The campaign for women’s suffrage began in the decades before the civil war. At the same time, many people started looking for reforms. People started temperance clubs, religious movements and moral-reform societies, anti-slavery organizations–and in many of these, women played a prominent role (3). The first big step in women’s suffrage was made in 1848, when women’s rights activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott invited men and women to Seneca Falls, NY to discuss the problem of women’s rights. At this convention, the delegates produced a Declaration of Sentiments that states “We hold these truths to be self-evident...that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (3).
In the mid nineteenth century America was going through an age of reform. The person who would be the center of these reforms would be the women in society. Women soon realized that in order to make sure that all the reforms went through they would need more power and influence in society. The oppression and discrimination the women felt in this era launched the women into create the women’s right movement. The women fought so zealously for their rights it would be impossible for them not to achieve their goals. The sacrifices, suffering, and criticism that the women activist made would be so that the future generations would benefit the future generations.
1. The chosen book titled “Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women 's Right Movement” is written by Sally McMillen in 2008. It is a primary source, as long as its author for the first time opens the secrets of the revolutionary movement, which started in 1848 from the convention held by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton. It is not a secondary source, as long as information from the book appears for the first time. Stanton did not reveal much in her memoirs, so the author had to work hard to bring this information on the surface. The convention changed the course of history by starting protecting women’s rights and enhancing overall gender equality. The book is a reflection of women’s activity in the name of their freedom and rights equality during fifty years. The book is significant both to the present and to the past time, as long as there are many issues in the society related to the women’s rights, and to the time studied in the class.
The woman suffrage parades of 1910–1913: Possibilities and limitations of an early feminist rhetorical strategy by Jennifer Borda is fashioned during a period when annual parades were being introduced for the first time in the United States. The parades stimulated a unity among US women empowering them to discuss their progress and elaborate on the future needs. As such, the parades amalgamated the women’s feminist movement enabling them to pursue an audience from the political leaders at that time (Borda, 2011, p. 213-216). However, Borda vocalizes the challenges postured by the parades could impede the feminine movement and bring disparity to their image. Therefore, the divergence among women triggered the derailment of advocating for women’s justice.
Perhaps the most crucial reformists of the time period were those battling to obtain their God-given rights. Many lower class workers, such as African Americans, women, and immigrants, sought after the opportunity to vote, work it certain facilities, and be accepted in society as a whole. An engraving by Patrick Reason depicts an African American female in chains; with the inscription ‘Am I not a Woman and a Sister?’(Doc C) The woman shown is crying out, begging to be heard and listened to. Many males of the time period did not take female reformists seriously, or listen to them at all. On August 2nd, 1848, through the Seneca Falls Declaration, Elizabeth Cady Stanton prote...
In 1848, the convention in Seneca Falls, New York produced the “Declaration of Sentiments” in the name of American women, which was brought about by Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Across the nation, groups came together holding conventions in direct reaction to the convention held at Seneca Falls, in addition to the consequential birth of women’s rights organizations. In 1851 at a convention in Ohio, Sojourner Truth, former slave and activist, gave her famous speech requesting that “if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again.” Just as Truth labored for women’s su...
This discrimination towards this sex was reinforced by the idea that women was made for man. Not only was this idea prevalent within society but it furthermore is resonated through the laws and documents the government put in place. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought to establish equality between both sexes within the nation. This is illustrated within the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions at Seneca Falls when these women stated, “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object he establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.” This quote expresses the past of women rights and how from the beginning of time women have been seen as inferior to man. This furthermore resonated to express the idea that women were not only inferior but also a material object in a man’s life. Stanton and Anthony put a large emphasis into this ideal, making it their driving force into establishing women’s rights in America.
I have read Kathryn Kish Sklar book, brief History with documents of "Women's Rights Emerges within the Antislavery Movement, 1830-1870" with great interest and I have learned a lot. I share her fascination with the contours of nineteenth century women's rights movements, and their search for meaningful lessons we can draw from the past about American political culture today. I find their categories of so compelling, that when reading them, I frequently lost focus about women's rights movements history and became absorbed in their accounts of civic life.
The Woman’s Bible was formulated and codified by Stanton as “women's commentaries on women's position in the Old and New Testaments” (Stanton 9) Controversially, Stanton boldly challenged the Christian bible on how a woman should not be subservient to men. The Declaration of Sentiments, a document that was created and signed at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, served as a speech to model the Declaration of Independence. Stanton renovates one of the most quoted pieces of the historical document by stating: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (Stanton 1) Note, the additive of women included with men presents morally and ethically that all women are equal to men. In The Solitude of Self, Stanton addresses the “humanistic underpinnings of the feminist movement, as they had never been addressed before”(Kiss 3). Stanton carefully articulates her speech in a way to connect with her male audience so they can understand a woman’s life journey as one that is conducted alone. She reiterates that a woman should be non-reliant upon a man. In addition, according to Lisa Shawn Hogan, a doctor at Indiana University, the speech is considered a
Over two centuries ago, a document was written that announced the independence of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain. That document, The Declaration of Independence, indicated that a new country was born, oppression in the New World would come to an end and new-found individual freedoms for citizens of America would become a reality. Thomas Jefferson ideals expressed in The Declaration of Independence was a stepping stone to the foundation of America. Many of Jefferson’s ideals expressed his concern for equality and liberty. The ideals he expressed in The Declaration of independence such as “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (392), “all men have unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (392) and the people have a right to alter or abolish a government if it does not ensure the rights of the people. The Declaration of Independence, which illustrates Jefferson’s ideals, is not only a significant historical document but also a belief that freedom is a natural born right to every citizen in the United States. By investigating the struggle of women during Jefferson’s time in office up until the 20th century, this essay will show that The Declaration of Independence marks the movement when the women of the United States would fight for equality and freedom.