The Seneca Falls Convention
July 19-20 1848
BY CATHERINE MCCULLY
AP HISTORY
PERIOD 5
The Seneca Falls Convention
was started by two women:
• ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
• LUCRETIA MOTT
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
 1815-1902
 Raised with privilege and wealth
 Attended Troy Female Seminary where she received
the best education for women in the 1830s.
 Married the abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton
 When they moved from Boston to Seneca Falls, NY
Stanton missed an intellectual community and found
the inspiration to reform the feminine society.
Lucretia Mott
 1793-1880
 Born in Massachusetts to a Quaker family
 When she was thirteen, she attended the Nine
Partners Quaker Boarding School
 After graduation she became a teacher there, where
her interest in Women's Rights was developed when
she discovered the male teachers were paid three
times more than women.
What was the Convention?
 In 1848 Stanton and Mott organized a women’s
rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York
 It went for two days with six sessions, including a
lecture on law and many discussions on a woman’s
place in society.
 A place they discussed the Declaration of
Sentiments, women’s suffrage, right to retain
property after marriage, divorce and child custody
rights, and equal education opportunities.
The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
 “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are
created equal.”
 Signed by 68 women, 32 men-100 of the 300 attendees of the first
women’s rights convention (now known as the Seneca Falls
Convention)
 Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence
 “Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of
this country, their social and religious degradation—in view of the
unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel
themselves…fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist
that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges
which belong to them as citizens of these United States.”
The First Day
 Morning Session

Mott and Stanton both spoke to the crowd consisting of both men
and women (men were not allowed to speak in this session). They
spoke about the actions of women taking charge of their rights and
the Declaration of Sentiments was read in a whole.
 Afternoon Session

The Declaration was read again and more changes were made. Mott
read a humorous article written by Martha Wright and Elizabeth W.
M’Clintok read a speech.
 Evening Session

Mott spoke again and according to a newspaper it was “one of the
most eloquent, logical, and philosophical discourses which we ever
listened to.”
The Second Day
 Morning Session

The Declaration was read yet again but this time it was signed by 100
attendees of the crowd. Multiple people spoke about the rights of
women and the progression of their roles in society.
 Afternoon Session

The Declaration was discussed and the 9th sentiment, which was
regarding women's right to vote, was debated. Fredrick Douglass, the
only African American present, stood up and said he could not accept
the right to vote himself as a black man if woman could not also
claim that right.
 Evening Session

Many people spoke, including Thomas M'Clintock, Stanton, Douglass
and Mott all urging their audience to take a stand and support the
rights of women.
What did the convention accomplish?
 It brought light on the women’s suffrage.
 It empowered women to take control of their own
rights and make a change.
 Started a revolution of women’s place in society, with
an amendment passed by congress in 1919 accepting
women’s right to vote.