Essay/Term paper: Alice paul

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography Term Papers

Alice Paul was born on January 11,1885,



in Moorestown, New Jersey. Her father, who



died when Alice was sixteen, was a businessman,



banker, and property owner. The Pauls lived in the



small Quaker community of Moorestown. One of



the beliefs of the Quakers was equality of the sexes.



As a young girl, Alice attended the Quaker suffrage



meetings with her mother.



Alice Pauls' father left them enough



money so she could attend the exclusive Swarthmore



College in Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1905 as



a biology major, but after discovering politics in her



senior year, she went on to attend the New York



School of Philanthropy. She majored in sociology,



and spent all of her spare time working for the



woman suffrage in New York.



In 1907, Paul earned a master's degree



in sociolgy. She went to England to continue her



work toward her doctorate degree. She was begin-



ning to realize that she couldn't change the



situation by social work alone, but needed to



change the actual laws. Women had no voice in



either England or America to change any law.



The suffrage movement was different



in England than in the States. British suffragists



had begun wild women protests in 1905. They



would sneak into male political meetings, and



disrupt the meetings by shouting questions, wave



banners and be arrested.



As Alice Paul became more involved



with the Women's Social and Political Union, she



was warned of possible imprisonment. This threat



did not prevent her from sneaking into political



events. She was arrested ten times in England,



three of which ended in prison time. While in



prison, she continued to protest the government's



refusal to let women vote or speak publicly, by



not eating. She was force-fed for four weeks.



She returned to America in 1910, where



she continued her studies and her suffrage work.



She brought back from England with her the same



tactics used to get the attention of the newspapers



and the government. She brought the wild suffragette



movement back to the United States.



She teamed up with Lucy Burns, who



she spent prison time with in England. They went



to the National American Women Suffrage



Association and proposed forming a committee to



lobby congressmen for a national suffrage



ammendment. They were named president and



vice president but were told they would have to



raise their own funds.



They began by organizing a volunteer



network then decided to bid for national attention.



Their first appearance as a committee was a



celebration parade for the inauguration of President



Woodrow Wilson. This would certainly be heard



throughout the nation. In just a few weeks they



had over 8,000 marchers representing states, colleges,



and even some other nations. They included 26 floats



depicting women's lives and hardships. This was



the first procession of women in our nation for



any cause. This parade caused so much excitement



that it brought the women suffrage movement into



the headlines. By that summer both houses of



congress were discussing women suffrage.



Alice Paul then began publishing a



weekly newspaper, The Suffragist, in November of



1913. In the issues to follow they spoke of injustice



and the laws affecting the interest of women.



In April 1916, the National Women's



Party was established as a political party. This party



did not endorse any candidate but only woman



suffrage. The Democrats and Republicans were



beginning to realize the women's votes could



definitely influence the election.



For the first time in American politics,



both parties included support for women in their



campaign platforms. Woodrow Wilson was elected



in spite of his demeaning behavior to women, so,



on January 10, 1917, one day after his inauguration,



Alice Paul and her organization began picketing



the White House and continued for the next



18 months.



On April 6,1917, America went to



war. The picketers began to use the war to



make their points. There were many arrests of the



picketters to follow, the fines were larger and the



prison terms longer and harsher. Alice Paul was



arrested on October 20 and served seven months,



which was the longest term ever served for women



suffrage. The cells were unclean, with rotten food,



parasites, and police brutality. She was put in a



psychiatric ward, where she was questioned and



awakened every hour by inspectors or insane



inmates. But the truth began to reach the public.



Released suffrage prisoners, wearing prison



uniforms, travled on "The Prison Special" and



told of terrible conditions. One week later Paul



was released.



President Wilson began urging members



of the House and Senate to vote for the nineteenth



amendment, but kept losing. Then in October 1918,



he pleaded for woman suffrage as part of the



war effort. The amendment was passed in 1920,



giving women the rights of citizens, including the



right to vote.



She did not stop there. In 1922, she



received her Law degree and in 1928 formed



the World Party for Equal Rights for Women.



Pauls equal rights amendment was "Equality of



rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged



by the United States or by any State on account



of sex."



Living in Switzerland, she encouraged



an Equal Rights Treaty and a World code of Law.



Equality was then written into the United Nations



Charter.



Paul fought for equal rights the rest of



her life, nationaly and internationally. In1977, at



the age of 93, she died in her childhood town of



Moorestown.



Alice Paul was a remarkable, unstop-



pable feminist and social reformer, who paved the



road we now walk.