The Woman Suffrage Movement In The 1920's

The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merge to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). As the movement 's mainstream organization, NAWSA wages state-by-state campaigns to obtain voting rights for women.

It was organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and led by

Many women were pushing for full equality, but some agreed to settle for voting. This was a clear step back and damper on work previous women had made. If all women were not in support of the right to vote, how would they ever succeed? Anti suffrage ads began to appear everywhere. Men and surprisingly, women were not all in support of women having the right to vote. The ads were degrading towards women and were starting to appear worldwide as this was not just an issue seen in the United States. In 1890 the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was created and a worldwide campaign for women’s suffrage was born.

It also used attention-grabbing tactics in order to show that they truly care by going out of their comfort zone. National Women’s Party (NWP’s) contributions to the suffrage movement were most effective due to their drastic approaches such as different forms of campaigning, picketing during wartime, and their maltreatment in jail to their advantage.

Although the war and women's efforts during the war were a significant factor in gaining the vote for women, the campaigning of the suffragist's has been argued to have been of more significance. The National Union of women's suffrage societies or the NUWSS aka the Suffragists was an association composed of mainly middle class women who were well educated and brought up believing in equal rights for women. The reason there were very few working class women in the NUWSS was because they were generally not supported by their husbands as working class men believed that women should remain below them and did not believe in equal rights. The leader of the NUWSS was Millicent Fawcett; a middle class woman, married to a lawyer and was brought up believing in equal rights. Millicent Fawcett and the NUWSS employed peaceful tactics such as holding peaceful protests in the form of marches and wrote newspaper articles in order to campaign for women's rights. There has been much dispute

Remember your Ladies” (Revolutionary Changes and Limitations) is what Abigale Adams told to her husband John Adams when he was signing a new federal document. She was one of the earliest woman suffrage activists and her words towards her husband would eventually snowball into one of the most remembered suffrage movements in the history of the United States (Revolutionary Changes and Limitations). The women’s suffrage movement picked up speed in the 1840-1920 when women such as Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul came into the spot light. These women spearheaded the women suffrage movement by forming parties, parading, debating, and protesting. The most renowned women suffrage parties that were created during the 1840-1920 was the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The parties not only had similar names but similar goals: women will one day receive the right to vote. Each party had its own unique agenda of how women will receive the right to vote, the NWSA had Susan B. Anthony’s dedication, the NAWSA had Catt’s “Winning Plan” (Carrie Chapman Catt) and the NWP had Alice Paul’s perseverance to go to extremes by captivating people’s attention. Eventually the goal of the parties was reached when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. The Amendment granted women the right to vote, granting them all the same rights that were held by men. Women would have never

In 1869 Staton, Mott, and Anthony created the “NWSA” also known as the National Women’s Suffrage Association. This group did not allow male figures in and focused around the right to vote in national elections and passing the constitutional amendment. Soon after the other suffragist Lucy Stone founded her own organization. Stone started the “NAWSA” also known as the National American Women’s Suffrage Association. This group focused on getting votes state by state for suffrage. The only difference with this organization was that men were allowed to join, which caused many problems. 20 years later in 1890 Lucy Stone had become very ill and had passed away, since no one was there to run her organization (NAWSA) the NWSA group connected together. It was now fully known as The National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) but this time men were not allowed to join.

Before the war started women did not have the right to vote, but after a time of peacefully protesting they got their right to vote. It was a difficult struggle for women to attain their right to vote, they had to keep fighting the discrimination against them. In addition the women received a lot of criticism because of how they were protesting during the war, which distracted the President. As a result, people felt as if the protesters were not doing their part to help out in the war. However the main reason they even wanted to be able to vote was so that women would be able to pass reform legislation. They also needed the vote so they would be recognized by the politicians which at the time were only men. During this time the women split into two different organizations, the NAWSA and the NWP. The NWP stands for the Nationals Woman’s Party; they were a more forceful group of protesters. The NAWSA stands for the National American Woman Suffrage Association and they were a more peaceful organization that took on campaigns to enfranchise women.

The women’s suffrage movement was brought to light again during the Gilded Age, specifically at the closing of the 1910s decade. During the time, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) faced internal troubles. The troubles of the group put pressure on individual states to start their own groups to better inform the citizens in their own communities. Many different suffrage groups emerged out of the troubles of the NAWSA; some of these groups included the Women’s Political Union and the Woman Suffrage Party. To better educate society of the issues women faced, the suffrage groups “. .

The women’s suffrage movement finally came to a pause during the Civil War period. Right around two years after the war ended, the movement leaders directed their focus to the Midwest. In 1867, Kansas became the first state in the United States to hold a public referendum on women’s suffrage. A gathering of issues relevant to the nineteenth-century came along where women were presented at this meeting, but suffrage in regards to the right of voting immediately became the base of the women 's suffrage movement. When the U.S. Constitution that was formed in 1920 where the 19th Amendment was established; American women secured one of the most important, valuable rights of citizenship in regard to the right to vote. This particular amendment embodied a significant milestone in the larger and a continuous struggle to ensure equal rights for women.

In 1916, she formed the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage and the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The NWP incorporated methods that Alice had learned during the British suffragist movement and it focused on a constitutional amendment granting all women voting rights. With the presidential election right around the corner, Alice and the NWP protested and picketed in front of the White House. After many failed attempts, Alice’s main goal was to convince President Wilson to choose on the side of women’s suffrage.

The timeline of women’s suffrage is a one that spans from 1848 to 1920. The women’s rights movement in the United States started in the year 1848 with the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. During this convention the ‘Declaration of sentiments’ was signed by 68 women who agreed that women deserved their own political identities. This document set forward the agenda for the women’s rights movement. In the year 1869, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women’s suffrage Association which demanded that the 15th amendment be changed to include women right to vote. In the year 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merged to form National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Colorado was the first state to grant women the right to vote in the year 1893, followed by Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New York, Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma. The National Association of Colored Women was formed in the year 1896 to promote the civil rights of colored women. The National Women’s Trade Union League was established in the year 1903 in order to improve the working condition for women and also to bring their wages in par with that of men.

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.”

In 1869 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed National Woman Suffrage Association, with the focus of achieving the right for women to vote. Soon many women suffrage advocates started focusing specifically on gaining the right to vote. Advocates continued to try to get the right the vote by holding conventions, meetings, handing out pamphlets, and placing