1915-1917: Formation of the National Woman’s Party and Picketing the White House
Throughout 1915, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and the Congressional Union organized state branches, held a national convention of women voters, collected 500,000 signatures on a suffrage petition, and testified before Congress, among other activities. At the end of the year, CU and NAWSA made a last attempt to reconcile, but the attempt failed. In June 1916, CU’s leaders formed the National Woman’s Party. After President Wilson’s reelection, Alice Paul called for members of the National Woman’s Party to picket the White House to convince the president to put pressure on Democratic senators to vote in favor of a constitutional suffrage amendment. Lucy Burns led most of the picket demonstrations. , in fact, the president often waved to them as he left the White House. To maintain interest in the press, Paul and Burns organized groups representing women from different walks of life to picket on different days.