These beliefs of society were difficult to reverse. This is why it took a long time for women to obtain the right to vote. Ninety solid years of hard fighting to acquire the Nineteenth Amendment. It only took from 1776 to 1783 to win American independence, but it took ninety years for women to vote.

             "I revolted in spirit against the customs of society and the laws of the state that crush my aspiration and debarred me from the pursuit of almost every object worthy of an intelligent rational mind." This quote by Emily Collins sums up the feelings of a number of women in the early 1800's who protested oppression. The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "stated the injustices suffered by women." There a declaration was drawn up, based on the Declaration of Independence. It quotes, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal." The injustices were caused by "absolute tyranny" of men over women. Women were not able to vote, and women had to submit to laws they had no say in. Men took all property from women, even the money they earned. A married woman was controlled by her husband. If a divorced occurred, the children were rewarded to the father. Colleges were only open to men, and women did not have to same chance for education. This was only some of the oppression women faced.

             Susan B. Anthony did not attend the Seneca Falls Convention, but became good friends with Stanton. They met in 1851, and in 1869 formed the NWSA or the National Woman Suffrage Association. The chief goal of this organization was an amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote. They also demanded equal education and equal employment opportunities for women. Anthony was the "Napoleon" of the suffragist movement, while Stanton was the writer and thinker. They worked for divorce reform, birth control, and legal rights for women.