Reform in the Early Republic: The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848
Overview: In antebellum America, reformers adopted many causes. Besides trying to eradicate slavery, they advocated temperance and favored improving schools, hospitals, and prisons. Women were involved in each of these movements and sometimes discussed their own disadvantaged status while meeting to help other groups. But it was not until 1848 that the first American women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, New York. This essay describes the origins of the women's rights movement. By following Elizabeth Cady Stanton's life to 1848 we learn about many of the barriers that kept women from political and economic equality. And by studying the Seneca Falls convention we learn about her and other women's proposals for reform.
Outline
1. Invitation to a Women's Rights Convention: Charlotte Woodard, sewing gloves, Seneca Falls-New York, the sorrow of her condition, "a subordinate part," "women's sphere," Seneca County Courier, Charlotte's friends, sturdy farm horses, Wesleyan Chapel, large crowd.
2. Elizabeth Cady (Stanton) and a Woman's Role: Johnstown- New York, a man's world, a woman's greatest achievement, Katherine, sorrow in the house, society that favored boys and men, two worlds, lively-intelligent child, given to dark thought, tomboy, outlandish longings, "her ambitions might be natural human aspirations," fathered by Satan, yearning after manly opportunities, chess, I wish you were a boy, much of life closed to her, "unable to free themselves by divorce," their own money, property of husband, beating wives, testify in court, no legal character, Daniel Cady, Christmas Day, fine coral necklace for a box of cigars, local academy, Union College, no girls admitted, Emma Willard, Gerrit Smith, abolitionism and temperance, fugitive slaves, Henry Brewster Stanton, parents who opposed the match, deluded fanatics, Hugh Maire, "I obstinately refused to obey..."
3. Reform Movement: World's Anti-Slavery Convention, seating of female delegates, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia C. Mott, Quaker women, "from a personal grievance into a program for change," law office, Boston, children, Frederick Douglas, Lydia Maria Child, Maria Weston Chapman," people who believed that the world could be improved," Seneca Falls, trivial household tasks, mental hunger, Lucretia Mott, Jane Hunt, Mary Ann McClintock, Martha C. Wright, deciding to hold a meeting, Seneca County Courier.
4. The Seneca Falls Convention: Mary Ann McClintock, drafting an agenda and proposal, "suddenly asked to construct a steam engine," Declaration of Independence, suitable model, "all men" instead of George II, July 19-1848, Wesleyan Chapel, a large crowd, "well disposed men," James to moderate, speeches, Ansel Bascom, timid voice, second day, Declaration of Sentiment, "all men and women are created equal," inalienable rights, taxes without own consent, civilly dead, beat, divorce, education, apostolic authority, moral code, "dependent and abject life, resolutions for specific reforms, double standard, speaking out on social issues, "trades, professions, and commerce," woman suffrage controversy, the ninth resolution, Frederick Douglas, "a highly principled man," close vote.
5. The Aftermath of the Convention: opposition, oasis of tranquility, "The Hen Convention," "a woman is nobody. A wife is everything," the idealized power of a woman, organic laws, "the panoply of war," democratic progression, Rochester Daily Advertiser, blending of roles, withdrawing their names, Susan B. Anthony, new movement, being called by her own name, seven children, speaking and organizing, easier divorce laws, leading figure, ahead of its time, employment, suffrage, questioning every institution, social convention, "the first step on the road to equality."
Outline
1. Invitation to a Women's Rights Convention: Charlotte Woodard, sewing gloves, Seneca Falls-New York, the sorrow of her condition, "a subordinate part," "women's sphere," Seneca County Courier, Charlotte's friends, sturdy farm horses, Wesleyan Chapel, large crowd.
2. Elizabeth Cady (Stanton) and a Woman's Role: Johnstown- New York, a man's world, a woman's greatest achievement, Katherine, sorrow in the house, society that favored boys and men, two worlds, lively-intelligent child, given to dark thought, tomboy, outlandish longings, "her ambitions might be natural human aspirations," fathered by Satan, yearning after manly opportunities, chess, I wish you were a boy, much of life closed to her, "unable to free themselves by divorce," their own money, property of husband, beating wives, testify in court, no legal character, Daniel Cady, Christmas Day, fine coral necklace for a box of cigars, local academy, Union College, no girls admitted, Emma Willard, Gerrit Smith, abolitionism and temperance, fugitive slaves, Henry Brewster Stanton, parents who opposed the match, deluded fanatics, Hugh Maire, "I obstinately refused to obey..."
3. Reform Movement: World's Anti-Slavery Convention, seating of female delegates, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia C. Mott, Quaker women, "from a personal grievance into a program for change," law office, Boston, children, Frederick Douglas, Lydia Maria Child, Maria Weston Chapman," people who believed that the world could be improved," Seneca Falls, trivial household tasks, mental hunger, Lucretia Mott, Jane Hunt, Mary Ann McClintock, Martha C. Wright, deciding to hold a meeting, Seneca County Courier.
4. The Seneca Falls Convention: Mary Ann McClintock, drafting an agenda and proposal, "suddenly asked to construct a steam engine," Declaration of Independence, suitable model, "all men" instead of George II, July 19-1848, Wesleyan Chapel, a large crowd, "well disposed men," James to moderate, speeches, Ansel Bascom, timid voice, second day, Declaration of Sentiment, "all men and women are created equal," inalienable rights, taxes without own consent, civilly dead, beat, divorce, education, apostolic authority, moral code, "dependent and abject life, resolutions for specific reforms, double standard, speaking out on social issues, "trades, professions, and commerce," woman suffrage controversy, the ninth resolution, Frederick Douglas, "a highly principled man," close vote.
5. The Aftermath of the Convention: opposition, oasis of tranquility, "The Hen Convention," "a woman is nobody. A wife is everything," the idealized power of a woman, organic laws, "the panoply of war," democratic progression, Rochester Daily Advertiser, blending of roles, withdrawing their names, Susan B. Anthony, new movement, being called by her own name, seven children, speaking and organizing, easier divorce laws, leading figure, ahead of its time, employment, suffrage, questioning every institution, social convention, "the first step on the road to equality."
