The Convention
Attendees during the second day of the convention.
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first organized women’s rights convention in the United States. It was held at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls, New York during July of 1848. The convention's main organizers Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were brought together eight years earlier and by the idea that there should be a convention “to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman." (http://npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm)
The convention, which was held over two days on July 19th and 20th, covered more than five days worth of information. The topics ranged from women’s suffrage to social equality. The convention’s total attendance was around 300 men and women, some of whom traveled over 5 miles to attend.
During the first day of the convention, women were the only ones to give speeches. Stanton delivered her Declaration of Sentiments, an argument for the equality of women lightly modeled after the Declaration of Independence. In the declaration she listed eighteen “injuries and usurpations” towards women. She also spoke of eleven resolutions, which she had drafted in order to further progress women’s equality, one of which was the right to vote.
The second day of the convention brought about heated discussions trying to further Stanton’s previous efforts to encourage the passage of the Declaration of Sentiments and her Resolutions. Ten out of the eleven resolutions passed with support. However, in order to persuade the audience on the controversial ninth resolution of women’s suffrage, abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass spoke out in support. Douglass’ speech was so powerful that the resolution was adopted.
The convention was a success and ended with the group making plans to continue their progress with future meetings in order to achieve the changes they had laid out during the convention.
The convention, which was held over two days on July 19th and 20th, covered more than five days worth of information. The topics ranged from women’s suffrage to social equality. The convention’s total attendance was around 300 men and women, some of whom traveled over 5 miles to attend.
During the first day of the convention, women were the only ones to give speeches. Stanton delivered her Declaration of Sentiments, an argument for the equality of women lightly modeled after the Declaration of Independence. In the declaration she listed eighteen “injuries and usurpations” towards women. She also spoke of eleven resolutions, which she had drafted in order to further progress women’s equality, one of which was the right to vote.
The second day of the convention brought about heated discussions trying to further Stanton’s previous efforts to encourage the passage of the Declaration of Sentiments and her Resolutions. Ten out of the eleven resolutions passed with support. However, in order to persuade the audience on the controversial ninth resolution of women’s suffrage, abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass spoke out in support. Douglass’ speech was so powerful that the resolution was adopted.
The convention was a success and ended with the group making plans to continue their progress with future meetings in order to achieve the changes they had laid out during the convention.
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