National Woman Suffrage Association

National Woman Suffrage Association
Name	National Woman Suffrage Association
Formation	May 15, 1869
Founders	Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Dissolution	February 1890
Merger	American Woman Suffrage Association
Merged into	National American Woman Suffrage Association
Focus	Women's suffrage in the United States
Headquarters	New York City

National Woman Suffrage Association. The National Woman Suffrage Association was a pivotal organization in the fight for women's rights in the United States, founded in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Established by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1869, it championed a federal strategy to secure a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage. The NWSA was known for its broad reform agenda and its often radical stance, positioning itself in contrast to more conservative suffrage groups of the era.

Formation and early history

The NWSA was formed in May 1869 in New York City, directly from a schism within the American Equal Rights Association. The rupture centered on support for the proposed Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which granted citizenship and voting rights to African-American men but excluded women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony opposed these amendments without including women, leading them to create a new organization dedicated to securing suffrage for women through a federal constitutional amendment. This stance put them at odds with former allies like Lucy Stone and Frederick Douglass, who prioritized securing rights for freedmen. The early years of the NWSA were marked by its publication, The Revolution, which advocated for a wide range of social reforms beyond suffrage, including changes to marriage law and divorce law.

Leadership and key figures

The NWSA was dominated by the formidable partnership of its principal founders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Stanton served as the primary philosopher and writer, crafting many of the organization's speeches and resolutions, while Anthony was the chief organizer and strategist. Other prominent leaders included Matilda Joslyn Gage, a prolific writer and historian of the movement, and Paulina Wright Davis. The organization also attracted notable figures from other reform movements, such as labor activist Victoria Woodhull, who briefly aligned with the NWSA, and pioneer physician Clemence Sophia Lozier. The leadership was primarily based in the Northeastern United States and was largely independent of the influence of the Republican Party and religious organizations.

Strategies and activism

The NWSA's primary strategy was to pursue a federal amendment to the United States Constitution, known as the "Sixteenth Amendment" campaign. They employed confrontational tactics, including civil disobedience, test-case lawsuits, and lobbying the United States Congress. Members like Susan B. Anthony famously voted illegally in the 1872 presidential election in Rochester, New York, leading to her arrest and the landmark case United States v. Susan B. Anthony. The NWSA also sent women to attempt to vote in other states and territories, such as Washington, D.C., and filed lawsuits arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment already granted women the right to vote. Their activism extended beyond the ballot, advocating for broader gender equality in the workplace, family, and under the law.

Relationship with other suffrage organizations

The NWSA's main rival was the more conservative American Woman Suffrage Association, founded later in 1869 by Lucy Stone, Henry Browne Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe. The AWSA focused on achieving suffrage through state-by-state campaigns and maintained closer ties with the Republican Party and the abolitionist movement. Relations between the two groups were strained for two decades, marked by competition and ideological disagreement. However, by the late 1880s, a new generation of leaders, along with the retirement of some founding figures, paved the way for reconciliation. This culminated in a merger in 1890, forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Major campaigns and achievements

A central campaign was the push for a federal suffrage amendment, which NWSA members lobbied for annually before the Congress. In 1878, Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California, a friend of Susan B. Anthony, introduced the amendment that would later become known as the Nineteenth Amendment. The NWSA also organized major national conventions, such as the 1876 protest at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where they presented a "Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States" at Independence Hall. Furthermore, the organization compiled the first three volumes of the seminal History of Woman Suffrage, preserving the movement's early records. While the federal amendment remained elusive during its existence, the NWSA successfully kept the issue in the national political conversation.

Dissolution and legacy

The NWSA dissolved in February 1890 when it merged with the American Woman Suffrage Association to form the unified National American Woman Suffrage Association. The merger was engineered by younger leaders like Alice Stone Blackwell and ratified at a convention in Washington, D.C.. The legacy of the NWSA is profound; it established the federal constitutional amendment as the ultimate goal of the suffrage movement, a strategy finally realized in 1920. Its radical, multi-issue approach to women's rights also presaged the broader feminist movement of the twentieth century. The writings and activism of its leaders, particularly Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, became foundational texts and inspirational models for subsequent generations of activists.

Category:Women's suffrage in the United States Category:Organizations established in 1869 Category:Organizations disestablished in 1890