The Suffrage Movement and the Fight for Women's Right to Vote
For a very long period, American women were denied their civil right to vote in national elections. They eventually gained control, though, and started a movement that would grant them the right to exercise their democratic right to vote. Women who founded the Suffrage movement and pushed for the right to vote in 1848, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Susan B. Anthony, saw this action through to completion.
The Different Approaches of Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul
The progressive women's movement initially made slow progress toward securing women's freedom. The separation of the women into two different groups demanding the same rights, however, showed a different reflection of the two women; Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul. Susan is painted as a patient and soft leader who works under the law and respects the government but still believes that the government would hear their woes and give them their rights to vote. Alice Paul, on the other hand, believes in action, and she is not patient enough to negotiate their rights with the government that lands her in prison.
Alice Paul's Impact and the Success of the Women's Suffrage Movement
The fact that Alice Paul’s pressure on the government eventually bore fruit does not make her anymore right than Susan B. Anthony since what they were fighting for was the same. She may have, however, been good about the pace of change. Had they moved at the pace of Susan B. Anthony, the women could probably have not been allowed to vote by 1920. The hunger strike that Alice Paul and her colleagues staged in prison saw President Wilson change his position to support the constitutional right of women to vote, a move that saw the movement end in success.
The Importance of Women's Right to Vote
The right for women to elect their political leaders is important to them as well as a country as a whole to ensure a fruitful and democratic election. Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul started the move that saw the women of America exercise their democratic right to vote and won.
Bibliography
"Openstax CNX". Cnx.Org. Last modified 2017. Accessed June 30, 2017. https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:jWahuKx2@3/New-Voices-for-Women-and-Afric.
