Blog Post 5

      In 1869, Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, both well-known feminists, formed the organization, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which sold the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments as injustices to women.The women’s suffrage movement’s main goal was to finally give women the right to vote. While this was on the NWSA’s agenda, the organization also fought to end discrimination in the workforce. Others did not believe in the doings of this organization, so suffragists such as Lucy Stone, Josephine Ruffin, and Julia Ward Howe organized the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The AWSA was only concerned with earning women the right to vote and did not grapple in other causes. The founders supported the Fifteenth Amendment and also supported black suffrage. AWSA believed they would be more successful by campaigning state-by-state. On the other hand, the NWSA desired the federal constitution be amended allowing women to vote. Finally, after realizing it was not good to have two different groups competing for various aspects of women’s rights, the two organizations joined together to create the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in May of 1890.

Being the largest women’s suffrage organization, many smaller organizations reared from the NAWSA. The NAWSA did a lot to campaign for women’s rights. Women leaders spoke at the World’s Congress of Representative Women and the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913. For these events, the NAWSA received the attention of celebrities and raised money to be able to send more volunteers to gain a larger follower base. The leaders of this organization were rhetorical geniuses in that they rallied and paraded with white banners and uniforms to attract the attention of onlookers. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of NAWSA, devised “The Winning Plan” to secure the women’s rights to vote. This plan consisted of winning suffrage at both the federal and state levels. Because of Catt’s organization and perfect tactics, Woodrow Wilson supported the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. 

        This analysis will focus on the National American Woman Suffrage Association and what this organization did for gender equality. Many followers of their protests wore sashes that had their most popular slogan “Votes for Women” written on it. Buttons were also made that had the word “Why” simply stated on them. Although it is one word, rhetorically, “why” is extremely influential. The “why” structure was written on many newspapers and pamphlets. I want to research what events and strategies this organization had and how rhetorically successful they were.