National American Woman Suffrage Association: Difference between revisions

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[[Susan B. Anthony]], a long-time leader in the suffrage movement, was the dominant figure in the newly formed NAWSA. [[Carrie Chapman Catt]], who became president after Anthony retired in 1900, implemented a strategy of recruiting wealthy members of the rapidly growing [[women's club (United States)|women's club]] movement, whose time, money and experience could help build the suffrage movement. [[Anna Howard Shaw]]'s term in office, which began in 1904, saw strong growth in the organization's membership and public approval.

 

==Background==

The demand for [[women's suffrage in the United States]] was controversial even among women's rights activists in the early days of the movement. In 1848, a resolution in favor of women's right to vote was approved only after vigorous debate at the [[Seneca Falls Convention]], the first women's rights convention. By the time of the [[National Women's Rights Convention]]s in the 1850s, the situation had changed, and [[women's suffrage]] had become a preeminent goal of the movement.{{sfnp|DuBois|1978|p=[https://archive.org/details/feminismsuffrage00dubo_0/page/41 41]}}

 

In 1866, just after the [[American Civil War]], the Eleventh [[National Women's Rights Convention]] transformed itself into the [[American Equal Rights Association]] (AERA), which worked for equal rights for both [[African Americans]] and white women, especially suffrage.<ref>Stanton, Anthony, Gage, Harper (1881–1922), Vol. 2, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofwomansu02stanuoft#page/170/mode/2up pp. 171–72]</ref>

Stone supported the amendment. She believed that its ratification would spur politicians to support a similar amendment for women. She said that even though the right to vote was more important for women than for black men, "I will be thankful in my soul if ''any'' body can get out of the terrible pit."<ref>{{harvp|Cullen-DuPont|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oIro7MtiFuYC&pg=PA13 13]}}, "American Equal Rights Association"</ref>

 

The bitter rivalry between the two organizations created a partisan atmosphere that endured for decades.{{sfnp|DuBois|1978|p=[https://archive.org/details/feminismsuffrage00dubo_0/page/173 173]}}

 

Progress toward women's suffrage was slow in the period after the split, but advancement in other areas strengthened the underpinnings of the movement. By 1890, tens of thousands of women were attending colleges and universities, up from zero a few decades earlier.<ref>Solomon, Barbara Miller (1985). ''In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America'', [https://archive.org/details/incompanyofeduca00solo/page/63 p. 63]. New Haven, Yale University Press. {{ISBN|0-300-03639-6}}</ref>

There was a decline in public support for the idea of "woman's sphere", the belief that a woman's place was in the home and that she should not be involved in politics. Laws that had allowed husbands to control their wives' activities had been significantly revised. There was a dramatic growth in all-female social reform organizations, such as the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]] (WCTU), the largest women's organization in the country. In a major boost for the suffrage movement, the WCTU endorsed women's suffrage in the late 1870s on the grounds that women needed the vote to protect their families from alcohol and other vices.{{sfnp|Flexner|1959|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VjEw6ZnVm1EC&pg=PA174 174–76]}}

 

Anthony increasingly began to emphasize suffrage over other women's rights issues. Her aim was to unite the growing number of women's organizations in the demand for suffrage even if they did not support other women's rights issues. She and the NWSA also began placing less emphasis on confrontational actions and more on respectability. The NWSA was no longer seen as an organization that challenged traditional family arrangements by supporting, for example, what its opponents called "easy divorce". All this had the effect of moving it into closer alignment with the AWSA.{{sfnp|Dubois|1992|pp=172–175}}

In a letter to a friend, Stanton said the NWSA "has been growing politic and conservative for some time. Lucy [Stone] and Susan [Anthony] alike see suffrage only. They do not see woman's religious and social bondage, neither do the young women in either association, hence they may as well combine".<ref>Letter from Stanton to Olympia Brown, May 8, 1888, quoted in {{harvp|Barry|1988|p=293}}.</ref>

Stanton, however, had largely withdrawn from the day-to-day activity of the suffrage movement.{{sfnp|McMillen|2008|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TzVRlFXiYswC&pg=PA224 224–225]}}

 

 

The suffrage movement was attracting younger members who were impatient with the continuing division, seeing the obstacle more as a matter of personalities than principles. [[Alice Stone Blackwell]], daughter of Lucy Stone, said, "When I began to work for a union, the elders were not keen for it, on either side, but the younger women on both sides were. Nothing really stood in the way except the unpleasant feelings engendered during the long separation".<ref>Alice Stone Blackwell (1930). ''Lucy Stone: Pioneer of Woman's Rights'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=3uvbSK2W3JoC&pg=PA229 p. 229]. Boston, Little, Brown, and company. Reprinted by University Press of Virginia in 2001. {{ISBN|0-8139-1990-8}}.</ref>

 

===1918–19===

The House passed the suffrage amendment for the first time in January, 1918, but the Senate delayed its debate on the measure until September. President Wilson took the unusual step of appearing before the Senate to speak on the issue, asking for passage of the amendment as a war measure. The Senate, however, defeated the measure by two votes.{{sfnp|Flexner|1959|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VjEw6ZnVm1EC&pg=PA301 283, 300–304]}}

The NAWSA launched a campaign to unseat four senators who had voted against the amendment, assembling a coalition of forces that included labor unions and prohibitionists. Two of those four senators were defeated in the federal elections in November.{{sfnp|Graham|1996|pp=119–122}}