Women's Loyal National League facts for kids
The Women's Loyal National League was a special group formed on May 14, 1863. Its main goal was to get an amendment (a change) added to the U.S. Constitution to end slavery forever.
This important group was started by two famous women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Stanton was the president, and Anthony was the secretary. They led the biggest petition drive in the country's history at that time. They collected almost 400,000 signatures from people who wanted to abolish slavery. These petitions were given to Congress.
The League's efforts greatly helped pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which officially ended slavery in the U.S. Once it was clear the amendment would pass, the League finished its work and closed down in August 1864.
This League was the first national political group for women in the United States. It showed how women's activism was changing from just trying to persuade people to taking direct political action. It also helped new leaders and activists grow within the women's movement.
History of the League
The Women's Loyal National League began on May 14, 1863, in New York City. Its purpose was to gather support for a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would abolish slavery. At this time, the American Civil War was happening, and slavery was a major reason for the war.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony organized the League's first meeting. Both women are well-known for fighting for women's rights. However, during the Civil War, leaders of the women's movement decided to pause their work for women's rights. Instead, they focused on ending slavery. Anthony had already worked for the American Anti-Slavery Society, a group that wanted to end slavery. Stanton's husband also worked for the same organization.
The League's name showed it was part of a bigger effort to support the Union during the Civil War. Many groups called "Union Leagues" or "Loyal Leagues" were created to encourage loyalty. The Emancipation Proclamation had freed slaves only in states that were fighting against the Union. This led to different opinions among people who wanted to end slavery.
Some abolitionists, including Henry B. Stanton (Elizabeth Cady Stanton's husband), formed a group called the Loyal National League. This group wanted to free slaves in all states. With encouragement from their male friends and family, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony created their own group. It was similar in name and goal to the Loyal National League, but it also focused on women's perspective.
Stanton and Anthony prepared for the new organization by writing an "Appeal to the Women of the Republic." This appeal was published in the New York Tribune, a newspaper that was against slavery. They also shared a pamphlet with this appeal and an invitation to the convention.
Anthony opened the convention and suggested Lucy Stone, another important women's rights activist, lead the meeting. Stanton gave the first speech. Other well-known women's rights figures, like Martha Coffin Wright and Angelina Grimké Weld, also helped lead the convention.
Anthony gave a powerful speech, saying, "There is great fear expressed on all sides lest this shall be made a war for the negro. I am willing that it shall be." She believed the war, which started to protect slavery, should now be about freeing enslaved people.
One of the ideas she presented was: "There can never be true peace in this republic until the civil and political rights of all citizens of African descent and all Women are practically established." Some people at the meeting didn't like this idea because it brought up women's rights. They thought it might divide the group and wasn't directly about ending slavery. However, the idea was approved by most attendees.
Stanton was chosen as the League's president, and Anthony became its secretary. Their office was located at the Cooper Union in New York City.
The Great Petition Drive
Using their many contacts from their work in the abolitionist and women's movements, Stanton and Anthony started a huge petition drive. They collected nearly 400,000 signatures. These petitions asked the U.S. Congress to pass an amendment to abolish slavery.
This was the largest petition campaign in the nation's history up to that time. About one out of every twenty-four adults in the Northern states signed a petition. Anthony was the main organizer of this effort, which involved 2,000 people collecting signatures.
U.S. Senator Charles Sumner was a strong supporter of the League in Congress. He dramatically presented the first 100,000 petitions to Congress. He arranged for two Black men to carry the petitions, which had been glued together to form a very long roll, onto the Senate floor. After that, he often brought in large groups of new petitions as they arrived.
The petition drive was paid for by donations from the people who signed the petitions and from other supporters. The League also raised money by selling pins. These pins had the words "In Emancipation is National Unity" and showed an enslaved person breaking their chains.
Anthony's salary of $12 per week came from the Hovey Fund, money left by someone who supported both ending slavery and women's rights. Anthony didn't have other income, so she saved money by living with the Stanton family. The League also hired an office clerk and two field agents, Hannah Tracy Cutler and Josephine S. Griffing. Both were active in the abolitionist and women's rights movements.
The League held its second national meeting in New York City on May 12, 1864. At this meeting, they voted for black men to have voting rights and to be allowed to serve as soldiers, sailors, and workers with the same pay as white people. They also called for women in medicine to be paid the same as men doing the same work.
Slavery in the U.S. was ended in 1865 by the Thirteenth Amendment. In August 1864, when it became clear that the amendment would pass, the League decided its work was done and closed its office.
Significance of the League
The Women's Loyal National League was the first national political organization for women in the United States. It showed how important it was for the women's movement to be formally organized. Before the Civil War, the women's rights movement was not very structured.
The League's petition drive continued the shift in women's activism. Women moved from simply trying to persuade people to taking direct political action. The League greatly helped pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in the U.S.
The League also helped develop a new generation of women leaders who fought against slavery. It gave experience and recognition not only to Stanton and Anthony but also to new talents like Anna Dickinson, a very skilled teenage speaker. The League had 5,000 members, and 2,000 of them actively collected petitions. This created a large network of women activists who gained experience that helped them with future social activism.
The League also gave the women's movement a way to connect the fight against slavery with the fight for women's rights. It reminded everyone that petitioning was the only political tool available to women at a time when only men were allowed to vote.
Images for kids
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The call to the League's founding convention
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One of the petitions collected by the League
