The Fight for Women's Suffrage: Comparing NAWSA and NWP Approaches

This essay explores the women's suffrage movement in the United States, focusing on the contributions of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman's Party (NWP). The introduction sets the context of the Progressive Era and its impact on the movement. The essay details NAWSA's formation, strategies, and its pivotal role in securing the 19th Amendment through state-level lobbying and the 'Winning Plan'. It contrasts NAWSA's approach with that of the NWP, founded by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, which advocated for a more radical, nationwide approach and direct action. The essay highlights the key differences in their strategies, including NAWSA's focus on state-level amendments versus NWP's emphasis on a federal constitutional change and their varying levels of militancy. The conclusion emphasizes that both organizations played critical roles in achieving women's suffrage, despite their differing methodologies.

Getting Women the Vote- NAWSA and NWP
Student’s name
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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,

2017). Upon facing some partisan conflicts, the two organizations merged together and came out
as NAWSA on 18th February 1890. At the time of the foundation, the organization had more than
7000 membership, making it the largest voluntary organization of the time. NAWSA played a
pivotal role in the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution that granted women the right to vote
in 1920.Elizabeth Cady Stanton was elected the first president of NAWSA, succeeded by Susan
B Anthony (Williamson, 2019).
Since its establishment, NAWSA clarified their goal of earning the suffrage for the
American women, and their strategy was clearly declared as pushing the state governments to
force Congress to amend the constitution so as to grant suffrage right to women. Also, upon the
merger, the members of the new formed organization agreed upon the strategy to not deal with
corollary issues and focus on suffrage rights alone (Schultz ).
To execute their vision, NAWSA engaged itself in a social engineering from 1900 to
1904 in which NAWSA engaged its members to recruit new volunteers and pushing the suffrage
issue continuously. The action plan involved the recruitment of college-educated and politically
influential women, who belong to relatively privileged strata of the society. Subsequently, it
continued to extend its educational efforts among the lower strata to make the women politically
aware.
Although the efforts during 1896 and 1910 went in vain to influence the state
governments to push for the necessary congressional amendment. The movement finally saw
success as president Carrie Chapman Catt, who took to office in 1915, executed NAWSA’s
‘Wining Plan’ and extended support to the Wilson government concerning the solidarity in the

WW I and effectively won over in compelling the federal government in adopting and ratifying
the 19th Amendment (Williamson, 2019).
National Woman's Party (NWP)
NWP was founded by Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, who left NAWSA in 1916 and
organized another activist group to fight for the women’s suffrage rights. The rift came about
concerning NAWSA’s micro level approach to the constitutional amendment, which essentially
aimed the state governments for making the necessary amendments. However, Paul expressed
her dissatisfaction at NAWSA’s state level strategy and emphasized her vision of bringing about
a structural change throughout the US by prioritizing the constitutional amendment.
Paul also differed from NAWSA’s strategies on the grounds of slower approach and
different attitude towards militancy. She was discouraged by Catt while in NAWSA to introduce
radical strategies as inspired by the British suffragates. It engaged in demonstrative parades and
picketing to pressurize the government. The organization maintained a strong opposition against
the Wilson government, holding them responsible for the failure to establish equal suffrage
rights. Although NAWSA is recognized as chiefly responsible for the 19th Amendment, NWP’s
incessant fight ensured the Equal Rights Amendment subsequently in 1972 (Williamson, 2019).
Conclusion
As it is evident from the previous discussion, both NAWSA and NWP had the same
objectives, although their strategies involved some major differences in approach. NAWSA
focused on the state-level ratification of congressional amendment, while NWP aimed for a
large-scale, nationwide impact, seeking for a federal constitutional change. Also, NWP was more

radical in their approach, preferring militancy to some extent. However, both the organization
had major role to play in earning the suffrage rights for the American Women.
Reference
O'neill, W. L. (2017). Feminism in America: A history. Routledge.
Williamson, C. (2019). American suffrage: From property to democracy, 1760-1860. Princeton
University Press.