Upstate New York, Part 17: Historic Events, Seneca Falls Convention

Upstate New York, Part 17: Historic Events, Seneca Falls Convention

Seneca Falls is a village located in Seneca County, New York which has a population of about 6500 people. Seneca Falls is known for a few interesting and historical facts, the most important being, Seneca Falls played a prominent role in the Women’s Rights Movement. Women that played essential roles that helped shaped rights for women called Seneca Falls home.

A woman by the name of Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the organizers of what is notably referred to as the most important Women’s Rights conventions in the history of women's rights. Stanton is also very well- known for being “the philosopher and chief publicist” of the radical wing of the 19^th century women’s rights movements.

Early Women’s Rights leaders including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martha Coffin Wright, Jane Hunt and Lucretia Coffin Mott in 1848 used Seneca Falls, New York to organize and host the first women’s rights convention; the Seneca Falls Convention was said to be an early and influential women’s rights convention that was organized by local New York woman upon the occasional visit by Boston- based Lucretia Mott. Lucretia Mott was very famous at the time for her speaking skills that subsequently during that era was a skill rarely used by American woman.

Local women mainly consisting of a radical group known as the Quakers, along with Stanton organized the meeting, which spanned two days and six sessions and included a lecture on law a comedic demonstration and multiple talks about women roles in society. Women and men alike were in attendance as the Seneca Falls Convention at which point Stanton and the Quaker women presented two prepared documents, the Declaration of Sentiments along with a list of resolutions that were to be debated and modified before putting through to be signed.

A heated debate sprang about when the meeting shifted to the topic of giving women a right to vote. Many women and men alike including Mott’s a woman rights activist strongly urged for this particular to be removed from the declaration brought forth. Frederick Douglas who was an American social reformer and after escaping slavery became a leader of the abolitionist movement and was also present for the meeting strongly but beautiful argued for keeping the movement in and the suffrage resolution remained. At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, three hundred people were present, out of those three hundred people only one hundred mainly women signed the presented document.

The Seneca Falls Convention was seen by some including speaker Mott’s as but one single small step forward for women at gaining a larger and more equal role in society