Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) is best known for her work as a leading 19th century suffragist and reformer. But before women could even vote, Stanton ran for Congress in New York. She didn't win, but did send a powerful message about women's rights.

Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1838-1927) was the first woman to run for president. She ran under the banner of the Equal Rights party, not a major political party of the time. Since she ran about 50 years before the 19th amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote, Woodhull could not even vote for herself. She lost, winning zero electoral votes. It would be close to a century later when another woman would run for her party's nomination for president. (Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith ran in 1964)

So who does the first woman pick as her running mate? The Equal Rights Party named former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass as her running mate. But Douglass never actually accepted the nomination and actually gave stump speeches for Woodhull's competition, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant.

The honor of the first successful run by a woman for elected office belongs to Susanna Madora Salter (1860-1961), who was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas. Salter was reportedly nominated to the Prohibition Party ticket as joke, but she ended up winning two-thirds of the vote. She served her term but never ran for office again. Slater died in 1961 at the age of 101.

1916: Suffragist and Pacifist Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973) was the first woman elected to congress. Upon her election in 1916 she reportedly said, "I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won't be the last." Serving in the House of Representatives from 1917-1919 and again from 1941-1943, the congresswoman from Montana was the only representative to vote against congressional authorization for both WWI and WWII. (She was actually the only representative to vote against WWII)

Rankin's political career didn't stop after she left the House of Representatives. She was outspoken about her views against the Vietnam War and in 1968 led a 5,000 person march (the "Jeannette Rankin Brigade") in Washington D.C. to protest the war.

Nellie Tayloe Ross (1876-1977) of Wyoming was the first woman U.S. governor, serving from 1925 to 1927 to complete the term of her deceased husband. She ran for reelection in 1926 but lost in a close race. Ross' career then turned from Wyoming to Washington. She was appointed vice-chairwoman of the DNC in charge of activities for women. In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed her the director of the U.S. mint, a position she would hold for 20 years.

Frances Perkins (1882-1965) once said "I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain common workingmen." Appointed as Secretary of Labor by FDR in 1933, Perkins became the first woman appointed to a president's cabinet. She held the position for 12 years, making her the longest serving Secretary of Labor. As chairwoman of the President's Committee on Economic Security, she oversaw all the reports and hearings that eventually lead to the Social Security Act of 1935.

Hattie Wyatt Caraway (1878-1950) of Arkansas was appointed to the U.S. Senate after her husband, the previous senator, died. Though not elected into office initially, Caraway would go on to win reelection and would serve 14 years as a senator. She was known as "Silent Hattie" in the Senate as she spoke just 15 times before the Senate. But she had her reasons for her silence. Caraway once said in reference to avoiding speeches, "I haven't the heart to take a minute away from the men. The poor dears love it so." During her term she was appointed chair of the Enrolled Bills Committee, making her the first woman to chair a senate committee.

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) was the first African American woman to be elected to Congress. During her 14 years in office the New York native fought for her beliefs on education and general family income. When she was originally assigned the Committee on Agriculture she petitioned the House Majority leader to reassign her, bypassing normal protocol. When she was denied she took the issue directly to the house floor and was reassigned to the Veteran's Affairs committee. In 1972 Chisholm announced her intention to run for the Democratic party's nomination for president. She failed to receive the nomination but Chisholm did become the first African American woman to run for the presidency. In 2015 she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Just after Pearl Harbor in 1942, Anna Mae Hays (1920-) joined the Army Nurse Corps. She would go on to become the first woman General in the U.S. Armed Forces, appointed in 1970. The second woman, General Elizabeth P. Hoisington would be appointed just minutes afterward.After her tenure as a nurse in WWII, Gen. Hays went on to serve in the Korean War when many of her colleagues left the service. She would then go on to lead the emergency room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and would become the Chief of the Army Nurse Corps in 1967. General Hays retired from nursing in 1971.

Patricia Roberts Harris (1924-1985) became the first African American woman to hold a cabinet position when she was appointed as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Jimmy Carter. She would later be appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services, making her the first woman to hold two cabinet positions.

During the 1980 election, President Ronald Reagan promised to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court in an effort to try to gain more support from women voters. In 1981, Reagan nominated Arizona judge Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-). She was quickly confirmed by the Senate, making Justice O'Connor the first female Supreme Court justice. O'Connor would serve for 24 years until 2005 when she announced her retirement. In 2009 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011) was the first woman to secure the nomination for vice president on a major party's ticket. But she and her running mate, Walter Mondale, did not win the election (They lost to Reagan-Bush). Prior to the nomination, Ferraro represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979-1985. In 1998, Ferraro revealed she was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. She succumbed to the illness in 2011

Madeleine Albright (1937-) became the first woman Secretary of State after President Bill Clinton nominated her to the post in 1996. The Czechoslovakia native previously represented the United States in the United Nations. During her tenure as Secretary of State she was a champion for human rights, fought to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and was an outspoken supporter of NATO. Albright's tenure as a Secretary of State ended in 2001, and she went on to author multiple New York Times best sellers and open several institutes for diplomacy and global strategy. In 2012 President Obama awarded Albright the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Nancy Pelosi (1940-) was the first female Speaker of the House in the U.S. House of Representatives. First elected to congress in 1987, Pelosi has represented California's 8th district since then. In 2002 she was selected as the Democratic Leader for the House of Representatives and when Democrats won the majority of the House in the 2006 election, she assumed the role of Speaker. She remained Speaker until 2010 when Republicans won back control of the House. Pelosi is currently the minority leader in the House. She recently announced her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president.

Janet Yellen (1946-) is the current chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System after being appointed in 2014. She's the first woman to hold the position and will remain the chair until her four year term is up in 2018. This year Forbes named her the 3rd most powerful woman in the world.

This past March Defense Secretary Ash Carter nominated Gen. Lori Robinson (1959-) to be the head of U.S Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) making her the first woman to head a combat command. Upon assuming the position in May, the Air Force General is the top general overseeing all Air Force activities in North America. She's the highest ranking female service member in U.S. history.

That brings us to this week. Hillary Clinton is now the presumptive Democratic Nominee for President, the first woman to win a major party's' nomination. This summer and fall she'll face off against the presumptive Republican Nominee Donald Trump until election day in November