WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
The organized movement for women's rights was sparked by the friendship between Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The two women met in 1840 at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and were shocked to find that women were not allowed to speak at the meeting. Eight years passed before they met again back home when they decided to send a notice to a local newspaper announcing a women's convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
The organized movement for women's rights was sparked by the friendship between Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The two women met in 1840 at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and were shocked to find that women were not allowed to speak at the meeting. Eight years passed before they met again back home when they decided to send a notice to a local newspaper announcing a women's convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
On July 19, 1848, almost 300 people, including 40 men, arrived for the Convention. The organizers modeling their proposal for women's rights, the Declaration of Sentiments, after the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident," the document began, "that all men and women are created equal." Just as the DOI listed King George's acts of tyranny over the colonists, the new declaration listed acts of tyranny by men over women. This convention helped to create an organized campaign for women's rights.
Excerpts from Declaration of Sentiments
Excerpts from Declaration of Sentiments