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Women's Rights
Women's Rights
National Historical Park
New York
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
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I was born and lived almostforty years in South Bristol,
Ontario County—one of the most secluded spots in Western
New York, butfrom the earliest dawn of reason I pinedfor
that freedom of thought and action that was then denied to
all womankind.... But not until that meeting at Seneca
Falls in 1848, of the pioneers in the cause, gave thisfeeling
of unrestform and voice, did I take action. ”
—Emily Collins
For Emily Collins, who went on to start a local equal rights organization,
and for Other women of 1840s America, the news of a women's rights
convention was a vivid reminder of their inferior status. By law or by
custom an unmarried woman generally did not vote, speak in public, hold
office, attend college, or earn a living other than as a teacher, seamstress,
domestic, or mill worker. A married woman lived under these restrictions
• F
fete
and more: she could not make contracts, sue in court, divorce her husband,
gain custody of her children, or own property, even the clothes she wore.
Though middle-class wives reigned over the domestic sphere, legally their
husbands controlled them. Individual women publicly expressed their
desire for equality, but it was not until 1848 that a handful of reformers
in Seneca Falls, New York, called "A Convention to discuss the social, civil,
and religious condition and rights of Woman."
based on the Declaration of Independence, demanding equality in prop
erty rights, education, employment, religion, marriage and family, and
suffrage. The demand for the vote was so radical that even Mott protested,
but Stanton had her way. On July 19 the Declaration of Sentiments was
presented to an audience of about 300. "We hold these truths to be selfevident: that all men and women are created equal," announced Stanton
at the First Women's Rights Convention.
Why Seneca Falls? A significant reform community emerged in western
New York in the 1830s and 1840s. Among these reformers were aboli
tionists who joined relatives and started businesses in Seneca Falls and
Waterloo. Here and elsewhere, Quaker women like Lucretia Mott took an
active role in the effort to end slavery. For Mott, her sister Martha Wright,
Jane Hunt, Mary Ann M'Clintock, and 32-year-old Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
the next logical step was to demand rights for women. In July 1848 they
planned the convention and hammered out a formal list of grievances
The women expected controversy. True ladies, a Philadelphia newspaper
wrote after the convention, would be foolish to sacrifice their status as
"Wives, Belles, Virgins and Mothers" for equal rights. Many signers of the
declaration removed their names. But 12 days later a second convention
was held in Rochester. By 1900 armies of women marched for suffrage.
Today many of the convention's most radical demands are taken for granted.
The Declaration of Sentiments was the start; its words reach far beyond
that warm July day in Seneca Falls.
The Hunt House was
the home of Jane and
Richard Hunt, Quakers
active in the Waterloo
reform community.
Stanton, Mott, Wright,
M'Clintock, and Jane
Hunt gathered here on
July 9 to plan the con
vention.
Stanton defied many of
the day's housekeeping
and child-rearing cus
toms. For many years
she dressed in an outfit
popularized by Amelia
Bloomer, loose pants
and a knee-length skirt,
which allowed freedom
of movement.
"The First Wave" sculp
ture group by Lloyd
Lillie. Facing row, left to
right: Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Frederick Doug
lass, two unidentified
women, Martha Coffin
Wright. In profile at
right: Thomas and Mary
Ann M'Clintock, uniden
tified woman.
© JEFF GNASS
Planning Your Visit
The setting for the First
Women's Rights Con
vention and the homes
of some participants are
preserved at Women's
Rights National Histori
cal Park, established by
Congress in 1980.
From 1-90 (New York
State Thruway) take exit
41; go south on NY 414;
east on US 20, (becomes
Fall St.); follow signs to
the visitor center. There
is no fee for admission.
Begin at the visitor
center, 136 Fall St., open
daily except fall and
winter federal holidays.
Hours are 9 am to 5 pm.
M'Clintock House
There are exhibits, a film,
and a schedule of activi
ties. The visitor center
is accessible for visitors
with disabilities; ask
about access to the other
sites. Service animals are
welcome.
The M'Clintock House
was owned by the Hunts,
who rented it to rela
tives and fellow Quaker
abolitionists Mary Ann
and Thomas M'Clintock.
Convention planners met
here on July 16,1848, to
draft the Declaration of
Sentiments.
The Elizabeth Cady
Stanton House was the
family's home for 15
years. Stanton's activism
was based in large part
on her experiences as a
Seneca Falls housewife.
She was 31 years old
when she moved here
in 1847 with her hus
band Henry Stanton, a
Hunt House
lawyer and abolitionist
lecturer, and three boys.
They had four more
children.
Until she met Lucretia
Mott and other reform
ers, Stanton found small
town life oppressive:
"My duties were too
numerous and varied
and none sufficiently
exhilarating or intellec
tual to bring into play
my higher faculties. I
suffered with mental
hunger, which, like an
empty stomach, is very
depressing."
She encouraged her
seven children to join
parlor discussions with
visitors like the Motts
and Frederick Douglass.
She hosted a "conversa
tion dub" for young
adults. Her benevolent
work with the town's
poor made her all the
ists, temperance workers,
and reformers to fill the
chapel.
On the first day they
debated the wording of
the Declaration of Sen
timents. The Seneca
* County Courier reported
that "an intelligent and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton House
respectful audience"
attended the public ses
more aware of women's
On July 19 and 20,
sion that evening to hear
economic insecurity.
1848, some 300 women
the "eminently beauti
and men gathered in
ful and instructive" dis
Guided tours of the
the Wesleyan Chapel to
course of Lucretia Mott.
Stanton house are avail hear the first formal
At the next day’s session
able in summer and on
demands for women's
the amended declara
a limited basis during
rights. Curious local resi tion was adopted; 100
the rest of the year.
dents joined abolition-
Wesleyan Chapel
women and men signed
the document. Frederick
Douglass reiterated his
support at the final
session.
ILLUSTRATIONS NPS / GREG HARLIN
More Information
Women's Rights
National Historical Park
136 Fall St.
Seneca Falls, NY 13148
315-568-2991
www.nps.gov/wori
Find us on Facebook
and Twitter.
Seneca Falls and Beyond
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NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
“If particular care and attention
is not paid to the ladies,* writes
Abigail Adams in 1776. “we are
determined to foment a rebel
lion, and will not hold ourselves
bound by any laws in which we
have no voice or representation."
Revolution
1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Quaker abolitionists Jane
Hunt, Mary Ann M'Clintock,
Lucretia Mott, and Martha
Wright hold First Women's
Rights Convention; demand
full and equal rights with men.
devises strategy, while Antho
ny lectures and circulates
petitions.
Association (AWSA) to sup
port voting rights first for
black males, then women.
Wyoming becomes first US
territory to enact women's
suffrage.
1850 Boston women aboli
tionists, including Lucy Stone,
organize national women's
rights convention in Worces
ter, Mass.; over 1,000 people
attend. More conventions are
held throughout the 1850s.
1830s American Anti-Slavery
Society is founded in Phila
delphia in 1833 by Quakers
seeking immediate emancipa
tion of slaves. AASS's 1,600
auxiliaries gather over 400,000
signatures on antislavery
petitions by 1838.
As abolition cause escalates,
lecturers like Sarah and An
gelina Grimké promote wom
Denied leadership positions in many other abolitionist groups,
women sit on the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Anti
Slavery Society. Lucretia and James Mott are at far right.
Lucy Stone (above left) champi
ons reform by leading abolition
and women's suffrage efforts,
and by keeping her maiden
name after marrying. "We hold
women to be justly entitled to
all we claim for man," writes
Frederick Douglass (above right)
soon after the 1848 convention.
Two decades later Douglass
breaks with Stanton over vot
ing rights.
1851 Stanton meets Quaker
teacher Susan B. Anthony in
Seneca Falls. They form an
activist team and use temper
ance and abolition gatherings
to address women's issues.
Stanton writes speeches and
1860 Stanton and Anthony
work successfully to amend
the 1848 Married Women's
Property Act of New York.
Revised law allows wives to
hold property, keep earnings
and inheritances, make con
tracts, sue in court, and share
child custody.
1861-65 Civil War. Northern
and Southern women take
over jobs on farms and in fac
tories, businesses, and govern
ment offices. Thousands of
women work as nurses, open
ing profession to females.
1862 Morrill Act grants fed
eral land to support coeduca
tional colleges and universi
ties in the West. Homestead
Act grants free land to any
"head of household," includ
ing women. New York's 1860
property law is repealed.
1863 After Emancipation
Proclamation frees many slaves
in Confederacy, Stanton and
Anthony's National Women's
Loyal League urges Congress
to outlaw slavery completely.
Mott and contemporaries
turn over leadership to the
rising generation. Younger
women's leaders anticipate
that postwar expansion of
civil rights will include female
suffrage. Thirteenth Amend
ment outlaws slavery in 1865.
1867 First statewide women's
suffrage campaigns in Kansas
and New York are defeated.
1869 Suffragists split over
strategy after 14th Amend
ment specifies voting rights
for "male citizens." Stanton
and Anthony form National
Woman Suffrage Association
(NWSA), which pushes for a
women's suffrage amend
ment. Lucy Stone, Julia Ward
Howe, and others organize
American Woman Suffrage
1881 Knights of Labor
organizes housewives, do
mestics, factory workers, rail
road workers; 65,000 women
join. Knights disband by 1886
after losing national strike.
Women's organized labor
SEWALL BELMONT HOUSE AND MUSEUM
Suffragists Elsie Hill and Kather
ine Morey are jailed in Boston.
recovers by the early 1900s
to become an active force in
suffragism.
1887 WCTU and suffragists
present US Senate with peti
tion supporting suffrage
amendment. Amendment is
defeated.
1889 Jane Addams and Ellen
Starr establish Hull House in
Chicago, nation's first settle
ment house. In the following
decades an army of educated
female reformers—young sin
gle women, wives, mothers,
and grandmothers—investi
gates labor conditions, starts
settlement houses, promotes
education and public health,
agitates for liberalized birth
control laws, and marches for
suffrage. Increasingly, activists
see vote as a mechanism to
improve society.
1890 Wyoming is admitted
as first women's suffrage state.
Colorado and Idaho follow;
campaigns in these states are
led by Carrie Chapman Catt.
Utah enacts women's suffrage
in 1896 to ensure Mormon con
trol. NWSA and AWSA merge
into the National American
Woman Suffrage Association
(NAWSA). Stanton is president,
succeeded by Anthony in 1892.
Frances Willard sits on execu
tive board. NAWSA strategy
shifts from constitutional
amendment to state referenda.
1902 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
dies at age 86. Four years later
Susan B. Anthony dies at 85.
New generation of suffragists
are solidly in power, arguing
for vote on basis of female
moral superiority rather than
equality. NAWSA is led by
Anna Howard Shaw and
Carrie Chapman Catt.
A New Deal
Late 1920s Many states con
tinue to bar women from jury
duty and public office. Widows
succeed their husbands as
governors of Texas and Wyo
ming. Middle-class women
attend college and enter labor
force. Anticipated "women's
vote" fails to materialize by
end of decade.
1933 Frances Perkins is ap
pointed by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt as first female
Secretary of Labor. In the New
Deal years, at urging of First
Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and
1936 Federal court rules
birth control legal for its own
sake, rather than solely for
prevention of disease.
SEWALL BELMONT
HOUSE AND MUSEUM
1923 At the 75th anniversary
of the Seneca Falls conven
tion, Alice Paul proposes an
Equal Rights Amendment to
remedy inequalities that were
not addressed in the 19th
Amendment.
Women like this railroad brake
operator take men's jobs for the
duration of World War II, per
manently changing the makeup
of the workforce
Democratic women's leader
Molly Dewson, women gain
positions in federal social serv
ice bureaus. Mary McLeod
Bethune is director of the Ne
gro Affairs Division of the Na
tional Youth Administration.
1941 US enters World War
II. Millions of women are re
cruited for defense industry
jobs in war years and become
significant part of labor force.
WAC and WAVE established
as first women's military corps.
1947 Many women leave
labor force to get married
and make way for returning
soldiers. But by end of decade,
numbers of working women
are again on the increase.
1952 Democratic and Re
publican parties eliminate
women’s divisions.
STATUES JOHANN SCHUMACHER. ANTHONY AND STANTON—LIBRARY Of CONGRESS
LIBRARY Of CONGRESS
1879 Frances Willard be
comes president of Woman's
Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU), established in 1874
to fight alcohol-related social
ills. Willard strongly advocates
women's suffrage as a means
to impose a moral influence
on society. WCTU becomes
nation's largest women's
organization by the 1880s.
The 19th Amendment
1920 19th Amendment,
nicknamed the "Susan B. An
thony Amendment," is rati
fied, extending voting rights
to women throughout the
United States. National Amer
ican Woman Suffrage Associ
ation becomes League of
Women Voters, advocates
social reforms and protective
laws for working women. Na
tional Woman's Party opposes
protective laws and promotes
full social equality. The terms
"feminism" and "women's
rights" come into common
usage, replacing terms like
"woman suffrage."
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1872 Anthony and colleagues
test 14th and 15th amend
ments by casting votes in New
York. Suffragists are arrested
and fined. An 1875 US Su
preme Court ruling upholds
states' right to deny women
the vote. In 1876 Anthony
and others crash US Centen
nial celebration in Philadel
phia's Independence Hall,
demanding women's vote.
The Suffrage Bandwagon
1877 Backed by the NWSA,
a women's suffrage amend
ment is first introduced in
Congress but not voted on
for 10 more years. As Recon
struction era draws to a close.
Southern blacks see erosion
of their new civil rights.
1918 Women's suffrage
amendment is reintroduced
by Jeanette Rankin (R-Montana), first woman elected to
the US Congress; passes both
houses by 1919.
rattrctrit.
"It has been said," writes Stan
ton of Susan B. Anthony (right),
"that I forged the thunderbolts
and she fired them." Beginning
in 1868 they publish the short
lived Revolution, advocating
"Equal Pay," "Cold Water not Al
coholic Drinks," and "a new
Commercial and Financial Policy."
Social Reform Movements
Temperance societies, first popular in the 1830s, are among the
earliest American women's groups. The crusade makes women all
the more aware of their legal defenselessness against a drunken
husband and the need for property and divorce rights. After the
Gvil War the movement reemerges, its leaders promoting female
suffrage as a means of social reform.
Revolution.
The
Statues in Seneca Falls depict Stanton and Anthony being introduced
in 1851. By 1892 the two (inset photo; Anthony on left) have led
the women's rights movement for four decades and have published
four volumes of A History of Woman Suffrage.
1910 State of Washington
gives women full franchise,
inspiring a nationwide cam
paign that soon brings suc
cess in several western states.
Progressive Party endorses
women's suffrage in 1912.
Stanton's daughter Harriot
Stanton Blatch organizes first
suffrage parades in New York
City; solicits working women’s
support through Women's
Trade Union League.
tant suffragist Emmeline
Pankhurst, leads mass dem
onstrations, hunger strikes,
and constant pressure on po
litical party in power. Paul
and several thousand march
ers protest Woodrow Wilson’s
inauguration in March 1913.
Paul and others leave NAWSA
and form National Woman's
Party in 1916.
1916 Margaret Sanger and
her sister Ethel Byrne open
first American birth control
clinic in New York City.
1911 Jane Addams, as vicepresident of NAWSA, advo
cates immigrant women's
right to vote, countering the
belief that voting rights should
be restricted to native-born,
white, educated citizens.
1917 US enters World War I.
Women take over jobs for
men serving in armed forces.
Women's Bureau is formed;
for next several decades it is
the only federal agency deal
ing with women's concerns.
1913 Alice Paul and newest
generation of suffragists re
vive demand for constitution
al amendment. Paul, who
worked in England with mili-
LIBRARY Of CONGRESS
Early 1800s Popular litera
ture defines a new middle
class ideal: women dominate
the "sphere" of home and
family, with men viewed as
leaders in politics and business.
1840 Newlyweds Henry and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton attend
World Anti-Slavery Conven
tion in London, where organ
izers refuse to seat women
delegates. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Lucretia Mott
resolve to hold a convention
devoted to women's rights.
War and Reconstruction
Antisuffragist arguments are
based mainly on differences be
tween the sexes. Pro-suffrage
groups claim those differences
make women better qualified
voters. Some antisuffrage
groups are exposed as fronts
for liquor interests.
The Feminine Mystique
"All Rights and Privileges"
1955 Civil Rights movement
escalates in the South; Septima
Clark and others lead sit-ins
and demonstrations, provid
ing strategies for future
protests.
1964 Civil Rights Act prohib
its job discrimination on the
basis of race or sex and estab
lishes Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission to
address discrimination claims.
1973 In Roe v. Wade, US
Supreme Court affirms right
to first trimester abortions
without state intervention.
1992 More women run for
and are elected to public
office than in any previous
year in US history.
2009
1960 FDA approves birth
control pills.
1966 National Organization
for Women, founded by Betty
Friedan and others, promotes
child care for working mothers,
abortion rights, the Equal
Rights Amendment, and "full
participation in the main
stream of American society
now."
1974 Ella Grasso of Connecti
cut is first woman governor
elected in her own right.
1961 President's Commission
on the Status of Women is es
tablished, headed by Eleanor
Roosevelt. Commission suc
cessfully pushes for passage
in 1963 of Equal Pay Act, first
federal law to require equal
compensation for men and
women in federal jobs.
1963 Betty Friedan's The
Feminine Mystique articulates
dissatisfaction with limita
tions on women.
1972 Equal Rights Amend
ment passes both houses and
is signed by President Richard
Nixon. Civil Rights Act bans
sex discrimination in employ
ment and education. Shirley
Chisholm is first African Amer
ican to run for president.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
1788 US Constitution is
ratified. With decisions about
voting qualifications left up
to states. New Jersey women
property owners have full
franchise until 1807. Elsewhere
women can vote in local elec
tions.
en’s concerns simultaneously
with abolition. Sarah draws
criticism for her 1837 Letters
on the Equality of the Sexes.
AASS splits in 1839 over issue
of women's rights.
Library of Congre
A Call to Convention
SOPHIA SMITH COLLECTION, SMITH COLLEGE
1784 Judith Sargent Murray
writes essays endorsing
women’s education. Murray's
"On the Equality of the Sexes"
appears in Massachusetts
Magazine in 1790.
After the convention. Hunt
and her husband continued
with various reform efforts.
The M'Clintocks moved to Phil
adelphia in 1856. Wright and
two M’Clintock daughters be
came active suffragists. Stanton,
Wright, and Mott, with Lucy
Stone, Abby Kelly Foster, and
Susan 8. Anthony, led the
woman's rights movement
through its formative years.
Eventually the movement was
called women's rights.
In 1848 the Seneca County Courier warned that the convention's
resolutions were “of the kind called radical... Some will regard
them with respect—others with disapprobation and contempt."
The story of the women's rights movement is the story of ideas
once controversial, now commonplace. The chronology below
outlines the major events that changed the status quo for women
in America. Which of our present efforts will contribute toward
a future of equality? What are we next to do?
Remember the Ladies
1775 American Revolution
begins. Abigail Adams in 1776
admonishes husband John and
other Revolutionary leaders
to "remember the ladies"
in forming the new govern
ment.
Left to right: Elizabeth Cady
Stanton with her daughter
Harriot, Lucretia Mott, Martha
Wright, Mary Ann M'Clintock,
and Jane Hunt.
PORTRAIT—NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. NEWSPAPER—LIBRARY Of CONGRESS
Although the ballot was never the primary agent of social reform,
as many had hoped, the suffrage movement expanded women's
influence in the political arena. Again the question. What next?
Immediately after 1920 many women worked for reform through
groups like the League of Women Voters and national political
parties. Some asserted their rights on a personal level by attend
ing college, taking jobs, adopting new clothing fashions, and
creating professional organizations. Then as now, each woman
sought her own definition of freedom.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
“What are we next to do?" asked Elizabeth Cady Stanton after
the 1848 convention. The women of Seneca Falls had challenged
America to social revolution with a list of demands that touched
every aspect of life. Fifty years after the convention, women
saw progress in property rights, employment, education, divorce
and custody laws, and social freedoms. By the early 1900s, a co
alition of suffragists, temperance groups, progressive politicians,
and social welfare organizations mustered a successful push for
the vote.
1980 Women's Rights National
Historical Park is established
Dec. 28.
1981 Sandra Day O'Connor
is appointed first woman US
Supreme Court justice.
1982 Deadline for ERA rati
fication expires three states
(short of adoption.
Colorful and concise buttons ex
press some of women's concerns
in the late 1900s.
1984 Geraldine Ferraro is
first woman from a major po
litical party nominated as vice
president.
Equal Pay Act signed.
Today The fight for equality
is waged on many fronts:
women are seeking political
influence, better education,
health reform, job equity, and
legal reform. The demands
echo those of the movement
throughout its history.
In 1848 Stanton, Mott, and
others claimed on behalf of
American women "all the
rights and privileges which
belong to them as citizens."
What would the reformers
from Seneca Falls do today to
contribute toward a future of
equality? What will you do?