Women And Women 's Suffrage

The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls was the site of the first women's rights convention in the United States. The meeting took place on July 19-20, 1848.1 On the first day, only women were permitted to speak, and men joined in on the second day.2

In 1848 women decided that they wanted to have a voice. Women from all over the United States became tired of listening and abiding by the rules that men put in place. Many men thought all women were good for was cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. When the country went to war women were left behind to take care of everything while the men were gone. This was an eye opener for most women, and that is when they came to the conclusion they were good for more. There was so much women were not allowed to do that men could, and a lot of it could only change if women had the right to vote.

Who were the main people involved? Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott initiated the first Women's Suffrage Movement, July 19, 1848 at Seneca Falls Convention, New York. At this convention Elizabeth Cady Stanton echoed the preamble of the Declaration Of Independence. “ We hold these truths to be self- evident: that all men and women are created equally.” Proving that when we declared our independence it was for everyone not just men. In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed an American Equal Rights Association. The Association was dedicated to the suffrage goals regardless of race or gender. Lucy Stone fought about the 15th Amendment, Ratified in 1870, and that the Amendment states that, “ The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.Many of the women involved in suffrage began political work in the antislavery

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

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.

In a similar manner to the slaves, women were motivated by the beliefs preached in camp meetings and churches during the Second Great Awakening. Due to the amount of free time the women had, they attended these churches more often than men, allowing them to absorb the ideas from the sermons. These women not only became motivated to fight for the rights of slaves, but also for their own since human freedom was one of the essential ideas of the Second Great Awakening. During the international anti-slavery convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were denied the right to participate just because of their genders. With the ideas of the Second Great Awakening in their minds, they created the Women’s Right Convention in Seneca Falls, where they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments that listed all of the ways in which males have wronged them by denying equality to them. It marked the beginning of a long struggle to gain equality between men and women. Among the many things that they wanted to have equality in was divorce, inheritance, property, and children. Therefore, the concept of freedom for all Americans from the Second Great Awakening triggered a movement to give women freedom from the bonds of men by means of equality.

After both of the ladies were being denied participation in the convention, they were livid. Stanton and Mott spent most of their extra time coming up with ideas for the Women’s convention that would be the first of its kind. Even though Mott and Stanton discussed of the first women’s convention, it did not take place until eight years after they had came up with an agreement, which made this women convention finally happen from 1840 to 1848 (Adams, Page 14).

After the Civil War, the movement of women’s suffrage had a new inspiration, as they used African American suffrage as a stepping stone towards women’s suffrage. Organizations, such as the National Association Women’s Suffrage Association and Women’s Christian Temperance, had clear goals to reform the urban areas with women’s suffrage. As this empowering reform took place, women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries started to question their own roles within society. As women faced opposition and had diminished roles within society, the women of the late 19th century sought equality.

Prior to the Seneca Falls Convention and the women’s rights movements, women were mistreated and limited in many ways. The Seneca Falls Convention brought a lot of attention to women’s rights and eventually led to what they are able to do today. In 1831, the Second Great Awakening was happened across the northern part of the United States. Charles Grandison Finney allowed women to lead prayer with men. In 1832, William Lloyd Garrison called for women to be involved in the anti-slavery movement. Lucretia Mott met Elizabeth Cady Stanton when both attended the World Anti-Slavery Society convention in London in 1840. When denied a place on the floor with the rest of the female delegates, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton resolved that what was needed was a meeting for women to

There are people, groups, and events that helped women gain equal rights as women. The Seneca Falls Conventions occurred in 1848 and Congress were introduced to the amendment granting women’s suffrage in 1878. (Document 3) After many women began to realize that their rights were limited, about 300 women and men came to the Seneca Falls Convention. The Seneca Falls Convention occurred on July 19 to 20 in the year of 1848. It was the first convention on women’s right and everything except women’s suffrage was approved. Women suffrage is the right to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton ,Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass were one of the many that fought for women's suffrage. Lucretia Mott was one of the leading women abolitionist and decided it

July 13, 1848 was the date that started it all. (nwhp.org) The movement for women’s rights began on this summer day. This is where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her four friends came up with the idea to host the first ever women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. (nwhp.org) This two-day convention, organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton, was held on July 19-20 in the Wesleyan Chapel. (nwhp.org) In this convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was drafted and then signed by 68 women and 32 men. (infoplease.com) This declaration was mainly drafted by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton and in it, they discussed the social and political

Since the beginning of the United States, the women's rights movement has been a crucial part of women's lives. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the leading activists of women's rights movement in the nineteenth century. The World's Anti-Slavery convention was held in London, England in 1840. Stanton, along with a woman named Lucretia Mott, attended this convention. They both were determined to have a women's rights convention when they returned back to the United States. In 1848, the first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth's speech, "Address on Women's Rights," became a famous address about the rights of women. This speech addresses the issues of unfairness directed toward each gender. Due to this

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).

Social change in Britain has been achieved primarily through the hard work of organized political groups. These groups created events to recruit and educate supporters of social equality to join them in fighting for progress. The Women’s Suffrage Movement between 1866 and 1928 in Britain is no exception to this trend. The reason for the great efficacy of these political groups, including the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the Women’s Social and Political Union, was the women who pioneered the groups and fought alongside them to create the change that they believed in. The goal of these political groups was finally realized in 1928 with the passing of the Representation of the People Act. However, the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain would not have been successful without the influential actions of several significant women. In addition to the overall necessity of female leadership for British Women’s Suffrage, the central efforts of Millicent Fawcett, Lydia Becker, and Emmeline Pankhurst particularly played a large role in the movement’s success.

Two years after the Seneca Falls convention, the very first National Women’s Rights Convention was called to order in Brinley Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 23–24, 1850. Many famous women rights advocates attended the convention including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. Over a thousand people attended the convention making Brinley Hall overflow with people. The speakers addressed many issues on women’s equality such as higher education, the right to own property, and to vote. Many newspapers wrote reviews about the conventions some positive and some negative, but no matter what side they were committed to they helped shine a light on the issues of women’s equality and gained many supporters (“mass movements”).