window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-GEQWY429QJ');

 

ENTITY reports on seneca falls convention

The Seneca Falls Convention started the woman’s rights movement that would forever change this nation. Thanks to our foremothers, we’ve seen what it’s like when women come together. Revolutionary.

But do you know how and when this movement started?

If not, we’re here to help you. Here’s everything you need to know about Seneca Falls.

How did the Seneca Falls Convention begin?

ENTITY reports on seneca falls convention

Abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton first met in the lobby of the first World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. They traveled to the convention with their husbands, but weren’t allowed in because they were women. As a result of this experience, Mott and Stanton agreed to organize a convention for women’s rights.

In 1848, the two women worked with Martha Wright, Mary Ann McClintock and Jane Hunt to send out an announcement for the conference in Seneca Falls. The Seneca County Courier described the event as “a Convention to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of women.” The convention occurred on July 19 and 20 in 1848.

What happened at the Seneca Falls Convention?

On the first day, 200 women attended to hear Stanton read the “Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances.”

Stanton drafted this treatise to proclaim women’s rights. According to the History website, the preamble was similar to the Declaration of Independence, saying, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…” Stanton’s treatise also continued to state the injustices women faced in the United States and called for women to organize as a collective to establish equality.

On the second day, men also attended the convention. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was one of the 40 men to attend. Stanton’s Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances was adopted by the assembly and resolutions passed. One of the resolutions stated, “Woman is man’s equal – was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such.”

It was the first step in women’s suffrage.

What happened after the first woman’s rights convention?

ENTITY reports on seneca falls convention

The Seneca Falls Convention paved the way for other conventions. Natural rights arguments adopted at Seneca Falls and the agenda to “employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the State and national Legislatures and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf” passed.

Two weeks later, the convention was followed by a meeting in Rochester, NY. From then on, national woman’s rights conventions were held every year.

Then, in Worcester, MA, they held the first national woman’s rights convention in 1850 on Oct. 23 and 24. This convention made efforts to “secure … political, legal and social equality with man.”

They printed resolutions and debated strategy. Also, they established a central committee including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, William H. Channing, Paulina Wright Davis, Abby K. Foster, Samuel J. May, J. Elizabeth Jones, Lucretia Mott, Wendell Phillips, Ernestine L. Rose, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone.

During this convention, Stanton, Mott, Douglass and other activists came together to participate in the movement. They held debates. Most importantly, committees formed to employ the convention’s action plan “to hold local meetings, raise funds, gather facts and publicize the movement through the press, tracts, books and speakers.”

How did the conventions continue?

From then on, they held a national woman’s rights convention every year until 1860. As women started to become more involved in supporting emancipation, the Civil War brought an end to the conventions.

In 1863, Stanton called to the “Loyal Women of the Nation” to organize a convention. The first woman’s national loyal league convention was at the Church of the Puritans in NY on May 14, 1863.

Then, in 1864, members of the Woman’s National Loyal League accumulated 400,000 signatures on a petition to Congress to end slavery. This contributed to the passage of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery.

The convention presented resolutions that asked for equal treatment for slaves and pledged women’s support to the North. The final resolution stated, “There never can be a true peace in this Republic until the civil and political rights of all citizens of African descent and all women are practically established.”

When a debate brought up the idea that women’s rights would distract from the freeing of slaves, Sarah Hallock said, “It may possibly be woman’s place to suffer. At any rate, let her suffer, if … mankind may suffer less.”

How did the woman’s rights conventions affect our reality?

ENTITY reports on seneca falls convention

The Seneca Falls Convention ignited all the rights women have today. But the efforts to create equality haven’t stopped. The most recent action taken towards women’s rights is the Women’s March. Earlier this year, women all over the world gathered to fight for the mission of “dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance and building inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity and respect.”

Two women ignited a movement to change a world filled with inequality and injustice. Here at ENTITY, we praise and honor these women for their efforts in making our lives a little bit easier.

But the fight isn’t over. Let’s make Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton proud.

Send this to a friend