On July 19, 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention became the first women’s rights convention. This was held in Seneca Falls, New York, and is widely considered the first step on the road to equal rights among women. At the time, the convention focused on gaining women’s suffrage in the US and allowing them to vote.
Seneca Falls Convention Letter
At the time, Seneca Falls Convention was home to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a writer and activist who partnered with Lucretia Mott and organize the convention. These two feminist leaders had been active in social causes in the past but faced pushback from other groups. The most famous example was being excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London due to their gender.
In response, they decided to start this Seneca Falls Convention to address the issues that women of the day face. This was first captured in their document, the “Declaration of Sentiments,” which listed their demands and was closely modeled after the Declaration of Independence and focused on petitioning for additional rights for women. Among the most contentious was the demand that women be allowed to vote.
Although this was a controversial position even among women, causing many to withdraw their support, the Seneca Falls Convention – Wikipedia was an important step on the road to gaining suffrage. This culminated in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 that granted women the right to vote.
“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.
He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men – both natives and foreigners.
Having deprived her of this first right as a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.
He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.”He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.”
-Declaration of Sentiments
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