On July 19th, 1848, religious and political reformers met in the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York for the first formal convention on the subject of women's rights. 300 people, both men and women, attended the two day convention where eleven different resolutions on women's rights were discussed. The only one to not pass was the right to vote for women.

There were five main women who organized the event: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the driving organizer of the convention; Lucretia Mott, a Quaker preacher known for her activism in anti-slavery, women's rights and religious reform; Mary M'Clintock, daughter to Quaker anti-slavery and women's rights activists; Martha Coffin Wright, Lucretia Mott's sister and an abolitionist that ran a station on the Underground Railroad; and Jane Hunt, a Quaker activist. Stanton, after being frustrated with her role as a women, convinced the other women in organizing the convention and writing its main mainfesto, the Declaration of Sentiments, which held the eleven different resolutions demanded for the change in women's rights and a section to point out the nineteen "abuses and usurpations" used against a woman's "confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life".

The convention was set in Seneca Falls, New York mainly due to the powerful reform community that had begun to emerge in the western part of New York in the 1830s and 1840s. Among this powerful community of reformers were abolitionists from the Seneca Falls and Waterloo area and Quaker women like Lucretia Mott.

The passing of ten of the eleven resolutions had many short and long term effects. Women were allowed to speak in public. Laws protecting married women, such as allowing women to own property in their name, keep their earnings, and retain custody of children after a divorce, were adopted by some states. The main long term effects of the convention was that women eventually gained the right to vote and to be considered equal to men. The convention was also one of the turning points in the history of the women's rights movement as it helped set the movement into motion.

Although many of the signers of the Declaration of Sentiments removed their names, a second convention was held in Rochester, New York a mere twelve days later. The Seneca Falls Convention started the ball rolling on women's rights in the 19th century and beyond.

Works Cited:

DiVasta, Beni. Seneca Falls Convention. womensrightsthefight.weebly.com/seneca-falls-convention.html.

“Seneca Falls Convention.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Nov. 2017, www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention.

“Seneca Falls in 1848.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 26 Feb. 2015, www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/seneca-falls-in-1848.htm.

“Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY: The Susan B. Anthony Center.” The Susan B Anthony Center, University of Rochester, www.rochester.edu/sba/suffrage-history/womens-rights-convention-in-senec....