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Involvement in the Suffrage Movement
During the Civil War, Couzins worked for the Ladies Union Aid Society, and worked to provide medical aid to wounded soldiers. It was a society consisting of a considerable number of suffragists, including Annie Turner Wittenmyer and Virginia Minor. Perhaps influenced by this, both Phoebe and Adaline joined the St. Louis Women Suffrage Association. Couzins was an active member of the movement; she contributed to "The Revolution", a women's suffrage publication, gave speeches, and used her influence as an attorney to bring real weight and meaning to the cause. She served as a delegate to the American Equal Rights Convention in 1871, which was attended by Susan B. Anthony. After the convention, she aligned causes with Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to form the National Woman Suffrage Association(NWSA), which was considered to be a more radical group. This move gave her more prominence in the Suffrage movement, and she toured extensively around the country. The Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri merged with the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in 1871, which caused Couzins to formally resign from the group, as she favored the radical approach of the NWSA.

Declining Involvement and Eventual Rebuke of the Suffrage Movement

In 1890, the AWSA and the NWSA merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Couzins believed that the merge spurred the rise of a new type of suffragist- one who was young and wealthy, and was fighting for suffrage for all the wrong reasons. At this time Couzins herself was battling health conditions, and was becoming increasingly weak. She left the suffrage movement in 1897, and joined the United States Brewers' Association, as a lobbyer against prohibition and temperance. It is assumed that she took up the job because her funds were rapidly dwindling. Her choice was taken as an office by many suffragists, as temperance was always looked upon favorably by the suffrage movement.