Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
On March 3, the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, for the
first time women marched on Pennsylvania Avenue. The parade was
arranged by the Congressional Committee of the National Association,
of which Miss Alice Paul was chairman. Objection being made by
Superintendent of Police Sylvester to giving a permit, the women
appealed to the Senate Committee for the District on the ground that
as citizens and tax-payers they had the right to use the avenue, and a
joint resolution was passed by Congress granting it. Adequate police
protection, however, was not given, indeed some of the police
themselves hooted and jeered with the mob which attacked the paraders.
Doubtless it was composed of persons who had come from outside to the
inauguration. It took three hours to march the mile from the Peace
Monument to the Treasury, where tableaux were given on the steps.
Finally it was necessary to call the troops from Fort Myer. The Senate
ordered an investigation and the Police Superintendent resigned. It
was said that this parade won thousands of friends for the cause of
woman suffrage.
This year the Congressional Union was organized to work in the
District and the States solely for the Federal Suffrage Amendment,
with Miss Paul chairman, Miss Lucy Burns, Mrs. Crystal Eastman, Mrs.
Mary Beard and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis the other officers. It had its own
headquarters and was not affiliated with the National American
Association.
In 1914 the suffragists protested again, this time to the Chamber of
Commerce, against a constitutional amendment sponsored by it to
enfranchise the residents of the District, because it did not
definitely state that women should be included. This protest was also
taken up in the Federation of Women's Clubs through the auxiliaries of
the State Suffrage Association, which were affiliated with it. During
1915 and 1916 suffragists addressed all the civic bodies in Washington
on the necessity of including women in any measure looking to the
enfranchisement of the residents of the District. As a result of this
continuous agitation a compromise was reached to hold the question in
abeyance until a constitutional amendment was passed enabling Congress
to grant suffrage to the District. The association as usual
participated in commemorating the birthdays of Mrs. Stanton and Miss
Anthony and placed wreaths on the bust of Lincoln in the rotunda of
the Capitol. It joined in the contest with the school board which
tried to exclude married women as teachers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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