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The Feminist Questioning and Envisioning Process

created by:

Aliya Khalidi & Seema Gokhale

Seneca Falls Convention:

A Turning Point in History for US Women

www.rochester.edu/SBA/suffragewomensrights.html

www.libertybellmuseum.com/MuseumShop/images

One of the most prominent documents to emerge from the first wave of feminism was the Seneca Falls Declaration, which was a rejection of much of the restrictions upon women's freedom in pre- Civil-War times. Not only were women not on equal footing with men socially, but legally they were restricted from civic involvement such as the right to vote [1].

Seeing these injustices, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized a convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. At this meeting, there were 240 delegates, including 40 men. The delegates modeled the Seneca Falls Declaration after the Declaration of Independence, and called for legal reforms to eliminate women's inequality with men. These included granting women suffrage and reforming unjust marriage and property laws [1].

Unfortunately for these organizers, the issues of women's equality with men before the law faded away when the Civil War broke out. It was not until the 19th Amendment was adopted that women were granted suffrage [1].

Click here for the Seneca Falls Declaration.