The chosen leader of the Woman Suffrage Movement after 1900 was Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, a vigorous organizer and campaigner who led the
drive for the constitutional amendment that was finally ratified in
1920. Mrs. Catt founded the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in
1902 and served as its president until 1923. Her late years were devoted
to the cause of international peace and disarmament.
Mrs. Catt was the prime mover in calling the first international
conference on suffrage, which, in 1902, welcomed representatives from
nine foreign nations--Great Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Turkey, Russia, Australia, and Chile. The delegates were honored guests
at the National Suffrage Convention then in session in Washington where
they also attended two congressional hearings on suffrage and were
received by President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House.[36] Mrs.
Catt was given a silver tray[37] inscribed:
To Carrie Chapman Catt from the foreign delegates to the First
International Suffrage Conference, Washington, D.C., Feb. 12-18,
1902.
The back of the tray is marked "Galt & Bro. Sterling, 386." The Galt
silver firm is in Washington, D.C.
The campaign for the first referendum in the state of New York on woman
suffrage was considered to be the most decisive of all the state fights.
New York was divided into 12 campaign districts working under Mrs. Catt.
The campaign was most vigorously waged, but the referendum was
defeated.[38] After the New York campaign Mrs. Catt received a silver
gilt tray[39] inscribed: