The Fight for Women’s Rights

Imagine your class was choosing a president and girls weren’t allowed to vote. It may be hard to believe, but that’s how national elections worked early in America’s history. Voting was one of the many rights that only White men had at the time.

Over the years, small groups of women spoke out about the unfair treatment. But the issue didn’t get nationwide attention until 1848, after a meeting in Seneca Falls, New York.

“This convention was the first public meeting of its kind,” says Janine Waller. She works at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. “It was dedicated solely to the rights of women.”

The meeting set the stage for the women’s suffrage movement.

Stanton was tired of being treated unfairly and knew other women were too. In 1848, she teamed up with activist Lucretia Mott and three others to plan a meeting.

The two-day gathering started on July 19, 1848. About 300 people—including many men—showed up. Stanton read a statement she had helped write called the Declaration of Sentiments. It was modeled after a famous document—the Declaration of Independence. It included a list of resolutions that spelled out many of the rights that women were denied. 

People agreed with nearly everything Stanton said. But one item caused a stir. When she said that women should be able to vote, some people were shocked and angry.

Stanton got support from the only Black person invited to the meeting. Frederick Douglass was a formerly enslaved man who had become an activist. He said that without the right to vote, women would not be able to change unfair laws. In the end, 100 people signed the Declaration of Sentiments.