The Wesleyan Methodist Church, constructed in 1843.
The building was the site of the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY.
Although this may sound familiar, the year was not 1776.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church, constructed in 1843. The building was the site of the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. (Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
The right to vote was only one right denied the American women at the time of the convention.
At the time of the convention, many American women were also enslaved and devoid of all rights.
Read on to learn more about this moment in the fight for equal rights for women.
Photo:Stock Photosfrom ZACK FRANK/Shutterstock
The town was incorporated in 1831.
Built on the Seneca River, the town became known for the flour mills run on hydropower.
She attended the Seneca Falls Convention, which inspired her famous newspaper written for women.
Photo:Stock Photosfrom JOE BENNING/Shutterstock
There, the two abolitionists had been acquainted with bothFrederick DouglassandWilliam Lloyd Garrison.
Douglass himself was at the time of the 1848 convention living in nearby Rochester, New York.
From there, he published his famous newspaperThe North Star.
Lucretia Mott, painted by Joseph Kyle in 1842. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Who attended the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention?
Lucretia Mott, painted by Joseph Kyle in 1842.
Stanton and Mott had met at the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London in 1840.
Frederick Douglass, photographed by an unknown photographer in the 1840s. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Both women and their respective husbands supported abolition, but no female delegates were allowed in London.
This sidelining of female voices rankled.
Frederick Douglass, photographed by an unknown photographer in the 1840s.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, engraved by Henry Bryan Hall, Jr. sometime before 1869. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
The meeting was held at theWesleyan Methodist Chapelhome to a reform-minded congregation.
The300 attendeescramped inside heard from several powerful orators.
(Although one might expect Susan B. Anthony to be in attendance, she was not.
The “Declaration of Sentiments,” Report of the Woman’s Rights Convention, Held at Seneca Falls, New York, July 19 and 20, 1848. A printing by Douglass' The North Star office. (Photo:Elizabeth Cady Stanton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, engraved by Henry Bryan Hall, Jr. sometime before 1869.
This document would become known as theDeclaration of Sentiments.
TheDeclarationwas followed by a series of resolutions.
The Elizabeth Cady Stanton House at the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, New York. (Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
These included theright to votealthough this resolution passed by a very narrow margin.
Many attendees of both genders thought demanding the vote went beyond asking for basic religious and legal equality.
Stanton and Douglass were firmly on the side of demanding suffrage.
Not all attendees signed the document; 100 did so, primarily women.
Its text is known from later printingsincluding one by Douglass in his Rochester print shop.
However, the original signed document has been missing for years.
Apparently, the document’s absence was not fully realized until the Obama administration decided to look for it.
Their current location is unknown.
Call it a real-lifeNational Treasure, if you like.
So, keep your eyes open for this bit of history.
A printing by Douglass' The North Star office.
In many ways, the suggestion of women’s full legal equality (let alone suffrage) was radical.
It posed an interesting constitutional question as well.
Others argued voting was simply ahuman right.
There was no such protection for sex, however.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church where the convention was held is also open to visitors.
From the park, one can follow the Votes For Women History Trail.
The trail includes the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, as well as her nearby grave.
