National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)
The National Woman Suffrage Association was formed on May 15, 1869 in New York City. It was created in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over whether the woman's movement should support the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Its founders, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, opposed the Fifteenth Amendment unless it included the vote for women. Men were able to join the organization as members. However, women mainly controlled the leadership of the group. The NWSA worked to secure women's rights through a federal amendment. In 1890 the NWSA and the AWSA combined to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)
The American Woman Suffrage Association was formed in November 1869. Its founders included Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell. The AWSA founders were abolitionists, and strongly supported securing the right to vote for the Negro. They believed that the Fifteenth Amendment would be in danger of failing to pass in Congress if it included the vote for women. On the other side of the split in the American Equal Rights Association, opposing the Fifteenth Amendment, were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who formed the National Woman Suffrage Association to secure women's enfranchisement through a federal constitutional amendment. AWSA believed success could be more easily achieved through state-by-state campaigns.
National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
The National American Woman Suffrage Association was an American women's rights organization formed in May 1890 as a combination of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. The NAWSA continued the work of both associations by becoming the parent organization of hundreds of smaller local and state groups, and by helping to pass woman suffrage legislation at the state and local level. The NAWSA was the largest and most important suffrage organization in the United States, and was the primary promoter of women's right to vote. The NAWSA pushed for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's voting rights.
National Women's Party
The National Woman's Party was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1913 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men. In contrast to other organizations, which focused on lobbying individual states, the NWP put its priority on the passage of a constitutional amendment ensuring women's suffrage. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns founded the organization originally under the name the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in 1913. By 1917, the name had been changed to the National Women's Party. After the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the vote in 1920, the NWP turned its attention to passage of an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Congress passed such an Amendment and most states ratified it, but at the last minute in 1982 it was stopped by a coalition of conservatives led by Phyllis Schlafly and ERA never passed. However the NWP in 1964 did succeed, with the support of conservatives and over the opposition of liberals, blacks and labor unions.
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded on February 14, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. It began as a mighty political experiment aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters. Originally, only women could join the league; but in 1973 the charter was modified to include men. The League of Women Voters has as its official position that it is strictly nonpartisan.It neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government. The league takes a stand on many political issues after studying them and coming to a consensus on a position. The league works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and to influence public policy through education and advocacy, as well as through political lobbying of Congress. The league is organized into two complementary halves: Voter service and citizen education.