Seneca Falls Convention
19 Jul 1848 to 20 Jul 1848
On July 19 and 20 of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, and Jane Hunt came together to organize the Seneca Falls convention. This was the first woman's rights convention in the United States and launched the women’s suffrage movement. The convention was held in Seneca Falls New York at the Wesleyan Chapel. The idea for the convention was the result of Stanton and Mott meeting at an anti-slavery convention in London in 1840 where they were required to sit in a sectioned off area because they were women. Eight years later, the two of them reunited and, along with Wright, M’Clintock, and Hunt, organized and publicized the convention in just five days. Despite the short notice and the lack of solid publicity, over 300 people attended the convention. The first day of the convention was open only to women, but men joined in on the second day. Over these two days, the attendees discussed and ratified the Declaration of Sentiments, an assertion of women’s rights in the United States, and it was signed by around 100 of the attendees. This convention began the women's suffrage movement in the United States and many of the organizers dedicated their lives to gaining women the right to vote. 72 years later when women were finally granted the right to vote, only one woman who had signed the Declaration of Sentiments was alive.
Works Cited
History.com Editors. “Seneca Falls Convention.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Nov. 2017, www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention.
Rynder, Constance B. “Seneca Falls Convention.” HistoryNet, 1999, www.historynet.com/seneca-falls-convention.