The women’s suffrage movement was scarred by defeat, infighting, and even a deep sense of betrayal, especially after female enfranchisement was pushed to the margins with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. To survive, the movement had to adjust its strategy. Leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony worked to develop an “origin story” for the movement, elevating the importance of the movement’s original 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
