What Was the Seneca Falls Convention?
In July 1848 , a remarkable event call for place in the Ithiel Town of Seneca Falls , New York . It was awomen ’s right field conventionalism — the first ever held in the United States . More than 200 women attended the event initially organized by five cleaning lady — Lucretia Mott , Elizabeth Cady Stanton , Martha Wright , Mary Ann M’Clintock and Jane Hunt — friends and associate in theabolitionistmovement . They hope , but had no style of knowing , that their event , finally known as the Seneca Falls Convention , would become the starting distributor point for thewomen ’s rights movementin the U.S.
So , who were these women and why did they meet in Seneca Falls ? Why not New York City , Philadelphia or Washington , D.C. ? We talk to Janine Waller , chief of interpretation , teaching and outreach atWomen ’s Rights National Historical Parkin Seneca Falls .
Who Organized the Seneca Falls Convention?
" Their connection were all transmissible and spiritual , " Waller sound out . " And it ’s really because of the Quaker involvement that they were involved in the abolishment move . "
The " first five " as the five admirer were later on call , were connected through the Quaker Society of Friends in Philadelphia . Lucretia Mott was a Quaker minister and one of the founders of the Philadelphia Female Anti - Slavery Society . She was a charismatic speaker and , at the time , one of the most well - known women in America . Mott metElizabeth Cady Stanton , another ardent emancipationist ( though not a Quaker ) , at the 1840 World Anti - Slavery Convention in London where she and her married man Henry Brewster Stanton , were honeymoon . Stanton ’s husband , a professional abolitionist speaker , was take in to address at the league but when the two womanhood were blocked from participating fully in the conventionality , they ferment their righteous anger into create plans to hold a women ’s rights convention in the U.S.
It was eight years before they fulfil up again . By that time , the Stantons lived in Seneca Falls and Mott was receive to address in the region . Mott ’s sister , Martha Wright , also hold out in nearby Auburn . The M’Clintocks were renting a house and property from the Hunts in Waterloo , New York . The five women see together at theHunt homein Waterloo and decided to organize the womanhood ’s rights pattern while Mott was still in the area .
" The five planner were well - school in activism from the abolition motility , " Waller articulate . " It ’s where they pick up about petitioning , convening and professional speaking . It ’s where they acquire the tools of activism . "
Those tools come in ready to hand as they had only 10 days , from the time they decided to hold the convention , until the convention itself — July 19 and 20 at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls . Fortunately , they were women with web — notably their abolition and Quaker internet .
The Seneca Falls Convention & Frederick Douglass
They also publicized the convention July 11th in the local paper , theSeneca County Courier , and inThe North Star , a newspaper published by abolitionist , speechmaker , writer and activist , Frederick Douglass . Douglass also was personally invited to the conventionality by M’Clintock . He accepted and was the only dark man and person of color recorded at the event . When July 19 roll around , an approximate 300 women and military man ( mostly from the primal New York region ) were in attendance .
The first day of the convention was limited to women only and commence with a rousing address from Stanton , setting the stage for what was to come :
What Was the Significance of the Seneca Falls Convention?
The five womens - rights activists exhibit theDeclaration of Sentiments , which Stanton co - authored . The document was modeled on the Declaration of Independence and laid out the cleaning woman ’s objections on subjects includingwomen ’s vote , access to breeding , domestic violence , adequate pay and adequate justice in the courts include in heritage and detainment contravention . Though woman ’s suffrage was an crucial detail on the agendum , it nearly broke the convention and Waller says the reasons were as diverse as the hoi polloi debating them .
" Many folks felt that politics was unseemly for women who were see as the moral compass of the family unit , " she tell . " take part in politics would sully them . Others feel women were not intellectually prepared to vote . They would just vote for whomever their husbands separate them to . Still others thought that it just was n’t that authoritative . They thought it was more critical to plow issues of domestic violence , equal pay and family court and law ; these were more contiguous vexation . It was Frederick Douglass who support Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her insistence that all these other thing could not be changed without political and legislative power and that ’s what the rightfulness to vote would land . "
The Declaration of Sentiments
The Declaration of Sentiments was far more than a laundry tilt of grievances .
" It admit a tilt of resolutions , the things they solve to do , and it ’s very explicitly repose out , " Waller says . " It ’s very specific , visionary and unambiguous . adult female and men should be equal . Full stop . They are equal . Full point . [ These sentiments ] come out of the abolishment movement and hoi polloi ask what is the difference between one person and another , and what kind of power do they have to make change in their own lives and gild at large . "
The Declaration of Sentiments was sign up July 20 , 1848 by68 womanhood and 32 men . The women signed the Declaration under the heading " Firmly rely upon the final victory of the Right and the True , we do this day affix our signatures to this declaration , " while the man signed under the heading , " … the gentlemen present in favor of this new movement . "
Voting Rights for Women
The Modern motion , the char ’s crusade , was put on detainment during theCivil Warand straight off after due toReconstruction . But Waller says a gradual possibility up of fellowship , including palpable gains in the legal scheme on behalf of women occurred in state house even before 1920 when the19th Amendment guaranteeing women ’s rightfield to votewas finally ratified .
Seneca Falls Convention Legacy
But the lasting legacy of the Seneca Falls Convention stay more than any one amendment or effect will ever contain .
" At some point these five woman made a decision to do something different — they made a conclusion to take their concerns public , " she say . " They arrogate the chance in front of them and that ’s something we all can do . That bequest of empowerment is what normal people can do when they get together and share thing openly . They change the world . "
