The National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA) continued its quiet state-by-state campaign for the right
to vote. Meanwhile, the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), led by
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, was determined to keep the cause in front of the
public.
In March 1914, the Senate voted on a federal woman suffrage amendment for first time since 1887. The bill was
defeated. It was reintroduced the next day.
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| Chicago's Parade |
That
same year, Paul organized May Day parades in cities across the country,
garnering local and national publicity for the movement. Additionally, the
National Federation of Women’s Clubs, with more than two million members
throughout the U.S., formally endorsed the suffrage campaign. In November, women
won full suffrage in Montana and Nevada.
The House of Representatives voted for
first time on a federal woman suffrage amendment in January 1915. The measure was defeated.
That same month, the CU opened a "freedom
booth" at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco,
where they displayed exhibits in support of expanding full women’s suffrage
beyond the eleven states that already had it. Helen Keller, a famous supporter
of the cause, spoke at the booth. The CU representatives collected 500,000
signatures on their suffrage petition at the exposition. Suffrage envoys left
California in September, carrying the petition by automobile across the country
to Congress and President Wilson.
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| Suffrage Envoys |
Carrie Chapman Catt again assumed
leadership of the NAWSA in 1915. She continued the state-by-state efforts to
win suffrage. Attempts to reconcile with the CU failed. Despite NAWSA
objections, the CU restructured as a national organization and sent organizers
to all states to plan conventions and establish state branches. In September,
the CU held the first Woman Voters Convention with delegates from states
where women had full voting rights.
In December 1915, the CU held its first
national convention in Washington, D.C. The event coincided with the opening of
the 64th Congress and the arrival of the suffrage envoys carrying
the petition. On December 7, a federal woman suffrage amendment was introduced
in the Senate. On the 16th, CU members testified in favor of the amendment
before the House Judiciary Committee. The next day, a final attempt at
reconciliation with the NAWSA failed.
To keep the cause before the public, 23
CU members left Washington, D.C. in April 1916 on "The Suffrage Special,"
a five-week train tour to garner support for the federal woman suffrage
amendment among women voters in the West. Subsequently, Alice Paul organized
the National Woman’s Party, which was made up of women who already had full
suffrage. They supported the efforts of their disenfranchised sisters, who were
still represented by the CU. The two complementary organizations coexisted
until they merged into the National Woman’s Party (NWP) in 1917.
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| NWP Flag |
The NWP
met in Colorado Springs in 1916 to discuss the upcoming election. They chose not to endorse either candidate during the presidential campaigns.
Instead, they decided to oppose all Democratic congressional candidates
in order to hold the party in power responsible for failure to pass the
suffrage amendment.
On
October 20, a mob attacked NWP members who were demonstrating against Woodrow
Wilson outside a Chicago auditorium. Three days later, Inez Milholland
Boissevain, leader of the 1913 parade in Washington, D.C. and an NWP organizer,
collapsed from exhaustion on the stage while giving speech against President Wilson
and the Democratic Party in Los Angeles.
She died of pernicious anemia on November 25 at the age of 30, becoming
widely regarded as the first martyr of the women’s suffrage movement.
In
the November election, Jeanette Rankin of Montana became the first woman
elected to the House of Representatives. Woodrow Wilson was re-elected President.
NWP members silently demonstrated at
Wilson’s annual address to Congress on December 5. They held a banner that
read: “Mr. President, What Will You Do For Woman Suffrage?” A memorial service for
Boissevain was held on Christmas Day in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
Attendees drafted suffrage resolutions for presentation to the President.
After two weeks of stonewalling, Wilson
finally met with a delegation of 300 women on January 9, 1917. They presented
him with the resolutions drafted during the memorial service and asked him to
use his influence to promote a federal woman suffrage amendment. Wilson angrily
refused and walked out on the women.
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| Silent Sentinels |
In response to Wilson’s rejection
of their request for his support a federal amendment, NWP members began picketing the White House. These “Silent
Sentinels” stood outside the fence day after day, despite rain, snow or
whatever weather they encountered. They held banners with pro-suffrage messages
and other banners of purple, white, and gold, the colors of the NWP.
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| Grand Picket |
On March 4, the eve of Wilson’s second
inauguration, more than 1000 women staged a “Grand Picket.” They marched around
the perimeter of the White House, where all gates to the grounds were locked,
in driving icy rain, waiting to present him with resolutions from their
national convention. After several hours, Wilson and his wife left the White
House, driving past the picket line.
In April, federal women’s suffrage
amendments were introduced in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.
Additionally, the United States entered World War I. Carrie Chapman Catt
promised President Wilson that the NAWSA would cease efforts on behalf of winning
the vote in support of the war effort. Meanwhile, the “Silent Sentinels”
continued their daily pickets.
The
battle had risen to a new level.
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