Radical Suffragists Vs Traditionalists

It all began in 1920 on election day, millions of women would campaign for the right to vote. “In the adjustment of the new order of things, we women demand an equal voice; we shall accept nothing less.”-Carrie Chapman Catt. It took over one hundred years for the women of America to achieve that goal. Many approaches lead to the equality of women, but the two most efficient were the radical and the traditional approaches. However, the question is what approach was the most effective. The traditional approach was lead by a woman named Carrie Chapman Catt. Carrie was the leader of the NAWSA or the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She Organized campaignes and made stronge speeches for the association. The radical suffragist was lead

The traditional suffragists were not as agressive as the radicals becuase they were passive agressive. The Traditionalist chose to be obediant to the law while prostetsing for women’s rights, for exapmle in the textbook it says, “At the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton convinced the delegates that winning suffrage the right to vote should be a priority. Decades later, this right still had not been gained.”(McGraw Hill Education United States History and Geography, 413). These passive agressive acts lead to them not being able to get their point across to many people, and they were not able to draw as much attetntion to their campaign, as the radicals could. Another reason the traditional approach was not as effciant is because they were not as determined as the radicals. The radicals were willing to risk their lives for what they believed in, while the traditionalists chose to stay out of the way of the law, instead they had peacful protests becuase they were not willing to risk their lives or get in trouble. The final reason the traditional approach was not as efficiant was because, Carrie Chapman Catt was not as strong of a leader as Alice Paul was. The only way Carrie promoted women’s rights was by using civil

The radicals were very determined to gain equality for women. Some ways they showed their determination was by being agressive. The radical suffragists did not take no for an answer, they worked endlessley protseting and picketing. Even though they knew they could be put in jail for picketing at the white house, they did it anyway, showing they were willing to go to jail for what they believed in, because they were determined to gain equality. Another reason the radicals had a more efficiant approach is because they had a strong leader. Alice Paul lead the radical movement and she showed persistance in that she was not going down without a fight. For example, Alice was put in jail three times for protets and rallies at the white house. When she was put in jail for picketing at the white house, she began a serious hungerstrike where she was hospitalized and force fed. This proves Alice was a strong leader, because she was willing to risk her life for women’s rights. The final reason the radicals were an efficiant movement was, they were able to draw attention to their movement. Even though the radicals agressive ways got them into trouble, it also shocked the public and helped them gain attention. While Alice was in the hospital being treated for her hunger strike, the public viewed them as political rebellions,