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Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention

Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention

Search the internet, textbooks, and encyclopedia for answers to the following questions.

1. In what state did the convention take place?
The convention took place in Seneca, New York.

2. In what year did it take place?

The convention took place on July 19-20,1848

3. Who organized the convention?

Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the convention, when they both met at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.

4. Why was it held in Seneca Falls?
Elizabeth Stanton's home was near Seneca Falls and she worked with other women around the area and a significant reform community emerged in western New York in the 1830s and 40s.

5. How did the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London inspire the organizers of the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention?

Mott and Stanton were banned from the convention floor, at the World Anti-Slavery Convention and that motivated them for their founding of the women's rights movement in the United States.

6. F.D. and L.M. -- Whose initials are these? Hint: they are two famous people who attended the convention.
F.D. stands for Fredrick Douglas and L.M. stands for Lucretia Mott.

7. What two other social movements were people in the Women's Rights Movement also involved in?
The two other social movements were the Decleration of Sentiments and the World Anti-Slavery movement.

8. What was the Declaration of Sentiments based on?
The Declaration Sentiments was based on a piece of work that Stanton had drafted over the previous few days. Stanton's declaration was based closely on the Declaration of Independence.

9. What did it say?
It said “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..." The Declaration of Sentiments then followed by a detailed writing of the injustices inflicted upon women in the United States.

11. How did the public react to the convention?
The public reacted to the convention by having some 40 people, including the famous African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. That day, the Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances was adopted and signed by the assembly.

12. Why was the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention important?

The Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention was important because after they had a lengthy debate, Fredrick Douglass sided with Stanton in arguing the importance of female rights to vote, the resolution was passed. After allowing a women's right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected to public ridicule, and some backers of women's rights withdrew their support. Moreover, the resolution marked the beginning of the women's suffrage movement in America. After years of struggle, the 19th Amendment was adopted in 1920, granting American women the constitutionally protected right to vote.