In 1914, the Congressional Union (Alice Paul's original group) broke off from the National American Woman's Suffrage Association, because NAWSA believed that Paul's methods were too extreme. In 1916, the National Woman's Party was formed by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Earlier in her life, Alice Paul had lived in London, England and helped with their woman's suffrage movement, and Paul decided to adopt their motto of "hold the party in power responsible", which led the NWP to target the White House and Congress, and they promised to continue to withhold their support until women had the right to vote. All though the NWP had a strict no violence policy, that did not mean that those who were against them shared the same value set, causing the women to be faced with violence, arrests, and terrible prison conditions. Because of the predicament these women were being faced with, and the fact that they all persevered through these conditions to go on speaking tours and making national headlines gave the women a massive amount of public support.
The NWP had the opposite relationship with Wilson compared to NAWSA. Alice Paul and four other Congressional Union members first met with WIlson on March 17, 1913 to talk about woman's suffrage, then on November 17, 1913 over 70 women from CU went to "call upon the President". Both of these events happened before Alice Paul and everyone else in CU left NAWSA. After they left, on June 30, 1914, Anna Kelton Wiley and Rheta Childe Dohr led a group of over 500 women to meet with Wilson again, where they were once more met with the same response of how woman suffrage was left up to the states. Then on July 13, 1914, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and Matilda Gardener led a group of over 200 women to to try to get the House Rules Committee to put woman's suffrage to a vote, and on January 12, 1915 it is put to a vote with 204 nays, and 174 yeas. After Wilson was reelected, Florence Hilles Anna Lowenburg, Elizabeth Rogers, Caroline Spencer, and Mabel Vernon, in the front row of the balcony, as Wilson adresses Congress, and unroll a large banner reading "Mr. President, What Will You Do For Women's Suffrage?" When that did not work, starting on January 10, 1917the women started to silently stand outside the White House, holding large banners, with messages for the president, and continued to "picket" the White House no matter what the weather, day, or time was. The first women to be arrested in front of the White House were Lucy Burns and Katherine Morey, and they were never given a trial. The police mad 27 more arrests, on account of "obstructing traffic".
On August 26, 1920 the 19th amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote. But Alice Paul did not stop there, in 1923 she wrote the Equal Rights Amendement, with the current version reading "Equality of rights under law should not be denied or by the United States on account of sex." Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, but the amendment still is missing three more states in order to be passed (the amendment has not been ratified by Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia). For more than 50 years, the Equal Rights Amendment has been introduced in every session of congress.
The NWP had the opposite relationship with Wilson compared to NAWSA. Alice Paul and four other Congressional Union members first met with WIlson on March 17, 1913 to talk about woman's suffrage, then on November 17, 1913 over 70 women from CU went to "call upon the President". Both of these events happened before Alice Paul and everyone else in CU left NAWSA. After they left, on June 30, 1914, Anna Kelton Wiley and Rheta Childe Dohr led a group of over 500 women to meet with Wilson again, where they were once more met with the same response of how woman suffrage was left up to the states. Then on July 13, 1914, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and Matilda Gardener led a group of over 200 women to to try to get the House Rules Committee to put woman's suffrage to a vote, and on January 12, 1915 it is put to a vote with 204 nays, and 174 yeas. After Wilson was reelected, Florence Hilles Anna Lowenburg, Elizabeth Rogers, Caroline Spencer, and Mabel Vernon, in the front row of the balcony, as Wilson adresses Congress, and unroll a large banner reading "Mr. President, What Will You Do For Women's Suffrage?" When that did not work, starting on January 10, 1917the women started to silently stand outside the White House, holding large banners, with messages for the president, and continued to "picket" the White House no matter what the weather, day, or time was. The first women to be arrested in front of the White House were Lucy Burns and Katherine Morey, and they were never given a trial. The police mad 27 more arrests, on account of "obstructing traffic".
On August 26, 1920 the 19th amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote. But Alice Paul did not stop there, in 1923 she wrote the Equal Rights Amendement, with the current version reading "Equality of rights under law should not be denied or by the United States on account of sex." Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, but the amendment still is missing three more states in order to be passed (the amendment has not been ratified by Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia). For more than 50 years, the Equal Rights Amendment has been introduced in every session of congress.