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The first cause that united large numbers of women wasn’t women’s rights. It was the movement to abolish (get rid of) slavery.
Black and white women began speaking out for their right to participate in public life. However, many abolitionist organizations didn’t accept female members.
Lucretia Mott helped form the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Similar groups sprang up in other cities. Through their antislavery work, women learned how to organize a campaign and print pamphlets. They also learned how to lead meetings, write petitions, and speak in public. In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton went to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. However, they weren’t allowed to participate. So the two committed themselves to fight for women’s rights.
◀ In July of 1848, Stanton, Mott, and a few others organized a convention to discuss women’s rights. It was held in Seneca Falls, New York. At the convention, Stanton presented a document she had written called the Declaration of Sentiments. It was modeled on the Declaration of Independence. But where that document proclaimed that all men are created equal, Stanton wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal.” The Seneca Falls convention got a lot of response—negative and positive. The women were condemned and made fun of. One newspaper editorial said the convention was “the most shocking and unnatural incident ever recorded in the history of womanity.” Nevertheless, many women began to organize themselves to fight for their rights.
At Seneca Falls, Stanton proposed 12 resolutions for women’s rights. They included the right to vote, to get an education, to own property, and to testify in court. The men and women at the convention unanimously passed 11 resolutions. But the one calling for the vote caused arguments. Even Lucretia Mott thought it was too bold. However, the famous black abolitionist Frederick Douglass (right) spoke in favor of the resolution, and it passed by a narrow margin. ▶
◀ It took great courage for women to speak out. Community and religious leaders—and sometimes men and women in their own families—attacked them. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s father disowned her, although he later put her back in his will.
Slowly, attitudes began to change. In 1860, the New York legislature passed a women’s rights bill. It allowed women to own property, sign contracts, keep earnings and inheritances, and share the custody of children after a divorce. Other states followed New York’s lead. But none of them granted women the right to vote.
▲ After the Civil War, Susan B. Anthony (above right), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left), and Frederick Douglass began working together. They wanted suffrage for women and African Americans. But the Republican Party told them that only one group would be allowed to vote. The 15th Amendment was proposed to give the vote to black men. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which was Stanton and Anthony’s organization, opposed it. They concentrated on fighting for an amendment that would give women the vote.
Some suffragists disagreed with the NWSA’s stand. Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). It supported the 15th Amendment. It also decided to concentrate on fighting for women’s suffrage state by state. ▶
▲ Lucy Stone
▲ Julia Ward Howe
◀ This split over black and female suffrage made some African-American women distrust white suffragists. They formed separate women’s organizations.
