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Elizabeth Cady Stanton
By the middle of the nineteenth century, American women were active supporters and promoters of every
major reform movement from temperance to abolitionism. They were also increasingly employed in factories,
fields, and classrooms each year. Despite such contributions, women had few legal or political rights
and were legally little better than property in many states. Influenced by United States democratic ideology,
inspired by the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence and our historical past, and organized by
their accepted roles in reform movements, many women grew dissatisfied with their positions in society.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a blue-blooded member of New York society who developed an interest in legal
and constitutional history during her education at Troy Seminary for women and while she "read law"
in her father’s law office. She was an active member of the abolitionist movement and was married to Henry
Stanton, one of the founders of the Liberty Party. After delegates from an American female anti-slavery
society were denied admittance to the 1840 World Anti-slavery Convention in London, the dissatisfactions
and frustrations of American women over their position in society peaked. Stanton and four others organized
the first women’s rights convention in the history of the world, to meet in Seneca Falls, New York, in
July 1848. Stanton wanted the convention to focus on political equality and suffrage, so she modeled her
Declaration of Sentiments after the Declaration of Independence. The one hundred-plus attendees debated
and amended the statement until they agreed upon the following document. The declaration was not well-received;
male lawmakers and most of society were not prepared to allow women rights, especially suffrage. However,
after a great deal of lobbying, the New York Legislature passed a law giving married women control over
inherited property. The vote had to wait until 1920.
According to the Seneca Falls Declaration, how has mankind "inflicted repeated injuries and usurpations
towards women"? What rights were women denied? What did the women at Seneca Falls resolve to change
in this situation, and how did they justify their actions? Do their requests seem out of line today?
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