How Effective Were The Wspu Methods

Moreover, due to great frustration the Suffragettes were formed as their vote was still not passed. Between 1909 and 1914 the motto of their campaign had expanded - "Deeds not Words". This meant that peaceful methods were abolished by them and militant tactics were reforced, such as smashing windows, pepper bombing various places and setting fire to pillar boxes. Their aim was to be recognised all over Britain as they were desperate for the vote. The death of one of the dedicated followers, Emily Davison led to the Hunger campaign. This resulted to force feeding in prisons as the members refused to eat whilst they suffered from imprisonment. Furthermore, this resulted in the Temporary Discharge Act in 1912, which is also known as the "Cat and Mouse Act". Therefore, the Suffragettes gained alot of publicity and sympathy for the women's suffrage as women were dying or suffered from a great deal of pain for their beliefs. This also put pressure on politicians to appease women. However, their was distinct male back-lash against the Suffragette as they were vigorously violent and seemed undeserving of the vote due to their methods. Martin

Before the Suffragettes, women were not able to vote and the move for women to have the right to vote really started in 1897 when Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women’s Suffrage. Fawcett strongly believed that women should have the right to vote but also believed in peaceful protests, patience and logical arguments. She felt that if any violence occurred then men would believe that women could not be trusted and therefore should not have the right to vote. She also made the argument that if women were made responsible for sitting on school boards and paying taxes that they should be part of the process to make the laws and should have the same rights as men. A main argument of hers was that even though some women who were wealthy mistresses of large manors and estates employed gardeners, workmen and labourers who were able to vote but women still could not, regardless of their wealth and social class. However, the progress of Fawcett was very slow and although she converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (The Labour Party) but the majority of men felt that women would not understand how parliament functioned and therefore should not take part in the electoral

In 1905, the Suffragists held meetings in run up to elections. In 1910 the NUWSS raised a petition and managed to get a staggering 280,000 signatures. Before World War I there were another group called the Suffragettes, they were known for their violence and destruction. In October 1903, a woman called Emmeline Panhurst set up a new society called WSPU, which stood for 'Women's Social and Political Union'. Also known as the Suffragettes.

With Seneca Falls, 1848, the movement began in earnest. Early suffragists often had ties to the abolitionist movement. (Lecture 18) With the Civil War era, suffragists split over voting rights for black men. There was a need for regrouping and rethinking in the face of a reconstructed nation because there was a push for black men to get the right to vote. There were Women’s Rights conventions every year up until the Civil War, and in 1851, a resolution that “resolved, the proper sphere, for all human beings is the largest and highest for which they are able to obtain”. (Lecture 24) This captures the true essence of both the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Abolitionist Movement. Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were Abolitionists and a majority of suffragettes were as well as well as involvement with the temperance movement. (Ibid) The question was raised, should women keep advocating for women’s rights or do they need to support the war? This resulted in the pause between 1861-1865 when there was not a women’s convention for the first time. Women were deeply involved with the Union cause and were vital to upholding society and keeping stores in business by serving as “deputy husbands”. (Ibid) Women also had a direct role serving in the war, some served as nurses in addition to some fighting for the cause. Sarah Edmunds Seelye was one of the few who fought under a man’s name, she served under Franklin Thompson for the 2nd Michigan Infantry until she deserted due to

The journey of women’s suffrage beings with an aspired women named Alice Paul, who revolutionize the rights for women everywhere. Walton refers, how the inspiration all had flipped-the switch in Alice Paul when she heard speech on the “Votes for Women,” from a women named, Christabel Pankhurst, which was interrupted abruptly due to Christabel spitting in a police offers face, and being taken to jail. Walton refers to the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) as being seldom out of the news during the winter of 1907,

During the late 1700s, women were not seen as being equal to men. They were imaged as one who stayed at home and took care of the kids. No one ever imagined a woman voting. Some women actually supported the fight in allowing blacks to vote. During the time the 15th amendment passed, many women who supported Women’s Suffrage were disappointed in which they were excluded in the idea of allowing “everyone” to vote. Before the Civil War, the movement for Women’s Suffrage started to pick up steam, but had become lost due to the interruption of the Civil War. One of the acts that stood out the most for Women’s Suffrage was the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848. This was organized by two American activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They were the first to organize a conference to address Women’s rights and issues, and with sixty- eight women and thirty two men, they signed “The Declaration of Sentiments”, a document that was similar to the Declaration of Independence, but directed towards women’s rights. Getting suffrage for women was not an easy campaign. During 1890- 1919, many states were in a mix on their decision on suffrage for women. Some agreed with equal suffrage, others partial, and the rest wanted no suffrage at all for females as displayed in Document 6. Women’s Suffrage finally became a reality when it was ratified as an amendment (19th) in

The women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century would cause a huge shift in the nation’s philosophy regarding equal rights as well as gender roles and differences. Though many were in favor of this way of thinking, some suffragists had different ideas on how to go about ratifying their ideology within the United States. One of the main methods they used to secure the right to vote for American women was trying to acquire a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote. This was the more grueling approach of the two, for it would require two-thirds of each house of congress to approve of the amendment, as well as be ratified by three-fourths of the country’s state legislatures. Two suffragists named Elizabeth Cady Stanton

National Women’s Party was one of the popular organizations that focused more on dramatic tactics like hunger strikes, picketing the White house and other

The National Woman Suffrage Association was founded in 1869, one of the main suffrage organizations in the US during the 19th century. It was a unification of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The (NAWSA) became the parent that combined all of women’s suffrage small and stated organizations. It was one of the largest and most important suffrage organizations as well as being the primary promoter to woman's right to vote. Women during the gilded age, progressive Era received many injustices and suffered from inequality. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) main goal is to pursue the right to vote in different ways. The organization was established in 1890. In 1890 it became necessary to combine the efforts to try to pursue their goals. Their strategy is to pressure federal government to offer women the same constitutional protections in the Fifteenth Amendment (Keyssar,2009). After establishing (NAWSA) it became the mainstream and the most nationally visible women suffrage organization. NAWSA was the largest women's organization established to help pass woman suffrage legislation. For decades the woman suffrage movement story has been written as national stories. It’s a story that has been written through individuals and collective biography (Sneider, 2010).

This new generation of activists fought with this new agenda for almost 20 years until a few states in the West began to extend the vote to women. The Eastern and Southern states still refused to give in, but this didn’t stop the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the NAWSA, worked vigorously to get women’s organizations from all over the country together and fight side by side. “One group of activists, led by Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party, lobbied for full quality for women under the law” (Divine). She used mass marches and hunger strikes as strategies, but she was eventually forced to resign because of her insistence on the use of militant direct-action tactics (Grolier). Finally, during World War 1, women were given more opportunities to work, and were able to show that they were just as deserving as men when it came to the right to vote. On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, allowing women to vote. This drawn-out and arduous battle opened a new window of opportunity for women all over the country. Significant changes in both social life and job availability began to create what is now referred to as the “new women.”

However in 1900 the NUWSS was formed, they protested peacefully and had petitions to try and get the vote for women, they were sure that this would end with equality between men and women. After several years of being unsuccessful, the WSPU were set up. They were more violent, fighting for votes. They started off by chaining themselves to railings and gates, trivial to what they ended up doing such as arson attacks, stoning and smashing windows as well as Emily Davidson dying for the cause by throwing herself in front of the king’s horse in the final event of the Epson Gala in 1913, however she did not attempt to become a martyr. She was trying to pin a Suffragette flag on the horse so it ran through the finish line flying there causes flag.

In the 1917 the W.S.P.U changed it's name to the Women's Party, and the newspaper retitled Britannia. However Sylvia Pankhurst did not agree with her fellow campaigners, she persisted in her campaigning throughout the war, she spoke on

Many women longed for a more active role in the war effort. Suffrage leaders criticized the government for not involving women more. So, when a shortage of shells was revealed in the spring of 1915, certain government ministers concurred. Munitions Minister Lloyd George encouraged the leader of the British suffrage movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, to organize a massive demonstration and march on the theme 'Women's Right to Serve' (Grayzell, 1999).

The NUWSS had wide-ranging support, from both men and women from working and middle-class backgrounds. The approaches of different regional branches of the NUWSS varied, from passive to fairly militant, and the lack of specific location attached to the source also suggests that this could have been publicised cross-country. By softening their approach with the language of motherhood, the NUWSS could increase their audience and avoid alienation of their diverse audience, appealing to both moderates and those who were more radical. The form of the source may lend some support to this, as leaflets could achieve large circulation and reach a large audience. It is clear that the suffragists sought to create some form of cohesion and unity in their organisation, perhaps seen in this source by the “us versus them” mentality. The suffragists frequently address the reader as "you" and refer to "we", uniting the reader with the movement and pulling the entire suffrage movement into a single group. Though this level of unity was not actually a reality, with multiple suffrage organisations existing such as WSPU and Women's Freedom League, their presentation of the movement as such suggests a desire, and perhaps a need in the face of opposition, to appear

Women’s reactions to the war were divided among themselves. Though there were women championing the cause of WWI, there were others who opposed to the idea of a war. Right up to the outbreak of World War I, feminists on both sides pledged themselves to peace, in international women's solidarity. Within months of the war's outbreak, however, all the major feminist groups of the belligerents had given a new pledge - to “support their respective governments.” Campaigners for women's suffrage quickly became avid patriots and organizers of women in support of the war effort. National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), a leader in women’s right in Britain, championed the cause of WWI; through their collective efforts, NUWSS pressed for political