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We all live in a wonderful world where you can 

go where you want to go, do what you want to 

do, and become who you want to be no matter 

what color your skin is or if you are a girl or a 

boy.   We can all do what we enjoy and live a 

wonderful life full of happiness and joy, but 

what if I told you that a long time ago women 

were not allowed to vote just because they 

were women. They were expected to stay 

home all day and take care of kids. Women 

were very unhappy about not being as free as 

the men so they decided to do something 

about it. And this is the story of what they did!

A long time ago women lived to serve their 

husbands and take care of their homes. They were 

only allowed to do anything fun like play games  

except at women’s clubs but even then they were 

not allowed to play competitive sports. They were 

very unhappy and decided to do something about 

it. To improve their situation women were going to 

try and gain the right to vote. The first thing 

women did was tell their friends to meet them at a 

meeting they were having in Seneca Falls. It was 

the first time women gathered together to discuss 

the brand new thought of being able to vote.   They 

write something called the declaration of rights and 

sentiments which contains their battle plan to gain 

the right to vote.

The new idea of women voting was inspiring but just like every 

good idea everyone had their own idea on how to gain this 

right. Some thought that it was more important for the 

recently free black men to gain the right to vote through the 

14th and 15th amendments.   These people formed a group led 

by Lucy Stone called the AWSA and they believed that women 

would gain their right to vote when the time came but the 

right for black men was more important at the moment. The 

other half of the believers in the right for women to vote 

thought that if blacks were getting the right to vote women 

deserve it at the same time as well. This group called 

themselves the NWSA and was led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton 

and Susan B Anthony.   They wanted the 19th amendment and 

they wanted not to wait to get it. Both these groups wanted 

the right to vote.

    One day the NWSA had an idea. They were going 

to vote in the presidential election even though 

they all knew it was against the law. They called it 

the great vote-in and they were very brave when 

they did it because they did what they believed in 

even though they were arrested by the police for it. 

Even Susan B Anthony took part in the activity and 

was arrested and brought to court. The women 

knew that their vote wouldn't count, but that’s not 

why they decided to do it. They just wanted to 

shout out to the world that women wanted to vote 

and they wanted it now.

The AWSA and the NWSA both fought hard to get 

women the right to vote, but eventually these groups 

were replaced with more modern forms that got their 

ideas from the older groups. The AWSA was replaced by 

the NAWSA which stands for the National American 

Women’s Suffrage Association, as well as the NWSA 

being replaced by the congressional union. These groups 

were here because women didn’t want to give up. Both 

groups still wanted the right to vote but yet again each 

group had a different way of dealing with issues, and 

like we all know we are supposed to get along with 

people who are different than us, but as we will learn 

later these groups weren’t able to solve their different 

ways of bringing about change in our great nation.

The NAWSA was the main origination for women’s 

suffrage at the time and the ladies of the 

congressional union was a smaller division inside  

NAWSA. NAWSA was focused on going state by 

state to gain the right to vote and believed that it 

was the right way to go about getting the issue 

passed, but to cover all their bases they created 

the congressional union to work towards a national 

amendment. The congressional union was led by 

Alice Paul and didn’t have nearly as many 

members as the main group but still was 

supported.

The congressional union might have been tiny but they didn't 

lack spirit. They kept talking about their cause and gaining 

support and followers. One day the Alice and her partner 

Lucretia Mott had an idea. To gain support to their cause they 

should hold a parade! Before they could do this they needed to 

ask permission to do it from the NAWSA so Alice traveled far 

away to go see them. Alice described all for the floats, bands, 

and people that could be in the parade as well as the many 

people that would be there to watch and learn about their 

cause. The NAWSA was not happy about the parade because 

they thought that it was too extreme for what they wanted to 

do but they agreed to let it happen. The congressional union 

now began to plan the parade that would change the opinion 

of America in favor of women voters.

It was now the day of the parade. Everyone was 

ready, and the crowd was building. Finally it was 

time to start. The crowd cheered as the women 

walked by proclaiming their message to everyone 

that was watching. The feeling that everyone felt 

was hope. Hope that women might gain the right 

to vote, but soon a change occurred. Some of the 

men in the crowd started to yell mean things at the 

women that hurt their feelings and changed the 

opinion of the crowd. The crowd then joined the 

men in yelling and began throwing objects at the 

women. The crowd now showed that they didn’t 

want women to vote. The women left and returned 

home for now.

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