Getting Women the Vote - NAWSA and NWP

Getting Women the Vote- NAWSA and NWP
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

Introduction
The women’s suffrage movement in the USA started as a direct consequences of the
Progressive Era. A great many political reform and social activism during this period shaped the
future of America, which culminated in the beginning of the ‘Roaring ‘20s”. The objective of
this progressive movement was to address the political and social challenges occurred from the
industrialization, urbanization and political corruption that took place in the in the period of
industrial revolution. The guiding force of the movement was the middleclass urban women,
who were well-educated, often first-generation of college graduates, and were working outside
their homes (Schultz ****). As more and more women started to join the movement, several
notable organizations emerged as the drivers of the suffrage movement. Among them, National
American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and National Women's Party (NWP) took the
most prominent roles in getting women their votes.
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
The first organized event of women’s suffrage movement was marked as the Convention
of Seneca Falls in 1848, where Alicia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the Declaration of
Seneca Falls to ensure women’s suffrage. Following the Territory of Wyoming’s step towards
allowing women in all elections in 1869, soon the pioneer activists felt the need of a
constitutional amendment to ensure the same rights across the US. To this end, National Woman
Suffrage Association was formed in the same year. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B
Anthony led the organization and continued to hold conventions and protests. Later in the same
year, another organization named American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was formed
by Lucy Stone with the same agenda, also dealing with other issues of women rights (O'neill,