) was a Presbyterian minister, and the father of 13 children, many of whom became writers or ministers, including Harriet Beecher Stowe , Henry Ward Beecher , Charles Beecher , Edward Beecher , Isabella Beecher Hooker , Catharine Beecher , and Thomas K. Beecher . According to his son Henry Ward Beecher, his father

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2704-497: Was severely damaged by fire in 1830, and the Board of Lane Seminary, hoping this might dispose him to a move, later that year offered him the presidency, with a salary of $ 20,000 (equivalent to $ 1,145,000 in 2023), but he turned it down. He accepted a second offer, in 1832. His mission there was to train ministers to win the West for Protestantism . Along with his presidency, he was also professor of sacred theology, and pastor of

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