The Seneca Falls Convention: First Women's Rights Movement

The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was the first spark to women's rights movements in Antebellum America. Without this meeting, life for women today could be entirely different. Rights that seem obligatory to women today, like being able to vote, and occupational diversity for women. Women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Coffin Mott helped to kickstart the innovative ideas produced before and through the convention.

The Seneca Convention was held in Wesleyan Chapel in New York on July 19th, of 1848 and lasted until the next day, July 20th. Nearly three hundred women- and men- attended this convention, which surprised the organizers because they had only published a single advertisement about it in the local newspaper. (Lusted 12) At the end of the two-day convention, all points from both the Declaration of Sentiments and the resolutions had been approved by the women in attendance and the first major step in the fight for women’s suffrage was complete.

“Beginning in the 1800s, women organized petitioned and pocketed to won three right to vote but it took them decades to accomplish their purpose”(archive.com). The organized movement started at Seneca Falls, NY with a meeting called by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The most influential leaders during the movements were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Suffragists and Suffragettes were trying to prove to the public that women could be doing other things apart from looking after the children and taking care of the homes. The Seneca Falls convention was organized by a group of women who had been active in the antislavery movement. The Seneca Falls Declaration called for an increase in women’s rights in these areas, as well as in education for women and the jobs available to

Women have always been fighting for their rights for voting, the right to have an abortion, equal pay as men, being able to joined the armed forces just to name a few. The most notable women’s rights movement was headed in Seneca Falls, New York. The movement came to be known as the Seneca Falls convention and it was lead by women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton during July 19th and 20th in 1848. Stanton created this convention in New York because of a visit from Lucretia Mott from Boston. Mott was a Quaker who was an excellent public speaker, abolitionist and social reformer. She was a proponent of women’s rights. The meeting lasted for only two days and was compiled of six sessions, which included lectures on law, humorous

What happened at the Seneca Falls Convention? The women were listing the rights they believed they should have.

The first women’s right convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY with about 300 attendees which include women and men, such as Frederick Douglas. Whereas the agenda was clear to abolition all social, economic, and legal discrimination against women.

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first woman’s rights convention in the United States. The assembly was organized by many women who were present in abolition and temperance movements, and lasted for two days, July 19–20 on 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. The convention’s main purpose was to bring attention to unequal treatment of women, and brought about 300 women, including around 40 men. The Seneca Falls Convention played a major role in women’s rights throughout the United States and is composed of important before, during, and aftermath history.

During 1850, American society was catching fire in terms of influential women and men whom would set out to change history. Elizabeth Cady Stanton being denied entrance at a London Convention due to her gender inspired the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, which discussed women 's rights as well as introduce Sojourner Truth as a speaker. Sojourner accounted her life as a slave laborer, who could do any job better that a man, thus giving reason to why women should be treated equally to men rather than a subordinate. Fredrick Douglass, a former slave and eminent human rights leader in the abolition movement, was the first black citizen to hold a high U.S. government rank. Then there is Celia, a slave, whose story rattled America to its core through the raising of fundamental questions regarding a slave’s right to fight back against traumatizing years of abuse.

The Convention of Seneca Falls was held in central New York. The convention lasted for two full days on the dates of July 19 and 20th in the year 1848. Elizabeth Stanton decided to hold a gathering to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman. Stanton led the convention with the help of friend Lucretia Mott. The articles states that the Convention of Seneca Falls is what helped to open up the idea of equality for both genders saying that it “marked the beginning of the seventy year struggle for women’s suffrage.” Stanton and Mott had first became acquainted in England at the World Anti-Slavery Convention. This was the same conference that refused to accommodate Mott and other representatives due to the fact that they were women. Lucretia Mott was a woman in her mid-forties, she was a Quaker minister, feminist, and abolitionist. Stanton composed a document called the Declaration of Sentiments. The Declaration of Sentiments was a document declaring the given rights of women. This document is what defined the convention. It was slightly based off of the Declaration of Independence. The Convention of Seneca Falls was announced to the citizens by a small, unsigned notice placed in the Seneca County Courier. The first day of the convention was reserved solely for women to discuss and debate on the Declaration of Sentiments document. On the second day of the convention, they opened it for all people to attend. Frederick Douglass gave a powerful speech

During the late 1700s, women were not seen as being equal to men. They were imaged as one who stayed at home and took care of the kids. No one ever imagined a woman voting. Some women actually supported the fight in allowing blacks to vote. During the time the 15th amendment passed, many women who supported Women’s Suffrage were disappointed in which they were excluded in the idea of allowing “everyone” to vote. Before the Civil War, the movement for Women’s Suffrage started to pick up steam, but had become lost due to the interruption of the Civil War. One of the acts that stood out the most for Women’s Suffrage was the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848. This was organized by two American activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They were the first to organize a conference to address Women’s rights and issues, and with sixty- eight women and thirty two men, they signed “The Declaration of Sentiments”, a document that was similar to the Declaration of Independence, but directed towards women’s rights. Getting suffrage for women was not an easy campaign. During 1890- 1919, many states were in a mix on their decision on suffrage for women. Some agreed with equal suffrage, others partial, and the rest wanted no suffrage at all for females as displayed in Document 6. Women’s Suffrage finally became a reality when it was ratified as an amendment (19th) in

The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, the first women's rights convention in American history, was an outgrowth of almost twenty years of female activity in social reform. Elizabeth Cady

Sub-point A: Women formed organizations to fight for suffrage. One of the most memorable events was the gathering of abolitionist activist at the Seneca Falls Convention. The Convention was organized by Elizabeth Candy Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The Convention showed attention to unfair treatment of women, the convention was attended by 300 people and 40 of them was men. (show pictures of the convention)

Of all the issues that were in the middle of reformation mid 1800’s, antislavery, education, intemperance, prison reform, and world peace, women’s rights was the most radical idea proposed. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was a rally held by Elizabeth Cady Stanton with the common goal to eventually achieve equal rights among all citizens. Frederick Douglass, who became an acclaimed activist in the African American Equal Rights movement, accompanied the movement. Moreover, The Declaration of Sentiments was a document that reflected the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, reiterating the sentiment from the Bible that “all men [and women] are created equal.” Concurrent to the publication of this document, for the first time, women insisted that they were men’s equals in every way. The Declaration of Sentiments was pivotal in Women’s history, although it was not given credit until the late 20th century. However, immediately after the Declaration of Sentiments was published, women and activist groups were inspired to take action towards rights for all underprivileged American citizens. The convention took place in a small town in upstate New York, which was home to four of the five people who organized the gathering. (DuBois, 1999, p. 45) This was the first time female equality was discussed in a public place. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was one of the most important events in women’s rights history.

In 1848 a group of women met at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York and began to formulate a demand for the enfranchisement of American women (Women’s Suffrage, 2011). Elizabeth Cady Stanton composed the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, stating that “a man should not withhold a woman's rights, take her property or refuse to allow her to vote” (Kelly, 2011, para.3 ). The convention participants spent two days arguing and refining the content of the Declaration of Sentiments, then voted on its contents; the document received support from about one third of the delegates in attendance. The Seneca Falls Convention was not a resounding success, but it “represented an important first step in the evolving campaign for women’s rights” (Tindall & Shi, 2010, p.374, para.1).

The battle for gender equality was started in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention. Hundreds of women gathered to list their grievances and solutions. This was the first step towards the women's right movement and the overall feminist movements. Even though this was close to 170 years ago; men and women are still fighting for gender equality today. We as a country have made great strides in our understanding of gender. Throughout the years many different barriers have been broken. When looking back at a certain time periods social issues; it is important to examine the music of that time. Music can either represent or hide the civil rights battles that our country faces. In the early 1960’s our country had devastating gender disparities. Women