She was born Carrie Clinton Lane to Lucius and Maria (Clinton) Lane, in Ripon, Wisconsin. Her parents were both high school graduates (unusual for that time) and after their wedding they moved to Ripon, Wisconsin, where Lucius worked as a farmer. In 1866, when Carrie was seven years old, they moved to Charles City, Iowa.
Carrie attended elementary education in Charles City. In 1877, she graduated from high school. Her father refused to provide the money for more education so Carrie taught school for a year, earning enough income to enter Iowa State Agricultural College. During her two years there, she supported herself working in the state library and the college kitchen. She graduated in 1880 - the only woman among 18 graduates.
She aspired to become a lawyer so she began reading law in an attorney's offices in Charles City. The next year, she began teaching high school in Mason City, Iowa, with the intent of earning enough money to study law at the university. However, she found she enjoyed teaching so much she gave up the idea of becoming a lawyer. Less than two years later, she was appointed principal and superintendent of Mason City schools.
In 1885, Carrie married Leo Chapman, editor of the Mason City Republican, and she resigned from teaching (as married women were not allowed to teach). She became his business partner, writing a "Woman's World" column - but not about food or fashion, rather about women's political and labor issues, and reminding women that if they wanted the vote, they needed to organize. But Leo died just the year after.
In 1887, Carrie returned to Iowa and began her work for suffrage. She joined the Iowa branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, becoming head of its suffrage section. In 1889, she was elected secretary of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association and, the next year, was a delegate and minor speaker at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in Washington, D.C.
In 1890, Carrie married George Catt in Seattle, Washington. This did not end her suffrage career. His work required him to travel about the country, so Carrie also accompanied him, but she also traveled on her own to states before an upcoming vote on women's suffrage, organizing women to campaign.
In 1893, they had a major victory when Colorado became the first state, by vote, to allow women suffrage. Carrie worked tirelessly on the Colorado victory, as she did all across the country. George moved his business to New York in 1892. In 1900, Susan B. Anthony retired as president of NAWSA and Carrie was elected her successor; a position she held until 1904.
She also founded the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), which was officially recognized at a congress held in Washington, D.C., in 1902. Australia, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Norway, Sweden and the U.S. were affiliated with it. Carrie was elected its first president and served until 1923.
Unfortunately, George's health had been deteriorating for some years, and with her own physical exhaustion, Carrie resigned as president of NAWSA in 1904. The next year, in October, George passed away. Carrie was grief-stricken and had lost all interest in suffrage work. Her doctor and friends encouraged her to travel abroad and she did, for several years, primarily working on IWSA activities. She did accept the vice-presidency of NAWSA.
In 1917, with World War I looming on the horizon, Carrie announced NAWSA's support of President Wilson, even volunteering their services to the government if it should participate in the war. Despite shocking her pacifist friends and the Woman's Peace Party, it was a politically astute move. It seems she might have come to believe the war was necessary, but also, by helping the president and government through NAWSA's over two million members, she knew she could call on him later for his personal attention in their cause.
The war ended in 1918, with Carrie campaigning as vigorously as ever for the national amendment. Congress by now had passed the federal amendment, but 36 states still needed to ratify it. By March, 1919, sensing victory, she established the League of Women Voters (LWV) at the NAWSA 50th Anniversary. Carrie served as honorary president for the rest of her life. In the spring of 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment. Finally, on August 26, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify it and the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution.
She campaigned for American participation in the League of Nations (and later the United Nations), and lectured at every possible opportunity for peace. Unfortunately, the winds of war were again stirring. In 1933, with Hitler's rise and the Nazi Party persecutions, Carrie helped establish the Protest Committee of Non-Jewish Women Against the Persecution of Jews in Germany.
She was 80 years old when World War II broke out. Her age and health prevented her from publicly campaigning any more, but she continued corresponding with influential people about helping war refugees and maintaining peace after the war. At the age of 88, Carrie Chapman Catt died of a heart attack in her home in New Rochelle, New York. By that time, women in most developed countries around the world had equal voting rights.
Carrie Chapman Catt had a loving relationship with Mollie Hay. At a New Rochelle cemetery she is buried alongside her longtime companion, Mary Garret Hay, a fellow New York state suffragist, with whom she lived for over 20 years.
