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Paper Topic:

Womans History Project: How Did Suffragists Lobby to Obtain Congressional Approval of a Women Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 1917-1920?


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How Did Suffragists Lobby to Obtain Congressional Approval of a Women Suffrage Amendment to the U .S . Constitution , 1917-1920

The Women 's Suffrage Association was formed through the efforts of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848 . Women 's suffrage was the movement to give women the right to vote . These two women met when they were both locked out of an anti-slavery convention in London because of the old prejudice that women belong at home ' From their indignation to such prejudice

, the first women 's convention was soon organized and held in Seneca Falls , New York . Susan B . Anthony took over the leadership later on and worked relentlessly to allow women to vote She tried to fight it head-on and tried to cast her vote in defiance of the existing laws . She then turned to legal means and drafted an amendment to the Constitution . After being voted on three times in the House and five times in the Senate , the proposal finally went through in June 4 , 1919 . It took 44 years from that first draft

Two years before , in 1917 , the proposal still had not made it through the House . By that time , however , the National Women 's Suffrage Association (NAWSA ) already had two million members all working together in a well-oiled and efficient machinery with through organizations established in all pertinent political areas in the city , state congressional , assembly and election district organizations . The two million women were all working together towards a single common purpose and that is to give women the right to vote

It was an amazing feat of organization . All possible means were undertaken , all areas covered , all modes of communication utilized . The April 1917 article in the New York Times entitled Suffragist 's Machine Perfected in All States under Mrs . Catt 's Rule ' detailed all the efforts and measures exerted to get NAWSA 's message across and to convince and persuade the representatives on the state and national level to pass the Suffrage Amendment . It began in 1909 as an idea of Mrs . Carrie Chapman Catt , President of the National Suffrage Association and mirrored locally in New York City by Ms . Mary Garret Hay , the Suffrage Big Boss . In those days , the social classes were distinctly marked and were not normally crossed . Yet , women from society circles down to the usually indifferent working class united with the middle class to advance the movement . According to the article 's author , this success can most likely be attributed to the fact that the organization was composed mostly of volunteers who are themselves staunch supporters and contributors to the movement . They work in harmony because it is neither power nor position that they were after . They were after the passage of women 's rights

The movement had embarked on various activities for the achievement of their goal . In New York , the 500 ,000 members were organized under 20 city officers , 50 borough officers , 63 leaders of assembly districts...
