Seneca Falls Convention
19 Jul 1848 to 20 Jul 1848
One of the first Women's Rights Convention was the Seneca Falls Convention. It was held on July 19 and 20, 1848. It took place in Seneca Falls, New York. This meeting launched the women's suffrage movement. It would also several decades later ensure women the right to vote. The Seneca Falls Convention was held in the Wesleyan Chapel. The first day was only just for women and then the second day it was open to men. Despite the scarce publicity, 300 people attended. It was mostly just area residents that showed up. This convention will forever be an important part in history, it was one of the first times that women came together and fought for their own rights. The women came up with 11 resolutions on women’s rights, which included social, civil, and religious rights for women, All of them were accepted except the ninth one, which was the right to vote. Even though it wasn’t accepted, the fact that it was even spoken about made a big impact. The ninth resolution was eventually passed after Elizabeth Stanton and Frederick Douglass gave their passionate speeches in its defense. The five woman organizers of the convention were also apart of the abolitionist movement, which fought for the end of slavery, and racial discrimination. The five organizers were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, and Jane Hunt. The Seneca Falls Convention brought national attention to the issue of women's rights. Newspapers across the U.S. covered the convention, both in support and against it. Elizabeth Stanton called the women's movement the “greatest rebellion the world has ever seen”. After everything went public, Elizabeth didn’t care about the criticism because she looked at it as it will start to get more women thinking, men too. Just to get men and women to start thinking about the issues and start raising more questions, the first step of the progress is taken. On August 2, 1848, two weeks later, the convention met up again to reaffirm the movement's goals at the First Unitarian Church in Rochester, New York. Because of the Seneca Falls Convention, over the following years the campaign continued for women's rights at nationwide and state events.
History.com Editors. “Seneca Falls Convention.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Nov. 2017, www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention.
“Seneca Falls Convention.” HistoryNet, www.historynet.com/seneca-falls-convention.