"...we now demand our right to vote according
to the declaration of the government under which we live."
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Keynote Address, Seneca Falls Convention
Turning Point
The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 was a major turning point in the Women's Rights Movement. It was the first of many conventions in the Movement. The Convention set the Women's Rights Movement in motion. It influenced more women and some men to start working for equal rights. In May 1869, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman's Suffrage Association (Imboroni). Because of the Seneca Falls Convention, a whole movement was started, leading up to the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, giving women the right to vote.
"If I had had the slightest premonition of all that was to follow that convention, I fear I should not have had the courage to risk it, and I must confess that it was with fear and trembling that I consented to attend another, one month afterward, in Rochester."
(Stanton, Eighty Years and More)
"This was a revolution. The convention's 'Declaration of Sentiments' was a blueprint for change. In 1848 WOMEN - the majority of the population – were barred from being full citizens. Married women were civilly dead before the eyes of the law. In today’s talk – bringing women into the democracy is a “sea change” in established order. At Seneca Falls, NY, a stone was cast that sent ripples through the nation for 72 years, if not more. The sea-change addressed higher education for women, access to professions, the right to own property, including one's children, and THE VOTE. By the time the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, the movement was called, 'The world’s greatest bloodless revolution.' "
-Coline Jenkins, great-great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
"This was our big time, big time to get people, to encourage people, to get them into the movement." (Elizabeth Cady Stanton; pt. 1)
|
"I remember the women's suffragettes. They seemed rather bold and unladylike to venture out (Elizabeth Cady Stanton; pt. 1)
|
"On November 2, 1920, for the first time in history,
more than 8 million American women went to the polls
and exercised their right to vote in precincts all over America."
(Elizabeth Cady Stanton; pt. 1)
Home | Historical Background | Important Women | The Convention | Turning Point | Long-Term Impact | Timeline | Process Paper | Annotated Bibliography
Elizabeth Cady Stanton | Lucretia Mott | Martha C. Wright | Mary Ann McClintock | Jane Hunt | July 19, 1848 | July 20, 1848