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supported the demands of the Seneca Falls Convention: There is absolutely no reason to deny women the right to exercise their elective franchise or participate in drafting and enforcing the laws of the land. "Right is of no sex," is our doctrine. As the issue of women's suffrage and calls for African American suffrage gained traction following the Civil War, Douglass's engagement with the movement for women's rights became even more direct. For an abolitionist like Douglass, gaining the right to vote for African Americans appeared to be the only way to actually elevate emancipated people to full citizenship. His belief that the strength of American democracy rested in having as many citizens as possible participate in the electoral process was reflected in his simultaneous advocacy for women's voting rights. With the founding of the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) in 1866, the two causes were officially joined at the public oratorical urging of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, as well as African American abolitionist and poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. At the AERA's inaugural meeting in May 1866, Frederick Douglass was elected one of the organization's three vice presidents. The American Equal Rights Association was first put in jeopardy by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In 1865, one year before the AERA was established, Republican proposals for this amendment, which would effectively grant citizenship and civil rights to formerly enslaved individuals, began to circulate. The explicit extension of rights to only "male citizens" proved a point of contention for some abolitionists and suffragists in the AERA, who feared the exclusionary language would cement an imbalance in constitutional rights for each gender. While the reality of this amendment's contribution to an improved political status for emancipated persons remained to be seen, Others were in favor of its ratification because it represented a gradual step toward universal suffrage's viability. When the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, Republicans made it abundantly clear that they would not soon support women's suffrage. The terms "male citizens" and "male inhabitants" were retained in the ratified amendment; Only men were eligible to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment proved to be the decisive turning point in the dissolution of the American Equal Rights Association, despite the fact that the Fourteenth Amendment did not bode well for the union of suffragists and abolitionists. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," read Section 1 of the proposed amendment. In 1869, the Association met in New York on May 13 and 14 to discuss its position on the Fifteenth Amendment. The convention's proceedings revealed deeply ingrained prejudices among its leaders that were impossible to reconcile. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony used racist arguments to argue that those who are "educated," which essentially meant white women, should be granted suffrage first when they refused to support the amendment, which would have given suffrage to African American men before women. "If intelligence, justice, and morals are to be placed in the government, then let the question of woman be brought first and that of negro last," Susan B. Anthony said. Frederick Douglass maintained that it was far more important for African Americans to wield political power in a country that still did not value their lives in practice: "Doing his best to avoid spewing similar bitterness, Frederick Douglass maintained that I have to say that I find it hard to believe anyone would pretend that giving women the right to vote is just as important as giving it to black people. For us, the issue is one of life and death. Still, Douglass was not letting go of the long-term goal of getting women the vote; He spoke on behalf of those present who believed that the Fifteenth Amendment would ultimately aid in the fight for universal suffrage by meeting a more immediate need. Each side of the convention took a firm stand on the amendment at the conclusion of the two-day meeting. The American Equal Rights Association split into two distinct organizations for women's rights: the American Woman Suffrage Association, which is led by less "radical" feminists like Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, and the National Woman Suffrage Association, which is led by Stanton and Anthony. Frederick Douglass joined the American Woman Suffrage Association, which lobbied for women's suffrage and supported the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. Men were also permitted to join.) Douglass never wavered in his public support for women and their right to vote, even though he was hurt by Stanton and Anthony's venomous attacks on African American men's right to vote. This is demonstrated by one of his many well-known speeches, which became known as "I Am a Radical Woman Suffrage Man" due to his remarkable self-identification; It was delivered at the New England Woman Suffrage Association's annual convention in 1888, coincidentally in Susan B. Anthony's continued support. In his speech, he referred to the antislavery and women's suffrage movements' early reciprocity and emphasized his belief that civil rights like suffrage are natural rights for women: In this instance, all that a woman can ask of a man is for him to get out of the way, get rid of his obstructive forces of fines and imprisonment, get rid of his obstructive uses, and let a woman express her feelings at the polls and in the government in the same way that he does.