The Women 's Suffrage Movement

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

In order for women to be taken seriously the NWP’s leaders Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, who were the party’s main leaders, produced many creative forms of campaigning for the public. The first idea that they developed was on March 3, 1913, and was an organized parade in Washington D.C, purposely the day before President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Washington was filled with visitors due to this occasion so it was a perfect opportunity. The parade consisted of about eight thousand willing women marching onto Pennsylvania Avenue convincing bystanders to take consideration. They wore sashes and banners, one of the banners in the march said, “WE DEMAND AN AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ENFRANCHISING WOMEN” (Behring). These demanding banners angered the people, men began to hang outside their windows and come out of their cars to yell at the women which turned into a violent riot. Many women were injured and police officers didn’t bother to protect the women or stop the riot, it looked more like they were enforcing the situation. This caused the super

As a result, she formed the National Women’s Party. The party was successful despite it’s unpopularity for antagonism in regards to NAWSA, but proved to be a more than adequate reinforcement for the association. Where NAWSA left off, the NWP continued its line of motion, like inertia that despite the friction, carries something onward until the end. Perseverance was the asset that created the effect behind her revolts.

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

Anthony established the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) pushed for maximum wage and hour laws for women.

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.

In November 1917, Carrie Chapman Catt, leader of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), gave an address to the United States Congress expressing her belief that woman’s suffrage was inevitable, and requesting that Congress see it as such and vote to pass the amendment. Catt’s speech was based on facts and figures (ethos) from our own country’s history, logic, reasoning, and common sense (logos); it was hard for any man to argue with, which was her goal. Catt had given hundreds of speeches in her life, and in this case, she planned her approach to be factual and unemotional to get through to those that thought of women as

During the second half of Shaw presidency the organization included many professional married women such as Susan Walker Fitzgerald, Bryn Mawr and Katherine Dexter McCormick (Franzen, 2008). The relationship among the women of the organization was strong and there were no core of officers during the presidency of Anna Howard Shaw. The success of the organization during Shaw presidency was perhaps because of her social position; she had high tolerance for discord. During Shaw presidency the organization had more connections to other progressive era organizations and associations than any other period in the existence of its existence. Shaw had strong connections to the Frances Willard and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) (Franzen, 2008). WCTU was the largest women’s organization in the United States during the 1900’s. Many joined the wealthy benefactors of NAWSA such as the leaders of the settlement houses, prison reform, and women socialites. During Shaw presidency a diverse range of women and men attended NAWSA conventions. In these conventions Shaw personally spoke about the issues beyond suffrage, such as opposition to American imperialism and the different needs of working women. NAWSA expanded by making many other groups become NAWSA family such as the College Equal Suffrage League and the National Men’s League (Franzen, 2008). NAWSA needed the collision of these groups to expand its base. NAWSA needed the financial support of the wealthy women and

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.

In 1914, she left the NAWSA and focused her efforts on the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, founded by Alice Paul. Belmont served on the organization's board and allowed it to use Marble House for events as a headquarters for a time. The union later became known as the National Women's Party. After American women won the constitutional right to vote in 1920, Belmont took over the leadership of the NWP.

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.”

She was the leader of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association. The National American Women’s Suffrage Association was a group of women that fought for the rights of women, specifically voting rights. When

On January 10th, 1917, several suffragists from the NWP marched a single file line down Pennsylvania Avenue until they got to the front of the gate to the White House where President Woodrow Wilson resided. These women stood outside of the gate silently holding banners that stated many things. An example of something thing that was written on a banner would be “Mr.President - What will you do for woman suffrage?” There were thousands of women ranging in age, class race, and even from different states that volunteered their time to stand on the picket lines in front of the White House to make this campaign work. This kept the struggle for women’s suffrage within the sight and perspective of America’s policy makers and catching the press’s attention for the movement like the women wanted in the first

The NUWSS was not only women, there were men as part of the organisation too, those who felt that women should too have a say in running the country. The NUWSS was commonly known as the suffragists. In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst, the daughter of a wealthy cotton manufacturer, set up the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). The members were known more commonly as the suffragettes, their slogan 'deeds not words', they believed in more direct action, their more militant purpose was to gain people's attention.