Anti-Sixteenth Amendment Society

The Anti-Sixteenth Amendment Society was formed in 1869 and led by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren.^[1] It was the first women-led anti-suffrage group in the United States.^[2] The first two meetings were held at Dahlgren's home.^[3] Other members included Catherine Beecher, Almira Lincoln Phelps, and Mrs. William Tecumseh Sherman.^[4] The group sent a petition to the United States Congress against women's suffrage and reprinted the petition in Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine.^[4] The reprinted petition was copied by anti-suffragists who used it to collect around five thousand signatures which were given to Congress in February 1871.^[4]

Members of the Anti-Sixteenth Amendment Society believed that giving women the vote would hurt the family structure.^[4] In addition, they believed that women had enough duties at the home and they did not want to "bear other and heavier burdens."^[4]

• Easton-Flake, Amy (March 2013). "Harriet Beecher Stowe's Multifaceted Response to the Nineteenth-Century Woman Question". The New England Quarterly. 86 (1): 29–59. doi:10.1162/TNEQ_a_00256. JSTOR 43284971. S2CID 57560430.