the New York state legislature, the Married Women’s Property Law of 1860 became law. Married women gained the right to own property, engage in business, manage their wages and other income, sue and be sued, and be joint guardian of their children. 7In 1856, the American Anti-Slavery Society hired Anthony to be its general agent in the state of New York. Until 1861, she and her troupe of antislavery orators, which included Stanton, traveled across the state, confronting hostile mobs wherever they spoke. Anthony and Stanton also formed the Women’s Loyal National League, the first national women’s political organization. Through the WLNL, 5,000 women gathered 400,000 signatures to persuade Congress to pass the 13th Amendment guaranteeing the freedom of African Americans. Soon after, they were able to establish the American Equal Rights Association, which was dedicated to securing the ballot for all African American men and women. Though the two suffragists believed that woman suffrage could be enacted through the 14th, and later, the 15th Amendments, many of their abolitionist colleagues rejected their ideas, arguing that votes for African-American men must take precedence. 8Feeling abandoned and betrayed, in May 1869, Anthony and Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, a woman-led organization devoted to obtaining a federal woman suffrage amendment. Still opposing their ideas, their divided abolitionist colleagues formed the more conservative American Woman Suffrage Association in November 1869, a move that clearly defined the painful split in the woman suffrage movement.9 During these dark days, Anthony and Stanton published the radical women’s rights newspaper, which was called, “The Revolution”. Stanton was the principal writer and editor, while Anthony was the publisher and business manager. Although the paper was a financial failure, it provided an opportunity for Stanton and An...
