National American Woman Suffrage Association facts for kids
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Gardener, Park and Catt at Suffrage House in Washington, D.C.
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| Abbreviation | NAWSA |
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| Predecessor | Merging of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association |
| Successor | League of Women Voters |
| Formation | 1890 |
| Dissolved | 1920 |
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Key people
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Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, Lucy Stone |
The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was a very important group. It was formed on February 18, 1890. Its main goal was to help women get the right to vote in the United States.
NAWSA was created when two older groups joined together. These were the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). When it started, NAWSA had about 7,000 members. But it grew to include two million people. This made it the biggest volunteer group in the country.
NAWSA played a huge part in getting the Nineteenth Amendment passed. This amendment, passed in 1920, finally gave women the right to vote.
Susan B. Anthony, a famous leader in the voting rights movement, was a key figure in NAWSA. After she retired in 1900, Carrie Chapman Catt became president. Catt helped the group grow by inviting wealthy women from women's clubs. These women brought time, money, and experience. Anna Howard Shaw became president in 1904. During her time, NAWSA's membership and public support grew a lot.
Before NAWSA, the idea of women voting was rejected by the U.S. Senate in 1887. So, many groups focused on getting voting rights state by state. In 1910, Alice Paul joined NAWSA. She helped bring attention back to a national amendment. But she later started her own group, the National Woman's Party, because she disagreed with NAWSA's methods.
When Carrie Chapman Catt became president again in 1915, NAWSA focused on getting a national voting amendment. This was their main goal. Some members from Southern states didn't like this. They worried it would affect states' rights. With its large membership, NAWSA became a strong political group. It also gained support by helping with the war effort during World War I. On February 14, 1920, NAWSA changed its name to the League of Women Voters. This group is still active today.
Contents
- How the Women's Suffrage Movement Began
- Joining Forces: The Merger of Rival Groups
- Forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association
- Leadership of Stanton and Anthony
- Anna Howard Shaw's Presidency
- NAWSA Headquarters in Warren, Ohio
- A Split in the Movement
- Carrie Chapman Catt's Second Presidency (1915-1920)
- State Organizations Working with NAWSA
- See also
How the Women's Suffrage Movement Began
In the early days, not everyone agreed that women should vote. Even some women's rights activists weren't sure. In 1848, at the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights meeting, the idea of women voting was debated a lot. But by the 1850s, women's voting rights became a top goal.
Three important leaders from this time helped create NAWSA years later. They were Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony.
Early Efforts for Equal Rights
After the American Civil War in 1866, the Eleventh National Women's Rights Convention became the American Equal Rights Association (AERA). This group worked for equal rights for both African American men and women, especially the right to vote.
The AERA broke apart in 1869. This was partly due to disagreements over the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment would give African American men the right to vote. Women's rights leaders were upset that it didn't include women. Stanton and Anthony didn't want it passed unless women also got the vote.
Lucy Stone supported the amendment. She believed it would encourage politicians to support voting rights for women later. She said she would be happy if "any body can get out of the terrible pit."
Two Groups Emerge
In May 1869, Anthony, Stanton, and their friends formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). This happened after a big debate at the last AERA meeting. In November 1869, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was formed. It was started by Lucy Stone, her husband Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe. These two groups became rivals for many years.
Even after the Fifteenth Amendment passed in 1870, the groups still had differences. The AWSA focused mostly on women's voting rights. The NWSA worked on many issues, like divorce reform and equal pay. The AWSA included both men and women leaders. The NWSA was led only by women.
The AWSA worked mostly at the state level. The NWSA focused more on national change. The AWSA tried to seem very proper. The NWSA sometimes used more direct actions. For example, Anthony interrupted a national celebration in 1876. She presented the NWSA's Declaration of Rights for Women. Anthony was even arrested in 1872 for voting, which was illegal for women.
Changes Leading to Unity
Progress for women's voting rights was slow after the split. But other changes helped the movement grow. By 1890, many thousands of women were going to college. This was a big change from earlier times.
The idea that a woman's place was only in the home began to fade. Laws that let husbands control their wives' lives also changed. More and more women joined social reform groups. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was the largest women's group. It supported women's voting rights. They believed women needed the vote to protect their families.
Susan B. Anthony started to focus more on voting rights. She wanted to unite women's groups for this one goal. The NWSA also became less confrontational and more respectable. This helped it become more like the AWSA.
The Senate's rejection of a women's voting amendment in 1887 also brought the groups closer. The NWSA had worked hard for this amendment. After it failed, the NWSA started focusing more on state-level campaigns, just like the AWSA.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton still wanted to work on all women's rights issues. She wanted to team up with other reform groups. But Stanton was less involved in the daily work of the movement. She spent a lot of time in England. Still, Stanton and Anthony remained friends and worked together.
Lucy Stone spent most of her time after the split on the Woman's Journal. This weekly newspaper started in 1870. It was the voice of the AWSA. By the 1880s, it was seen as the newspaper for the whole movement.
Younger members of the movement were tired of the division. They saw it as a problem of personalities, not principles. Alice Stone Blackwell, Lucy Stone's daughter, said the older leaders weren't eager for unity. But the younger women on both sides wanted it.
Joining Forces: The Merger of Rival Groups
There had been many tries to bring the two groups together, but they all failed. This changed in 1887. Lucy Stone, who was almost 70 and not well, started looking for ways to unite them. She suggested a main organization with the AWSA and NWSA as smaller parts. But this idea didn't get much support.
In November 1887, the AWSA agreed to let Stone talk with Anthony about a merger. They said the differences between the groups were mostly gone.
Anthony and Rachel Foster Avery, a young NWSA leader, went to Boston in December 1887. They met with Stone and her daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell. Stanton was in England and couldn't attend. They talked about the new group's name and how it would be set up. Stone later had doubts, but the merger process continued slowly.
A sign of better relations came three months later. The NWSA hosted a big meeting called the International Council of Women. AWSA representatives were invited to sit on the stage. This showed a new spirit of cooperation.
The AWSA didn't have much debate about the merger. It was approved easily. But the NWSA had strong opposition from some members like Matilda Joslyn Gage. Anthony's biographer said the NWSA meetings about the merger were "the most stormy." Gage even started a rival group, but it didn't gain many followers.
The AWSA and NWSA committees agreed on merger terms in January 1889. In February, Stone, Stanton, Anthony, and other leaders wrote an "Open Letter to the Women of America." They said they planned to work together.
The AWSA was bigger at first, but it had become weaker. The NWSA was seen as the main group for voting rights. This was partly because Anthony found exciting ways to get attention. Anthony and Stanton also wrote their huge History of Woman Suffrage. This book put them at the center of the movement's story.
Anthony was becoming a very important political figure. In 1890, many important people attended her 70th birthday party in Washington. This happened just before the groups united. At this event, Anthony and Stanton showed their strong friendship. This disappointed those who hoped to keep them apart.
Forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association
The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was officially created on February 18, 1890. This happened at a convention in Washington where the NWSA and AWSA merged. The delegates at the convention would choose the new leader. Lucy Stone was too sick to attend. Anthony and Stanton both had supporters.
Before the convention, the AWSA and NWSA leaders met separately. At the AWSA meeting, Henry Browne Blackwell, Lucy Stone's husband, said the NWSA agreed to focus only on voting rights. This was the AWSA's approach. The AWSA leaders suggested their delegates vote for Anthony. At the NWSA meeting, Anthony urged members to vote for Stanton. She said if Stanton lost, it would be seen as rejecting her role.
The elections were held at the start of the convention. Stanton received 131 votes for president. Anthony got 90 votes. Anthony was elected vice president. Stone was chosen as chair of the executive committee.
As president, Stanton gave the opening speech. She wanted the new group to work on many reforms. She said they should show how every issue was connected to women not having the right to vote. She suggested controversial ideas, like women being leaders in religious groups. She also talked about easier divorce laws. But her speech didn't have much impact. Most younger members didn't agree with her broad approach.
Leadership of Stanton and Anthony
Stanton's role as president was mostly symbolic. She soon left for a long trip to England, leaving Anthony in charge. Stanton retired in 1892. Anthony was then elected president, a role she had already been doing. Lucy Stone died in 1893 and didn't play a big part in NAWSA.
The movement slowed down right after the merger. The new group was small, with only about 7,000 members in 1893. It also had some problems with organization. For example, they didn't know how many local groups existed.
In 1893, NAWSA members May Wright Sewall and Rachel Foster Avery helped organize the World's Congress of Representative Women. This was part of the Chicago World's Fair. Sewall led the organizing committee, and Avery was the secretary.
In 1893, NAWSA voted to hold its yearly meetings in different cities, not just Washington. Anthony didn't like this. Her old NWSA group always met in Washington to focus on a national amendment. Anthony worried, correctly, that NAWSA would focus too much on state work. NAWSA often didn't give any money for work with Congress.
The Woman's Bible Controversy
Stanton's radical ideas didn't fit well with the new organization. In 1895, she published The Woman's Bible. This book was a best-seller but also very controversial. It criticized how the Bible was used to make women seem less important. Many in NAWSA reacted strongly. They felt the book would hurt their fight for voting rights.
Rachel Foster Avery, a NAWSA secretary, spoke out against Stanton's book. In 1896, NAWSA voted to say they had no connection to the book. Anthony disagreed, saying it was unnecessary and hurtful.
The negative reaction to the book made Stanton less influential in the movement. She felt more distant from it. But she still sent letters to each NAWSA convention. Anthony insisted they be read, even if they were controversial. Stanton passed away in 1902.
Strategy in the Southern States
The South had not shown much interest in women's voting rights. When the proposed amendment was rejected in 1887, no Southern senators voted for it. This was a problem, as an amendment needed support from many states, including some in the South.
In 1867, Henry Blackwell suggested a plan. He thought Southern leaders might agree to let educated women vote. He believed these women would mostly be white. Blackwell presented his idea to politicians in Mississippi. This plan interested many suffragists. Blackwell's friend, Laura Clay, convinced NAWSA to try this strategy in the South. Clay and other Southern NAWSA members opposed a national amendment. They felt it would interfere with states' rights.
Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt traveled through the South. Anthony asked her friend Frederick Douglass, a former slave, not to attend the 1895 NAWSA convention in Atlanta. This was the first convention in a Southern city. Black NAWSA members were excluded from the 1903 convention in New Orleans. The NAWSA board said that each state group could manage its own affairs. This meant they could follow local customs, including segregation. As NAWSA focused on a national amendment, many Southern suffragists still opposed it. They worried it would give Black women the right to vote. In 1914, Kate M. Gordon started a group that opposed the 19th Amendment.
Carrie Chapman Catt's First Presidency
Carrie Chapman Catt joined the voting rights movement in Iowa in the 1880s. She quickly became a leader in the state group. Her wealthy husband supported her work. This allowed her to spend a lot of time on the movement. She led some smaller NAWSA committees. In 1895, she was put in charge of NAWSA's Organization Committee. She raised money to hire 14 organizers. By 1899, there were voting rights groups in every state. When Anthony retired in 1900, she chose Catt to take her place. Anthony remained important until she died in 1906.
One of Catt's first actions was the "society plan." This plan aimed to get wealthy women from women's clubs to join. These women could bring time, money, and experience. These clubs were mostly for middle-class women. They often worked on community projects. They usually avoided controversial topics. But women's voting rights became more accepted among them. In 1914, the General Federation of Women's Clubs supported women's voting rights.
To make the movement more appealing, NAWSA changed how it told its history. It played down earlier connections to controversial issues. These included racial equality, divorce reform, and workers' rights. Stanton's role was less emphasized. The roles of Black women and working women were also overlooked. Anthony, who was once seen as radical, was now shown as a kind "suffrage saint."
The Progressive Era helped the voting rights movement. This movement started around 1900. Its goals included fighting government corruption and protecting workers. Many people in this movement saw women's voting rights as another progressive goal. They believed women voters would help achieve other reforms.
Catt resigned after four years. This was partly because her husband was sick. She also wanted to help organize the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. This group was created in Berlin in 1904. Catt became its president.
Anna Howard Shaw's Presidency
In 1904, Anna Howard Shaw was elected president of NAWSA. She served longer than anyone else. Shaw was a hard worker and a great speaker. She wasn't as good at managing or working with people as Catt. But the organization grew a lot under her leadership.
In 1906, Southern NAWSA members formed the Southern Woman Suffrage Conference. This group had openly racist views. They asked for NAWSA's support. Shaw refused. She said NAWSA would not support policies that excluded any race or class from voting.
In 1907, Harriet Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's daughter, started a rival group. It was called the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women. This was partly a reaction to NAWSA's "society plan." Blatch's group focused on working women. Blatch had lived in England. There, she saw suffrage groups use more direct tactics. Her group gained followers by doing things NAWSA members thought were too bold. These included suffrage parades and outdoor rallies.
In 1908, the National College Equal Suffrage League became part of NAWSA. It started in Boston in 1900. It was created by Maud Wood Park. She later helped start similar groups in 30 states. Park became an important NAWSA leader.
By 1908, Catt was very active again. She and her team planned to unite suffrage groups in New York City. In 1909, they founded the Woman Suffrage Party (WSP). By 1910, the WSP had 20,000 members. Shaw wasn't fully comfortable with the WSP's independent actions. But Catt and other WSP leaders remained loyal to NAWSA.
In 1909, Frances Squires Potter suggested "political settlements." These were like social settlement houses. Their goal was to teach people about voting rights. They also taught about how politics worked locally. The WSP's political settlements had suffrage schools. These schools trained organizers in public speaking.
Public opinion about the movement improved greatly. Working for voting rights became a respected activity for middle-class women. By 1910, NAWSA had 117,000 members. That year, NAWSA opened its first permanent office in New York City. Before, it had operated from leaders' homes.
The change in public opinion helped win voting rights at the state level. In 1896, only four Western states allowed women to vote. From 1896 to 1910, six state campaigns failed. But in 1910, Washington state won voting rights. California followed in 1911. Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona won in 1912.
In 1912, W. E. B. Du Bois, head of the NAACP, challenged NAWSA. He questioned their hesitation to accept Black women. NAWSA responded politely. They invited him to speak at their next meeting and published his speech. However, NAWSA continued to downplay the role of Black suffragists. They accepted some Black women as members. But they often politely turned away requests from Black groups. This was partly because racist attitudes were common then. Also, NAWSA believed it needed Southern support for a national amendment. Southern states practiced racial segregation.
NAWSA's plan was to win voting rights state by state. They hoped to get enough voters to pass a national amendment. In 1913, the Southern States Woman Suffrage Committee formed. It tried to stop the national amendment. It was led by Kate Gordon, a former NAWSA secretary. Gordon supported women's voting rights but opposed a federal amendment. She said it would violate states' rights. She worried it could lead to federal enforcement of voting rights for African Americans in the South. Her committee was small. But her strong opposition and racist views caused problems within NAWSA.
Despite NAWSA's growth, some members were unhappy with Shaw. She often overreacted to disagreements. This caused problems within the organization. Several members left the board in 1910. The board changed a lot each year until 1915.
In 1914, Senator John Shafroth proposed a federal amendment. It would require states to vote on women's suffrage if enough people signed a petition. NAWSA supported this. But the CU accused NAWSA of giving up on a national amendment. Members were confused. At the 1914 meeting, they showed their unhappiness with Shaw. Shaw had thought about not running again in 1914 but did. In 1915, she announced she would not seek re-election.
NAWSA Headquarters in Warren, Ohio
For several years, Harriet Taylor Upton led the women's voting rights movement in Trumbull County, Ohio. In 1880, Upton's father became a member of Congress. This helped Upton meet Susan B. Anthony, who brought her into the movement.
In 1894, Upton was elected NAWSA's treasurer. She also led the Ohio state association from 1899-1908 and 1911–1920. Upton helped move NAWSA's national headquarters to her home in Warren, Ohio, in 1903. It was meant to be a temporary move but lasted six years. Susan B. Anthony visited Warren many times, including for a national meeting in 1904.
During this time, Warren was a focus for women's rights. The NAWSA offices were in the Trumbull Court House. The headquarters left Upton House around 1910. But Warren stayed active in the movement. People in Warren participated in national programs for years. This continued until the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. In 1993, the Upton House became a historic landmark.
A Split in the Movement
A major challenge to NAWSA's leadership began in 1910. A young activist named Alice Paul returned from England. She had been part of a more militant suffrage movement there. She had been jailed and force-fed during hunger strikes.
Paul joined NAWSA. She became key to bringing attention back to a national amendment. For years, state campaigns had been the main focus. Shaw felt it was time to push for a national amendment again. Gordon and Clay, who opposed a federal amendment, no longer held national positions.
In 1912, Alice Paul was put in charge of NAWSA's Congressional Committee. Her job was to restart the push for a women's voting rights amendment. In 1913, she and Lucy Burns organized the Woman Suffrage Procession. This was a parade in Washington the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. People who opposed the march caused a near riot. The army had to step in to restore order. Public anger over this incident brought a lot of attention to the movement.
Paul upset NAWSA leaders. She argued that Democrats should be defeated if they didn't support women's voting rights. This was because Democrats controlled the presidency and Congress. NAWSA's policy was to support any candidate who backed suffrage, no matter their party.
In 1913, Paul and Burns formed the Congressional Union (CU). This group focused only on a national amendment. They sent organizers to states that already had NAWSA groups. The relationship between the CU and NAWSA became difficult.
At the 1913 NAWSA convention, Paul and her allies demanded a focus on a federal amendment. But the convention allowed the board to limit the CU's actions. After talks failed, NAWSA removed Paul from her committee head role. By February 1914, NAWSA and the CU had become two separate groups.
Harriet Stanton Blatch merged her Women's Political Union into the CU. This group later became the National Woman's Party (NWP), which Paul formed in 1916. So, there were two national women's voting rights groups again. But this time, they had different roles. NAWSA focused on being respectable and organized lobbying. The smaller NWP also lobbied. But it became known for more dramatic and confrontational actions, especially in Washington.
Carrie Chapman Catt's Second Presidency (1915-1920)
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Carrie Chapman Catt, NAWSA's former president, was the clear choice to replace Anna Howard Shaw. But Catt was leading a key voting rights campaign in New York State. Many in NAWSA believed success in a large Eastern state would boost the national campaign. New York was the biggest state, and victory there seemed possible. Catt agreed to let others handle the New York work. She accepted the NAWSA presidency in December 1915. Her condition was that she could choose her own executive board. She appointed women who had their own money and could work full-time.
With more commitment and unity, Catt sent officers to check on the organization. She began to make it more centralized and efficient. Catt said NAWSA was like a "camel with a hundred humps." She gave new direction with many messages to state and local groups. These messages included policy rules and detailed work plans.
NAWSA had spent a lot of effort teaching the public about voting rights. This had a big impact. Women's voting rights became a major national issue. NAWSA was becoming the nation's largest volunteer group, with two million members. Catt used this foundation to turn NAWSA into a political pressure group.
1916: The Winning Plan
At a meeting in March 1916, Catt described NAWSA's challenge. She said the Congressional Union was drawing away members who only wanted a federal amendment. Also, some Southern workers were upset because NAWSA still worked for a federal amendment. Catt believed NAWSA's state-by-state approach was reaching its limits. Some states seemed unlikely to ever approve women's voting rights. This was due to difficult laws or strong opposition, especially in the Deep South.
Catt refocused the group on a national amendment. But she still continued state campaigns where success was likely.
When the Democratic and Republican parties met in June 1916, suffragists put pressure on both. Catt spoke at the Republican convention in Chicago. An anti-suffragist spoke after Catt. As she said women didn't want to vote, suffragists burst into the hall. They had marched in heavy rain. When the anti-suffragist finished, the suffragists cheered. At the Democratic convention a week later, suffragists filled the galleries. They made their views known during the debate.
Both parties supported women's voting rights, but only at the state level. This meant different states might have different rules, or no rules at all. Catt had hoped for more. She called an Emergency Convention in September 1916. This was to push for the federal amendment.
The convention adopted Catt's "Winning Plan." This plan made the national amendment the top priority. It created a professional lobbying team in Washington. It allowed the board to make plans for each state. If a state group didn't follow, the national group could take over. It only funded state campaigns that had a good chance of succeeding. Catt's plan aimed to get a women's voting rights amendment by 1922. Kate Gordon, whose states' rights idea was defeated, said, "A well-oiled steam roller has ironed this convention flat!"
President Wilson's view on women's voting rights was changing. He spoke at the 1916 NAWSA convention. He had opposed suffrage as governor of New Jersey. But in 1915, he voted for it in New Jersey's state vote. He spoke favorably at the NAWSA convention. But he didn't fully support the amendment yet. Charles Evans Hughes, his opponent, didn't speak at the convention. But he went further than Wilson by supporting the amendment.
NAWSA's Congressional Committee had been disorganized since Alice Paul left in 1913. Catt reorganized it. She appointed Maud Wood Park as its head in December 1916. Park and Helen Hamilton Gardener created the "Front Door Lobby." A journalist called it this because it worked openly. It avoided secret lobbying methods. A headquarters was set up in a building called Suffrage House. NAWSA lobbyists stayed there. They planned their activities with daily meetings.
In 1916, NAWSA bought the Woman's Journal from Alice Stone Blackwell. This newspaper was started in 1870 by Lucy Stone. It had been the main voice of the movement. But it was a small operation. Blackwell did most of the work. Its news focused on the East, but a national newspaper was needed. After the transfer, it was renamed Woman Citizen. It merged with other journals. It became NAWSA's official newspaper.
1917: War and Progress
In 1917, Catt received $900,000 from Mrs. Frank (Miriam) Leslie. This money was for the women's voting rights movement. Catt gave most of it to NAWSA. $400,000 went to improve the Woman Citizen.
In January 1917, Alice Paul's NWP started protesting the White House. They held banners demanding women's voting rights. Police arrested over 200 of these "Silent Sentinels." Many went on hunger strike in prison. Prison authorities force-fed them. This caused a public outcry and fueled debate on women's voting rights.
When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, NAWSA helped with the war effort. Shaw was appointed head of the Women's Committee for the Council of National Defense. This group coordinated war resources and boosted public morale. Catt and two other NAWSA members joined its executive committee. The NWP, however, did not help with the war. They said NAWSA was ignoring voting rights work.
In April 1917, Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman in Congress. She had been a lobbyist for NAWSA. Rankin voted against declaring war.
In November 1917, the movement won a big victory. A vote to give women voting rights passed in New York. This was the most populated state. The powerful Tammany Hall political group had opposed suffrage. But they stayed neutral on this vote. This was partly because the wives of some Tammany Hall leaders were active in the suffrage campaign.
1918–1919: The Final Push
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The House of Representatives passed the suffrage amendment for the first time in January 1918. But the Senate waited until September to debate it. President Wilson took the unusual step of speaking to the Senate. He asked them to pass the amendment as a war measure. However, the Senate defeated it by two votes.
NAWSA started a campaign to remove four senators who voted against the amendment. They formed a group with labor unions and prohibitionists. Two of those four senators lost in the November elections.
NAWSA held its Golden Jubilee Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in March 1919. President Catt gave the opening speech. She urged delegates to create a league of women voters. A resolution passed to form this league. It would be a separate part of NAWSA. Its members would come from states where women could vote. The league would work for full voting rights and laws affecting women. On the last day of the convention, the Missouri senate passed a law giving women the right to vote in presidential elections. It also voted to propose a constitutional amendment for full suffrage. In June of that year, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed.
The Nineteenth Amendment Passes
After the elections, President Wilson called a special session of Congress. The suffrage amendment passed on June 4, 1919. The next step was for state legislatures to ratify it. Three-fourths of the states needed to approve it for it to become law.
Catt and the NAWSA board had been planning for ratification since April 1918. This was over a year before Congress passed the amendment. Ratification committees were already set up in state capitals. Each had its own budget and plan. After Congress passed the amendment, the lobbying efforts in Washington stopped. Resources were moved to the ratification drive. Catt felt a sense of urgency. She expected reform efforts to slow down after the war. Many local suffrage groups had closed in states where women could already vote. This made quick ratification harder.
By the end of 1919, women could effectively vote for president in states with a majority of electoral votes. Political leaders knew women's voting rights were coming. They started pressuring lawmakers to support it. They wanted their party to get credit for it. Both the Democratic and Republican parties supported the amendment in June 1920.
Former NAWSA members Kate Gordon and Laura Clay organized opposition in the South. They had left NAWSA in 1918 because they publicly opposed a federal amendment. Only three Southern or border states ratified the 19th Amendment: Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee. Tennessee was the crucial 36th state to ratify it.
The Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, became law on August 26, 1920. This happened when the United States Secretary of State officially certified it.
Becoming the League of Women Voters
Six months before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, NAWSA held its last convention. This convention created the League of Women Voters on February 14, 1920. It was NAWSA's successor. Maud Wood Park, former head of NAWSA's Congressional Committee, became its president. The League of Women Voters was formed to help women get more involved in public affairs. It was meant to help women use their new right to vote. Before 1973, only women could join the league.
State Organizations Working with NAWSA
- Alabama - Alabama Equal Suffrage Association.
- Arizona - Arizona Equal Suffrage Campaign Committee.
- Arkansas - Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association; and, Political Equality League.
- Delaware - Delaware Equal Suffrage Association.
- Hawaii - National Women's Equal Suffrage Association of Hawai'i.
- Indiana - Women's Franchise League of Indiana.
- Kentucky - Kentucky Equal Rights Association.
- Maine - Maine Women's Suffrage Association.
- Nevada - Nevada Equal Franchise Society.
- New Mexico - Santa Fe chapter of NAWSA.
- North Dakota - North Dakota Votes for Women League.
- Texas - Texas Equal Suffrage Association.
- Virginia - Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.
- West Virginia - West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association.
See also
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- List of women's rights activists
- Timeline of women's suffrage
- Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States
- Women's suffrage organizations
